Life with Two Miniature Schnauzers

Our search for a Schnauzer ended when my husband walked into a small pet shop and fell in love with Henry at first sight.

"Here's our dog," he said.

Our Miniature Schnauzers are named Henry and Georgie. Henry is two years older than Georgie, and when Georgie came home Henry took him under his wing. He is a good big brother. He taught him many things.

He showed him how to jump up on the bed. He explained that they should bark if anyone, dog or human, comes to the door or walks by the fence. He taught him to bark at whomever comes into the house, even when it's us.

He taught him how to strain at the leash whenever a dog comes close. He showed him how to go up and down our steep stairs to the basement. He demonstrated that it's okay to jump up on the couch and lie on top of us.

Georgie taught Henry to express his affection for us by licking our hands.

The way Georgie came into our lives was this: a friend found a Schnauzer running around the neighborhood. She took him home, but had so many animals, she asked us if we could keep him until the owners were found.

About a week later we got a call from the owners. When they came to retrieve their dog, they said that the dog had just fathered a litter of puppies. Would we like to have one as a reward.

We had been wanting a companion for Henry, but couldn't afford one. So, their offer was a welcome bit of serendipity. We chose Georgie, who might have been the runt of the litter, but I took to him.

Earlier we adopted a beagle, not realizing the behavior problems we would run into. That dog jumped on the dining room table! His bays and howls drove me crazy.

He gave Henry a hard time, and soon Henry started losing weight and getting sick. The beagle had to go.

It's difficult to return an animal to the Humane Society, even if you don't like the animal. I felt bad and a little guilty. What if he doesn't get adopted, I thought?

Georgie, as my husband said, "is closer to the wild." That's because he is wary of strangers. They make him anxious, so he wards them off by threatening to bite, which he has been known to do.

Henry, on the other hand, is a sweetheart. He wants to make friends with everyone. We once took the dogs on a trip to Arizona to see my mother in her assisted living center. We asked permission to bring Henry. He went around to anyone and everyone to make friends. He brought such pleasure to the residents.

The only time he has ever bitten us is when we try to groom him. (We do that because having someone do it is so expensive. As a result, the dogs usually look quite lopsided and scruffy.)

Neither of the dogs has ever let us cut his nails. That's something we have a groomer do for us.

The only time Henry is ferocious is when he spots a possum in the yard. Many a night we heard a frantic yapping and rushed out to see what was happening. Henry had a possum cornered, usually under the deck.

Of course, he wasn't about to leave that possum and come in when we called him. It was suspenseful when he was out there with those animals.

Sometimes hours later Henry consented to come in. We knew that either the possum escaped or had fooled Henry by pretending to be dead. Invariably, when we looked for it the next morning it was gone.

Henry and Georgie are pretty good about not begging for food. I sort of trained them to wait until we are done, and allow them to lick the plates.

As you can see, we are pretty lenient doggie parents!

Henry is better trained than Georgie. We took him to Petsmart for puppy training classes. He will sit on command, that's about the extent of it. He's learning how to stay. Georgie tries, but he can't resist coming to me before I say, "Come." Henry follows after. Best laid plans.

When Henry was a puppy, my son and his girlfriend lived with us for a while. Jessica brought her huge cat, Kluay with her. Henry and Kluay chased each other up and down the stairs. They never caught each other, which was good, although probably would have been okay because poor Kluay had no claws.

Henry loves to lie on top of the back of the couch when I lie there.

Neither dog ever was completely house trained, although they are pretty good about barking to go out. But they think carpets are okay to pee on. A few years ago I lay a carpet on part of our hardwood floor. When I lifted it up, the floor had turned black because the pee soaked into it.

Neither dog ever chewed up shoes or belts, or gnawed on the furniture. Well, Henry did as a puppy. He liked to chew on the rocking chair. One rail has bite marks.

But they do one thing that is distressing and annoying. When my son comes home late at night, the dogs bark like crazy and wake us up. There is no stopping them.

When we first moved to our house, I transplanted a small pink rose bush. One day I came home to find it gone. Henry ate it! How he tolerated the thorns is beyond me.

The dogs' favorite thing is to go to the park. When I lie on the grass and do yoga, they sit or lie right next to me. Of course, they demand that I pet them until they are satisfied.

My husband and I usually take them for a long walk along the river and through the woods. Away from the road we let them run free. As they bound ahead my husband and I watch for people and dogs.

My husband showed me that it's no use chasing after them. If we turn the other way, they follow us. Unless there are geese to chase or dogs to run after.

They like to eat goose poop, which grosses me out, but there's no stopping them.

They also eat certain plants. They are cute when they chew happily away.

One winter, as they ran ahead of me in the snow along the river, I thought I saw a cute little otter poking up his head in the water. When Henry began to bark frantically, I realized that was no otter -- it was Georgie!

I ran as fast as I could through the snow. There was Georgie clinging to a bit of ice about four feet off the bank.

Now some people told me later that I took too big a risk when I went in after him. "People have died that way," they said.

But, I had no alternative. I could not let Georgie freeze and drown.

The ice was fairly thick at first, but the ice Georgie clung to was too thin to carry my weight. Down went my leg four feet into that freezing water.

