… the place has fallen silent.
On March 12th, you left us. Your strength failed you. You just wanted to be at peace, lay down and sleep. Our vet came over, and together we decided to let you go.
You had become 15 years and 7 and a half week. That is really old age for a dog of your size. You had always been healthy. At the age of 13 years, after a long hike, you overestimated your stamina and jumping into the little creek on our grassland, hurt your lumbal spine.
We kept you strong and agile with a healthy diet and lots of supplements, as long as possible. Until you, being your own old self, more and more demanded your food, but the rejected it or ate just a little bit. Nothing was good enough any more, but special treats, like sausages, ham or cheese.
Until that day, when you lay at the foot of the stairs, unable to get yourself up. You stretched your neck towards the back door, wanted to go out into the garden, and we had to carry you out there.
All our dogs gathered around you, sitting or lying down or strolling around all over the lawn, keeping an eye upon their big, strong, loud, bossy and brave leader lying on his bedding without moving, hardly breathing. He who, as we all knew, would have given his life for them in case of danger, the paradigm of a real father.
Even after you died, they stayed around you, until nightfall.
We miss you, Sisko. Your loud and low-pitched voice. Your presence. Your pushiness. Your intelligence. Your bright and beaming eyes. Your paws on our thighs. Your nose on the dinner table. Your firepower. Your courage. Your desire for running that you kept up, becoming foolhardy with time. Your rhythmic gait. Your joy of endless hikes. Your impatience with those who did not toe the line. Your annoying stubbornness. Your almost inexhaustible energy. Your tender nosetipping.
We will always miss you…
Run free, Sisko!
All photos by Vera Faupel, Fritzlar/Germany, on the occasion of the Christmas Wonder Campaign (Aktion Weihnachtswunder) 2025 by European pet photographers – Thank you, Vera, for catching Sisko’s spirit!
Thank you to the vet clinic Dr. Wolfram Lemmer, particularly Dr. Matthias Gutmann for taking good care of our boy’s health over many years, and to our vet, Kim Rebekka Weimann for helping our boy to find peace.
