OSKAR The Alpine Tow Dog

Here is Oskar’s story as reported by Marnie. She has added a couple of pictures.

Oscar was adopted from FFAA about 5 years ago by Joerg and Beate while they were residing in Nutrioso, Arizona. Joerg and Beate already had a beautiful Australian Sheep Dog, also black and white, named Kiene (which is German for King).

They called Laurie, told her what they were looking for and made an appointment to pick out a new friend. Kiene was allowed to pick out his new friend and they called him Oskar. Oskar was just a puppy at the time and then after about a year and a half his family had to leave for Germany. While they had him they taught Oskar German as well as English.

Oskar’s companion Kiene died and he was alone except for Joerg and Beate. Joerg hiked all the time around Escudilla Mountain and took Oskar with him; they both loved the outdoors. Then the German government decided Joerg and Beate had to return after living here for 10 yrs. They asked me and my husband, Wayne, to look after Oskar until they returned. That didn’t happen and we added Oskar to our family.

It was a challenge at first since my Wayne did not want another dog! Our other dog, Boss Dog, was old and died a couple of years after Oskar came to us. The loss of Boss Dog for Wayne was hard, but Oskar filled the void and helped him through it. Now they are inseparable. He goes on almost all tow calls and he and Wayne are almost inseparable. Oskar has bonded with both of us. Oskar sleeps with us and loves the outdoors. He started out as a forty-pound dog and has bloomed into 80 pounds of love. When he stands on his hind legs he stretches out to almost 5 feet in height. So I hope you enjoy these few pics as this boy, Oskar, has had a few transitions in his life and has adapted wonderfully since he’s been with us. He loves to play ball and not only fetches but will throw it back to you using his head and tongue, pushing it out of his mouth toward you. He is so dang smart, it’s scary. He’s learned to recognize most words that pertain to him and what he likes to do, even if we quietly mention the word so as not to get him all excited. We’ve had to resort to spelling! OMgoodness, I hope he doesn’t learn to spell!

Oscar is the official Alpine Tow Dog and goes on almost every tow call with Wayne. He sits up on the front seat of the big ol’ truck with its big ol’ window and he “owns” it. We are going to make him a T-shirt with the logo embroidered on it.

Marnie