Kameraden Rottweilers
Breeders of the RNSWCC Canine Hero 2000
Kameraden Rottweilers
Breeders of the RNSWCC Canine Hero 2000
Peter and Wendy with Mark and Grip - The Canine Hero 2000
E-mail: menston@student.ecu.edu.au
"See ya later! Thanks for having us Mrs King! See ya Jeff! See ya Scamp! Grrrrrrrr Ruff Ruff! Snap! Oooooow!” I looked at the skulking dog, heard my Mother scream, saw the blood on my shoulder and burst into tears. I was 11 years old and after a pleasant week’s holiday on a friend’s farm, their Labrador had just successfully cleaved half my hearing organ from my hurting head.
To cut to the chase: I developed diabetes at 16 and as a result lost my eyesight at the age of 32. A bit of denial, shock and self-pity; the usual psychological stuff that happens in these cases, and then I had to start considering my mobility without sight. Initially a white cane prevented me walking into every obstacle on the planet, but it didn’t help with my lack of directional skills. I toyed with the idea of a guide dog, but Labradors were out of the question. No way Jose! I know, I know, I know! Most Labradors are beautiful, loyal and non-biting featherless quadrupeds, but…
I had a friend in Melbourne whose Rottweiler used to leave the room to break wind and it occurred to me that if such a dog could be trained to do this then it surely must be one of the more intelligent breeds of canines. Sugar-Ray was a Rotty with many other delightful attributes but this is the story of another dog. I was working as a musician during the snow season in the snowy Mountains and living in Cooma when I decided to ring the Kameraden Rottweiler Kennels and made enquiries. I was told they had a litter of puppies from imported German Champion lines and there were pups for sale. The breeders brought the pups over and I heard them bounding down my front steps so I hunkered down and prepared to meet the little frisky ones. The first one went charging up the hallway while the other one saw me and came into the kitchen were I was crouched and skidded across the tiles into my lap, forcing me to sit down and accept about 10 million licks on my face. I named her Grip and the rest is history.
History
At six months I took Grip to dog obedience classes and a person asked me if I would like to have Grip trained for guide dog work as she was an ex-guide dog trainer and had been watching Grip. I agreed with alacrity and Grip responded accordingly. In a matter of months I realised why the Sydney and Melbourne police were now using Rottweilers in their different units. There were no miracles or heroic rescues, but her natural intuition and her willingness to please, just clean bowled me. Grip would walk me around the streets of Cooma in the middle of the night while there was no traffic, and she quickly learned the basics and the lay of the land in our area. One night we came in and checked the temperature; it was -12 degrees Celsius. We’d been out for over two hours and she would gladly have gone out again if I hadn’t been so cold.
A year and a half later we returned to Melbourne and I was immediately stonewalled when I applied to the relevant organisation for mobility and orientation with Grip. I was told that only Labradors were considered and it was illegal for me to use Grip as a guide dog. I checked with a legal friend and he confirmed my suspicions that they were talking a load of… Encouraged by this, I walked grip every day with my same friend and his dog. Within a few short months we had learned every nook and cranny in south Yarra as well as many other areas like the city and the train stations and other regular destinations.
Next came another hiatus, my partner was to have a baby and everybody was assuring me that Rotties just adore eating the raw flesh of human infants. Fortunately my partner was as close to Grip as I was, so between the two of us we got all the advice possible. The breeders, vets and dog trainers all gave us help on how to introduce our new daughter into Grip’s life without any feelings of jealousy or resentment. Before Anushka came home from hospital, I would bring some of her dirty singlets home and let grip have a good smell of them and she was very interested. Upon our daughter’s arrival at the house, we gave Grip lots of attention and treats which completely sold grip on the idea of babies. Grip and Anushka have been inseparable since day number one. Before long we were able to let Anushka have a nap, using Grip’s belly as a pillow. Grip wouldn’t move for all the steak in Texas and she ever so gently would shoo any flies away while the baby slept. There has never been the slightest hint of any aggression or frustration on grip’s behalf; in fact I think grip lets Anushka get away with too much.
Time moves on and the world changes and now I am a single father living in Perth with Anushka and grip. Grip’s responsibility has obviously increased but she takes to it like ducks to water. In the morning she waits there patiently for Anushka to give her the toast crusts and then she is put in harness and walks Anushka to Kindergarten and me to University. In Perth I have also been denied any help from the guide dog people but I’m used to this discrimination now and it only makes me more determined to get another Rottweiler when I decide to retire Grip into a life of training my next Rotty pup.
Grip’s Good Deed
In the winter of 1999, Grip was guiding me down to the local shops [a return trip of about5 km] when she suddenly stopped, wrenched the harness out of my hand and ran into the car park of the shopping centre. She has been taught not to go off the path and especially not onto roads and car parks, so I was quite annoyed with this seemingly errant behaviour. A woman from the laundromat came out and told me that Grip was stopping a toddler from going into the path of the cars in the car park. The other woman in the Laundromat had not noticed her son wander out the door. She was somewhat shocked when she saw her boy being herded by a Rottweiler back to the path. Grip’s reward was being treated to a whole roll of polony [devon or beef luncheon] from the nearby milk bar. Grip has been my best friend for over six years now and still, I don’t know if I was lucky or if all pure bred Rottweilers are this intelligent and loving. My blindness may be a factor because Grip thrives on having a mission in life viz. Looking after me and being my eyes. The average domestic pet is not called on to have such responsibility, therefore I believe Grip’s talents have developed so strongly, because of necessity. I can’t even begin to imagine my life without her.
Mark Enston 08/27/00
