Paul Lester Photo

Fritz and Pedro – Frio River, Leakey, TX 1996 or so
While continuing to dig through the archives, I came upon this negative, taken with my Yashica Mat 124G, back some 16+ years ago. Of course, I have cropped it because I felt that it worked a little better this way rather than square.

I don’t have a lot of photos of my first Miniature Schnauzer, Fritz. I had Fritz for about 11 years (1988-1999) before he got out and ran away. We never did find him. Fritz, like Hobbs was a character. I think that all Schnauzers are; however, he had his own distinct personality and differed greatly from Hobbs in several ways:

1. Fritz was very stubborn. Hobbs is a lot more compliant.
2. Fritz was a runner. If he got out, he was gone and you’d have to chase him. Hobbs is a homebody. He’d gotten out of the backyard before and when we returned home he was sitting on the front porch waiting to get back in.
3. Fritz was very nonchalant about food. Take it or leave it. Put down a bowl of food and he’d eat it when he was hungry. Hobbs would eat until he explodes! He’s always browsing for food.
4. Fritz was grumpy. He would growl if you disturbed his sleep or anything. He would never bite, just “grump”. Hobbs is amenable to most everything. If you wake him, he’ll just roll over and offer his belly.
5. Fritz was pretty much a one person operation. He only liked me, at least until Pedro came along and the two of them got along fabulously. Hobbs knows no strangers at all.

I remember that I had to take him to obedience class and really work with him. He actually got “Most Improved”. He was a real pain in the butt at first, but he learned quickly, but I always, and I mean always, had to assert that I was the boss. Hobbs is like that a little bit, too, but not nearly as much.

Those are just some of the differences. There are many more. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience Fritz all the way into old age like I am with Hobbs. It’s good to see some photos of him and remember him for the dog that he was.