Astor von St. Georg (Collie male, 1990 - 2001)
A dog has long been the desire of my children and I had become as a child, also great with dogs. But for me was just a big dog in question, and before that my wife had too much respect. That changed when our circle of friends extended around a pair that possessed a Beautiful Collie bitch named Lady and they wanted get it fertilized once. They searched buyers for their future puppy quickly and my wife was on fire. Unfortunately, the bitch get ill and couldn't get puppies. But we walked in mind already with Lassie by the Schmölderpark, so we searched the newspaper for relevant ads and were successful. In Amern a Hobby-breeder had two puppies from the first litter of his breeding pair and sold one of them. The second he kept.
Astor was already housebroken when it became the center of our family. It developed into a picturesque and quite dominant male, that possessed obstinacy also a good deal. In the week before its Begleithunde examination it drove me to despair but on the day of examination it was the favorite dog in the world to be and cut off as valedictorian. At Astor the Begleithunde examination was important because it could be dominant over other males and had a strong hunting instinct and by then it was helpful that a loud "place" made it in 50m distance itself fall in the middle of running like a wet sack to leave. And it was nice that you could put it in Rheydt before Karstadt (at that time there was no dog regulations yet), half an hour after the CD could rummage's and was sure that Astor afterwards was exactly where you had dropped it. The breeder who was a member in IRJGV was sake we took Astor also participate in several exhibitions and it also won some trophies, but the hustle and bustle meant stress for dog and family, so we refrained. For a while, I also worked as a dog trainer in the team of the breeder, with Astor me was on hand to help.
Since my son at the time, as Astor joined us, played in the D-youth football and I coached the team, it was inevitable that Astor accompanied us every now and then. This love developed at Astor to soccer balls and it was the best training partner of my son. When René then became older and stronger and hit the ball so cleverly shielded that Astor did not come to the ball, it was found that the dog had learned the fouling and the ball conquered by pressing from behind against René's knees and it so did stumble. The love for games was also responsible for ensuring that Astor was a water rat. When it was young, we went with a group, the time to prepare met on the Begleithunde examination every week in Hardter forest to a nearby lake for swimming. All dogs accompanied their masters into the water, only the water-shy Collies that ran excitedly back and forth on the shore. Then my son took a ball into the water - that was too much for Astor. It overcame its fear and it came to us. As it tried to cling to me, I was later scratched right, but Astor felt since that day in the water well what many photos and videos testify.
Collies are, inter alia, Descendants of greyhounds, therefore good runners, so it was no problem for Astor to accompany me every morning during my runs - mostly 6km, but every now and then sometimes even 10km or 12km. And if it sometimes did not feel like it just took a shortcut and waited at the bakery by feeding on an delicious bun on me.
Astor had a heart condition, but which we learned only half a year before its death, despite the regular vet visits. Friday it had accompanied me with no visible problems while running, Saturdays it would not boot. We initially typed on hip problems in the clinic but the vets diagnosed heart failure and water in its lungs. With medication adjusted correctly, we spent a good half a year with it. On a hot summer day we had to euthanize it because it would otherwise dies of suffocation.
My oldest hobbies are dogs (as a child Collie Tramp) and photography. At primary school, I started with an Agfa Isola (photo Dirk Böhling), a simple camera for roll film sizes 6x6, which at that time was about 40 DM.
Later, as a high school student, I acquired a Pentina E, the only Reflex (bought in 1965 source) affordable for me. When I became a student, unfortunately there were no longer interchangeable lenses available for it, so I traded it in for a used Edixa with the then-standard M42 connector. As a teacher I then made me an Olympus OM 2, the first camera that could drive a TTL flash. When Olympus ceased production of SLR, I switched to Canon and currently own a EOS 70D with which I am very satisfied.
With the change from the elementary school in Viersen to the High School in Aachen was added another hobby of football. How can you spend your free time in a boys boarding else? During my studies I stopped playing football, but the enthusiasm for football had initially gradually flared up again only when my wife our son René filed at SC Viktoria 04 Rheydt. I then played several years with the old masters, was on the board and Youth Board operates and managed for many years as a coach the team in which my son played. After the second kee surgery the active time was over, I will limit myself since then on to look at my son playing football and looking after the home of his club, SV Helpenstein.
The time was now ripe for another hobby, sailing. Even in my first year as teacher at the High School Gymnasium an der Gartenstraße took me a 7th grade with sailing in touch when they invited me during the Easter holidays for a day trip to Loosdrecht. Then I launched 1982 first course at our school trip with a flatboat (and establishing a tradition that is maintained to this day). After the second knee operation I made the Yachtmaster coastal and acquired a small cabin cruiser, a Leisure 17 SL. Unfortunately, led G8 and the move to Wildenrath mean that the boat is not used for several years remaining on the trailer.
My my wife had resisted to get a dog, because she was a little afraid of dogs. But then we came in contact with a couple who had a collie female that should be fetilized once. My wife was at once excited by the idea of having a small collie. Unfortunately, the dog got sick, but the idea remained. So we found a Collie from a private breeder. Astor was a proud, beautiful collie dog, who, especially in our holiday region in France had many fans - mostly female. On Astor, who died much too early due to a congenital heart defect for a Collie age of 11, followed Teddy, a Bernese bouvier we brought shortly after Astor's death from a visit to my sister in the Eifel. Teddy accompanied us for 12 years what is unusual for a Bernese bouvier. Now Dexter, a Golden Retreiver bred by Cornelia Grabe, found us a home.
At last amateur dancing would be mentioned. For decades I had deaf ears when my wife wanted me to visit a dance class. When I was almost 60, I left convert me. And I found it fun, almost more than my wife. We dance Ballroom and Latin, since the end of 2014 in the dance school Theissen (Geilenkirchen). In addition, however, we also love to dance disco fox with Marcel and Annette within the Boogie Woogie club Tiger Feet. I myself would like to keep Boogie Woogie dance, but that would be to much for my wife's body. What a pity.
