From A Giant Shnauzer To A Dwarf Shnauzer

We never actually thought we would be looking after a dog- especially a big one! I was a psychology student at the time the story begins, and my sister studied geography. We both attended the university and lived together in a student hostel. This was our third or fourth year there, I don't exactly recall, and we were both studying and working at different places.

Then one day my sister got ill. It was not something terrible but it required a surgery- so she had to leave her student job to stay at the hospital, have the operation done and take a month to recover. Naturally, she couldn't go to classes, too.

I had always admired the friendship and the connection in her group, but this time it was even more extraordinary. They came together to visit at the hospital and no one was absent. They had to enter the room in small groups since they were too many to go in at once.

Being absent for such a long time was very unpleasant to my sister and she was a bit depressed and down. So they decided to give her a present: a giant schnauzer puppy.

Of course we couldn't take the dog to her at the hospital. In fact, the dog owner who was a co-student of my sister kept Terra home (still a 2 weeks old puppy) till she went out of there. He brought her for the hospital leave and they both- he and Terra-accompanied her at the cab driving them home.

She still was moving with some difficulty because of the surgery. But the dog was there already and required attention so I believe that was the best therapy for her: she could not stay too long in bed because she had to be after Terra all the time!

Rita was bought years later when Terra died because we wanted to have another schnauzer but because of the space requirements of the apartment we decided this time to choose a mini-schnauzer. So we found Rita.

We named the puppy Terra. The dog owner told us we had to think of a name containing "R" since dogs tend to remember "R" better than other sounds. So a geography student could not pass the name Terra - which is Earth in Greek. Rita was named in the same fashion- but she would appear years later.

We still stayed at the hostel- but dogs were not allowed in there. Giant schnauzers were even less. Fortunately Terra was still not bigger than a kitten and we "smuggled" her in for a few days till we found an apartment to rent.

We lived on the first floor so one of us went out while the other stayed with the puppy by the window. The one out took Terra from the window and led her away wrapped in her coat for the door keeper not to see her. We didn't pass always unnoticed... so Terra cost a few chocolates at times. But she was small, cute dog and was not too much trouble so people got used to seeing her here and there till we finally moved out.

The apartment we could allow at the time was not a big one. We had a room, and a kitchen. The room was large and used as a living room at daytime and turned into a bedroom for the night.

The things Terra loved most were walking (or rather running) outside. There were fortunately large spaces for dog walks (which seems fairly strange for places where dogs are generally NOT allowed!) There were long alleys, a tree here and there but mainly small bushes where dogs used to play hide-and seek, or just play one with the other. Terra was a friendly puppy, a bit curious and she poked her nose everywhere till the day a pit-bull bit her. Since that day on she started fearing and avoiding larger dogs- which was generally a good thing.

In such a small place Terra did not have much to do. She was a month old, still small in size but already quite active and lively. She went from the room to the kitchen, from the kitchen to the bathroom, climbed on the sink and stole our toothbrushes and bath slippers! When left alone her favorite thing to do was taking the things from the bathroom to the living room and chewing them.

Naturally no one was satisfied and we had to punish, scold her and take objects away. It was a bit difficult to accustom her to staying in the room for days till we were at work or school, so as she grew larger things went worse. Finally we made the decision to take her to our parents living in a house at a village not quite near- but she would have more space there

You don't meet schanuzers every day in the street. Before being given Terra I hardly knew they existed. But living with her for 10 years made me fall in love for life.

This link is my favorite-but not because I have bought dogs from there. I loved it because they show lots of the schnauzer's character: proud, noble, faithful, aristocratic (yes indeed! they are outstanding in lots of their characteristics dogs).