Hello,
Quite a few of you have met Knödel the dog. Knödel (German for “dumpling”) was found on the Biketour in 2014 in Bulgaria when he was just 2 weeks old. He and his sister had been left to die next to a dumpster. Some Biketour participants picked them up and found local families to take both of them. However, Knödel somehow escaped and decided to come back to us, so he travelled with us around the Balkan and eventually came to live with me in Berlin. In the following years he kept joining the Biketour together with me and has probably spent around a year of his life on the Biketour in total. If you joined in those years, you may remember him for his playfulness when he was younger or for his various efforts to defend his trailer when he was older.
He has lived with me for almost 11 years now, but my life situation has changed a lot recently and unfortunately I do not see a way to keep taking care of him much longer. I have recently become a parent and am expecting a second child in a few months. As my child is growing up and becoming more mobile, it has become apparent that it is not safe for a small child to live in the same household as Knödel. In addition, my capacity to care for him well has decreased, and this will only get worse when the second child is born.
Because of this, I am looking for a new permanent caregiver for Knödel. While Knödel is a very lovely dog, he has some character traits that make him incompatible with many living situations. Because of this, I am sending a very detailed description of his quirks and needs here, so that if you are considering taking care of a dog at all, you can make a first judgement whether Knödel could fit into your life. I have also attached some photos so that you can get a first impression.
Knödel is a medium-sized dog (15 kg) and a mix of unknown breeds. For his size, he has a quite strong body. He is able to climb very steep rocks and even ladders, and when he falls on the way down he doesn’t seem to mind at all. He is now 11 years old and is starting to get old, but he is still fit as ever. He cannot run very fast or very long, but he has practically unlimited endurance when it comes to walks or hikes. He has never been sick. I would expect him to live another 3–5 years.
Because he grew up being carried a box on a bicycle, he is very patient and likes to stay in small boxes. He loves travelling to new places by bicycle, train or car. On the train, he likes to sleep in a box under the seat, so he can travel for free as luggage. Even very long trips are no problem for him, and other passengers often don’t even notice that he’s there.
He is very resilient to noise, even heavy traffic or fireworks don’t bother him. However, there have been some constellations where he barks when left home alone, in particular when he can hear someone entering the building, but he cannot get there to greet them. Other than that, he has no problem being home alone for longer periods.
He is very social and affectionate with humans. When you show love to him, he shows it back, sometimes in a quite dramatic way. If you don’t interact with him, he leaves you alone. Because he grew up in a bigger group of people, he has no fear of large crowds at all and easily trusts anyone who is nice to him. However, since he was about 1 year old he has had a tendency to defend his place, his food and sometimes random items that he considers his, such as sticks or toys. The range of ways in which he defends these items can reach from just growling to serious bites. This never happens while on the move, but it can start to happen as soon as you settle down for a few minutes in one place. It particularly happens in places and with items that he is familiar with, such as his sleeping place at home and the box or bicycle trailer that he travels in.
He is more likely to attack smaller beings such as children. It is unsafe to have him in the vicinity of children, except on a walk when constantly moving. When stationary around adults, he needs to wear a muzzle, and he needs to rest in a place where people are not walking by directly in front of him. If he ever must be left alone outside a shop, he has to wear a muzzle and needs to be put in a corner where people are unlikely to walk by.
His attacks are clearly a result of fear, not aggression. They can happen completely suddenly and unexpectedly, particularly for people who are not experienced in reading the body language of dogs. He is less likely to attack when is basic needs are fulfilled. Dog trainers who have experience in making scared dogs feel more safe have usually also had success making his attacks less likely, but I don’t think it is possible to achieve complete safety. Importantly though, he never attacks adults that he knows, trusts and respects, so with his main caregivers, no safety measures need to be taken.
He does not seem to defend his caregivers. On the opposite, he has always treated people very close to me, such as intimate partners, relatives and close friends, as if they were his caregivers, even when meeting them for the first time.
Regarding other dogs, he is very sociable and can adapt very well to the whole spectrum of personalities from aggressive to anxious. For anxious dogs, his persistence can sometimes feel exhausting, but so far he has managed to convince any dog to play after a few minutes. The fact that he is castrated might be a contributing factor that other dogs, including street dogs, have never attacked him. He defends his place and food from other dogs in the same way as he does from other humans, but because dogs know how to react this has never resulted in an actual bite. It might not be the best for him to share a household with an anxious dog, as he would defend all the comfortable places and the food, which would really restrict the other dog.
As far as I can tell, he doesn’t seem to have a hunting instinct, although he does have a strong desire to play, so when an animal runs away he likes to run after it. However, he is exceptionally reactive to being asked to do or not do something using words, so he will stop chasing if you ask him to. Because of this, it is no problem walking him without a leash, even when there is traffic.
To give you a rough idea what financial effort is to be expected: He has a Greek passport and a microchip, and all the usual vaccinations are up to date, including a blood test for Rabies antibodies that stays valid as long as you renew the rabies vaccination every 3 years. This makes it legal to travel abroad, including non-EU countries. To keep the right to travel abroad, you need to have him vaccinated every 3 years, which costs 20–60 € depending on the country. The recommended but optional vaccinations would cost the same but every year. Regarding food, he is not very picky and could live off the cheapest dog food for 5–10 € a month, although he surely prefers a bit more quality for 10–20 € a month. He does not like raw food like dumpster-dived raw meat, but cooked foods like bread and sausages work. In Berlin, you would legally be required to have a liability insurance (in case he causes damage, around 5 € a month) and pay a luxury tax (10 € a month), although this is rarely checked. This might be similar in some other places. So far there have been no vet costs other than the vaccinations, although I don’t know if this will change as he gets older.
Considering his specific personality and needs, I would say that his future caregiver must have some dog experience, in particular being able to read the body language of dogs. Living in a community is only possible if everyone there is experienced or at least quite tolerant with dogs, and/or if he has a personal space where there is not much contact with people. A nomadic lifestyle is possible but challenging (because he likes small boxes, a foldable travel box can make him feel at home anywhere, but it needs to be placed where people don’t pass directly in front of it).
You must consider that because of his specific personality, he is not a dog that you can just ask any random friend or relative to take care of while you are travelling. This means that if you are travelling frequently, it would only be compatible if either your style of travelling allows always taking him with you, or you have some specific people who have the commitment and ability to take care of him while you are away. Be aware that most long-distance buses and most paid accommodation does not allow dogs. If your style of travelling is mostly by foot, bicycle, car or train (hitchhiking also works) and you sleep in a tent, a car or in communities or at friends’ houses where you can find a secluded sleeping place for him, it could work out.
If you need to leave home for work, even for many hours a day, it should be no problem, as long as he cannot hear people entering the building and barking dogs from his sleeping place, or your neighbours/housemates don’t mind if he barks. Taking him with you to work is only possible if you can find a safe corner for him there and there are no children around.
If you can imagine becoming Knödel’s new caregiver, I would be very glad to hear from you. I’m imagining that as a first step, we would have a call and/or meet to see how you get along with Knödel and see whether he fits into your living situation.
Greetings, Candid