Carrying him out was quite a trick, but we made it, and I carried him home to give him a warm soak in the tub.

Henry likes the river. At the banks, which are about a foot high in most places, he jumps down and bounds through the water. My favorite part is when he makes a great and sudden leap as he pops back onto the shore.

My husband won't let the dogs go in the river in the spring. That's when the water animals have their babies along the shore.

One day I did a stupid thing with the dogs. I didn't pay attention to the weather report. I took them for a walk in the woods. We were caught in a ferocious rain/snow storm!

The only tree nearby was a spindly thing. The dogs and I stood as close to it as possible. I called my husband, who for some reason refused to come get us -- odd because usually he is so unaccommodating.

The storm lasted quite some time, and we all got sopping wet. My phone was a casualty. I didn't know that if your phone gets wet you should remove the SIM card and let the phone dry out.

The dogs are so much alike, yet so different in some ways. Henry chews on toys and plays tug of war with us. He loves to have us kick balls for him in the yard. He bounds after them. As soon as I run over to them, he yips and jumps in excitement and cannot wait until I kick it again.

Georgie does not play with toys. He's afraid of balls. The only time I saw him enjoy playing was when a friend lived with us. He used to pat Georgie rapidly on the head. Georgie liked it!

I take that back. The dogs play together. To the untrained eye they look like they are fighting, but they never hurt each other.

When Henry was a puppy he could walk two miles with me every day. I sat down to rest on a low cement wall on the edge of someone's lawn. Suddenly, two German Shepherds bounded up and tried to attack Henry. They would not go away. When I clutched Henry in my arms and carried him down the street, they followed us.

On the next corner was a beauty shop. I took Henry in there. The dogs circled and circled the block, so I was afraid to leave. I called animal control. The dogs' owner found them at the pound.

I was asked if I wanted to press charges. At first I was so incensed I said yes. A few weeks later I went to court. The man told me that he put the dogs down.

"Hey, that's not what I wanted, I said.

"I had to do it," he said.

I felt very bad.

I wasn't quite up front with you when I told you I have two Schnauzers. Henry died three years ago at age 12 from pancreatitis. We buried him in the back yard. I happened to have some rocks that cover his grave. A little statue of a bunny rabbit looks down on him.

I wanted to tell our story without the sadness of losing him. I wanted to tell you about how the dogs interacted with one another.

I miss Henry every day. Georgie misses him, too. They were such great pals, and went on so many adventures together.

One place they loved to go was to a park with a creek running through it. Henry led the way, running and swimming across to the other side where he dug for animals who lived in the bank.

Man, would those dogs get muddy!

Henry liked to swim back most of the way, trying to catch frogs. He never was successful, I'm glad to say.

Four years ago my mother died. Two years ago my husband died, leaving Georgie and me alone with our two cats.

When Henry was around I adopted a cat with the express motivation of having a mouser. The house was overrun with mice. I did not want to poison them; they avoided the traps I set; I couldn't afford to have someone come in and trap them.

I picked the right cat. Mo Mo rid the house of mice within a couple of weeks. The first couple of years after he began his mission, a few stray mice appeared every so often, but for the past four years none have dared to come in.

Now, Mo Mo, or rather, the dogs, presented a huge problem when Mo Mo came on the scene. They chased him mercilessly. Schnauzers are hunters.

So, Mo Mo, being an indoor cat, had no escape. I bought him a huge cat tree and put it in the spare bedroom. I closed the door to protect him. I felt so bad that he was lonely and isolated, and because he wasn't visible, I often forgot to pay him attention.

I got the great (no, stupid) idea to get another cat to keep him company. I thought maybe if I got a kitten, he would be nurturing to her.

I adopted a beautiful calico kitten. It was no sooner than I brought her in the house that Mo Mo attacked her. This was not the best way to introduce a new cat to our home.

So, still Mo Mo had to be cooped up in the bedroom. My experiment failed.

The problem was mostly solved when Cali began to beg to go outside. Pretty soon she wouldn't let us catch her. I used to bring her in on cold nights, but soon she ran away even then. How she tolerates our freezing temperatures is beyond me.

But, her choice to live outside and come only for food and water saved the day in terms of Mo Mo's dilemma.

Not long after Cali's exodus Henry died. Georgie began to make friends with Mo Mo. They sometimes actually sit four feet from one another. When Georgie is not chasing Mo Mo, that is!

Georgie and I are great pals now. He's the only pal I've got. I talk to him more than to anyone else!

But he is almost 13, and I know I will lose him in the not too distant future. He and I have gotten old together. He is just about my age in dog years.

This year his behavior has changed quite a bit, and this worries me. Dogs hide it when they are sick or not feeling well. I worry that's true of him.

He has taken to sleeping in odd places -- on the bathroom floor, by the door in the kitchen, in my study.

Georgie has taken to barking at me a lot when I'm working or otherwise occupied. He doesn't let me know exactly what he wants. Even when he wants to go out, it takes two or three times before he goes to the door.

He needs more treats, chew bones, especially. He misses Henry and feels more needy.

When I lose Georgie I will do what I have done with all the major losses in my life. I will grieve and mourn and cope as best I can.

Don't we all.