Page 6 - Autumn 20

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Fenris – the untameable by Beatrice Milleder , Germany
Fenris came to my practice in March 2019. When his guardian called me she said that the clinic had given her a very poor prognosis for the problem, which was that Fenris was losing all his claws and was barely able to walk, even refused to walk more than what was necessary because his paws were so painful.
It had all started during a period of excessive snow when the first claw broke. Then one in front cracked. He was first treated with ointments and bandages, but he was unable to stand the pressure (confinement!). He refused to eat, so the bandage had to go. For a while he could walk again, then the next claw broke off and others started to grow like weed, and then broke off. In the end it was so bad that he could only walk 100 metres and then had to lie down, and he could only walk on very soft ground. The clinic diagnosed Symmetric Lupoid Onychodystrophy, which would result in a long time treatment with Tetracycline, fatty acids and niacinamide. Relapse is often seen and a lot of patients need life-long antibiotics. Sometimes pentoxifylline is added.
As the guardian is a trained natural healer, she refused to accept that and wanted to try homeopathy. She said she wanted to send me pictures but it was not possible to get his paws on camera under any circumstances, which sounded odd and I was smiling inwardly my mobile phone ready when he came to my practice.
To say it was an event is not an understatement.
In came one of the largest German Shepherds I have ever encountered. Fenris was nothing if not impressive even while limping badly, looking straight at me and making an
entry. He came without a leash and the first thing his guardian told me was that it was of no consequence anyway, because he would just bite right through it, if he didn’t like it. He had also bitten right through a chain. Imagine that.
She said that he was her third dog of the same breed but he was like no one else. Even as a puppy he was very independent and self-sufficient – always wanted distance and space, which resulted in a whole bunch of failed trainings and frustrated dog trainers. In last consequence everything was his decision – to go out, to go to sleep, to find his spot. He hated going by car for example, so he decided not to enter it. Nothing helped, so for three years going by car was impossible. No coaxing helped, nothing. If she tried to be stern he would start to growl. Then one day he simply jumped in and that was that.
She also described him as haughty, that he often treated people like sheep, children in particular, limiting their movements, controlling them. “He doesn’t like to stay on a path, loves to find his own way. He has always been a dominant dog with hardly any social contact with other dogs. He can be okay with a bitch but even then he is very selective,” she said. He always accompanies his guardian to work (she is the owner of a copy shop) and there he is quiet and neither barks nor growls but always lies across the entry and has everything in his view. Because he is huge he doesn’t even have to do anything to impress customers.
“He doesn’t need me,” she said, “and always makes his own decisions and when people talk about him and he doesn’t like it he leaves the room.”