Torteval Irish Wolfhounds

Ema was born on 29 August 1999, and lives with Toni the cat, and Susanne and Bernhard Schenkenberg in a quiet part of Hamburg. She is their first wolfhound, all their other dogs having been mixed breeds.
Susanne had wanted an Irish wolfhound from childhood, but it took 25 years of marriage to persuade Bernhard, as he insisted that with so many dogs looking for a home that there was no need to have a pedigree dog. Now, he would never take another mixed breed.

Ema is quiet, loves children, is reserved with strangers, gets nearly everything she wants by pressing her head on the knee and her paw on the toes of her victim until the recipient has tears in their eyes, knows the names of more than 30 humans and where they store treats for her, eats everything from rhubarb to pickled garlic, loves her daily walks with her dog friends (two Leonbergers, one Welsh terrier, one saluki, one German shepherd, two mixed breeds), and adores cats and rabbits.

She loves to travel, so Bernhard developed a special Irish wolfhound mobile home and the Schenkenbergs travelled with Ema to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg and on a daytrip to Guernsey!

Ema was welcomed at every hotel they visited - "Such a nice, gentle and non-barking dog, we would love to see her again".

She hates loud noises and gets hysterical when there is a thunderstorm, or the worst of all, fireworks. While visiting a wind surfing event in 2004, some drunks threw firecrackers towards her. She broke loose from her lead and bolted. Susanne and Bernhard looked for her for two days, then had to go back to Hamburg. Three days later they returned with Ema's dog friends and their owners to continue the search. Nothing! They put photos and notices offering a reward in the local newspapers, talked to vets, hunters' associations, the border police in Germany and Poland and many other people. Ema was invisible.

For the next two weekends they searched for her, and four times had calls that she had been seen, but the travelling took hours and each time Ema had disappeared again by the time they arrived. It was the wild boar hunting season, with shooting every evening and they had no idea what happened to their dog. Their vet said she could not survive more than a week.

After seventeen days Ema was found nearly dead, unable to move. Their son brought her back. She had lost 10kg, had dozens of wounds and scratches, but the next day insisted on taking, wearily and slowly, her usual morning walk, to great applause from all the neighbours. Since then, if Ema is outside without lead she is never more than a few metres away from Susanne - and always in eye contact.

Ema limps as she broke both her forelegs at six months when she jumped into a fence. After the operation Susanne was told she would not live beyond 18 months because of her broken elbow. Then she had two cruciate ligament ruptures. Now as a senior she is jealous when other dogs come to Susanne and Bernhard for attention because she is slower than the others and so lacks confidence.

Ema was, and is, and always will be, a fighter and she is the most beautiful, most gentle, most charming, most loved dog ever.

Now 9 years and 8 months old, Ema has problems with the six steps from the front door into the hall, cannot jump into the car anymore and has immense difficulties standing up. Susanne's house looks like a carpet dealer's store, as every inch of floor is covered with carpets borrowed from friends and neighbours. Although Ema needs anti-slip flooring and help, she still loves to walk three times a day.

And she loves Easter, behaving like a puppy! As usual, Susanne and Bernard hid chocolate eggs in the garden for the humans (age 25 - 82!) and goodies for dog and cat. And as usual Ema tried to get everything first! She tried to jump into the bushes when the chocolate was too high to reach and shook a favourite rose until it broke. So in the end the treats had to be hidden in the house.

Over the last months Ema has often been bored as she cannot tire herself out by running. She needs entertainment - hiding goodies under cushions or putting stale bread in a cardboard box, which she loves to destroy.

And there are problems: she can no longer jump into the car. Susanne and Bernhard have to lift her forelegs and then lift her rear against the resistance of her stiff forelegs, so that she is forced to take a step inside. As this takes two people, a ramp was bought. Even on the floor, she wouldn't set a paw on it. With the ramp fixed to the car, and two children on each side, Bernhard crawled backwards up it with a sausage in his mouth while Susanne waved a banana in the car to tempt Ema, but she was as obstinate as a mule. After two weeks of this (with all the neighbourhood watching) the ramp went back. The next Schenkenberg dog will be trained to a ramp from puppyhood.

Ema suffers from a kind of senile dementia. She sometimes demands loudly food at 2 am, cannot find her water bowl, searches the steps into the garden, and stands desperately in the middle of the room until she is led to her bed.

But in spite of it all she is just the best dog in she world.

Susanne is proud ot introduce Ferdinand, born December 26th, and now with the family for a week. Ema still thinks he is a pain in the . . . . ! On the other hand, she loves her alpha role and is very busy demonstrating it. And Ferdinand is such a cute baby and is always charming around her.