Waidmannsruh…

I had for some years had an interest in Zwerg (miniature) Teckels. In Ireland, even standard Teckels aren’t very common, so obtaining one from a working strain here wasn’t going to be possible.

In Volume One of The International Working Teckel, lifetime Teckel enthusiast, breeder, hunter and former DTK President Dieter Honsalek wrote about his own zwerg Teckel kennel “vom Gesselner Feld”, and his dogs really caught my attention. I had spoken with Dieter occasionally prior to this, and we had initially made contact through a mutual friend, Marion Finney in Ireland—an Irish Wolfhound and miniature Teckel enthusiast who had previously imported a puppy from Dieter some years ago, which she was very satisfied with. Around late 2022, I had been speaking with Dieter and told him that if he was breeding in the future to “please keep me in mind” and that, if there was the possibility of a puppy, I would have no problem collecting it in Germany.

Fast forward almost a year later, and my daughter Isla and I were having breakfast in Hanover on a warm August morning when Dieter called me to say he and “Niobe” were around 30 minutes away. Niobe had been born in late April that same year, and Dieter had updated us usually every Sunday afternoon around midday, sending photos and letting us know how she was doing. We felt we almost knew her before she arrived, as we had photos and videos of her development from almost as soon as she was born. On the night before we flew to Germany, Dieter sent us a video of Niobe out for a walk. A large combine harvester was cutting a field near his house, and she paid no attention to it. The noise—even in the video—was deafening, but it did little to startle her confidence. As we sat in the sun, Dieter came around the corner of the hotel with this very small but very confident and proud puppy on a lead. She looked like she owned the hotel and dared anyone to have a problem with it! She looked great in her photos, but ten times better in the flesh, and I knew when I saw her that she was something special. She had that twinkle in her eye and a spring in her step.

It was great to finally meet Niobe, and even more so Dieter, after talking via messages & phone for so long. We went to his vehicle to collect her belongings before leaving. If we had taken everything Dieter brought, we would have needed the full cargo area of the airplane! Food, toys, blankets, leashes, more toys—and of course some lovely German lollipops for Isla from Dieter and his wife Hieke.

Dieter, Isla and I talked for a couple of hours and discussed zwerg Teckels, hunting in Germany and Ireland, and we got on—as we say in Ireland— “like a house on fire”. We said goodbye and made our way to the airport and eventually to the Netherlands for a connecting flight to Ireland, arriving home in the early hours of the morning with our new apprentice in tow. There are times when a puppy takes a while to settle and adjust. Everything is new—for it and for you: a different house, kennel, routine, and everything else. Adjusting can take a while. Not Niobe! She settled for a few hours in her crate, and the next morning was playing with my son Harry outside like she had been with us all her life. She chased balls, shook fox toys and fell asleep on the grass in the afternoon sun.

A few days later I had to cut the grass and placed her in a small wooden crate in front of me, with a safety leash on her collar, and mowed all the grass while she took in the sights. You may laugh, but doing things like this, I’ve found, makes all the difference for a puppy. I was fairly sure it wasn’t going to be a problem anyway, as Dieter had done a lot of work with her, and seeing her with the combine harvester back in Germany was certainly a lot more daunting than a ride-on mower… But nevertheless, it did no harm.

I have had one Teckel in my time that was gun-shy—a dog called Archie, the first Teckel I owned. He was actually out of show parents but had a passion for hunting. Archie loved deer and seemed to be able to find them wherever he went. He once got into a scuffle with a red hind and her calf in a wood near my house when he was quite young. He went missing for the entire day, and I found him that night tucked under a road sign with a large cut on his forehead. He hunted foxes in cover, loved rabbits, and would try to squeeze his way into the big warrens on the beach. He once caught a pheasant in a gorse bush, but if I even took a shotgun from my vehicle, he was gone. He didn’t have a bad experience with a gun—he just didn’t like it from the first time I shot over him. I have always been wary when introducing Teckels to the gun. I listened to all sorts of things over the years—starting pistols inside game bags, reducing distance, and so on – but what I have found works for me is other dogs. I have a few Teckels and none are gun-shy. If I take a new puppy out to introduce him or her, I take all the dogs. I have found that a puppy will look to the others for reassurance, and if he hears the bang and isn’t sure, he will look to the others—who are usually running around looking to find a rabbit or a duck! When the puppy sees the others aren’t bothered, they seem to take their lack of concern as a signal that they don’t need to be bothered either. I have started three or four young dogs this way. Perhaps it’s coincidence, perhaps I’ve been lucky and they weren’t gun-shy anyway – but it works for me.

Niobe was by my side as we walked, with the others up ahead. We were in a place I call “The Moss”, a big old piece of bog near my house, it’s a place you could spring a duck, a fox, or maybe even a deer. It was a grey November day, a little wet and cold, and as we walked, I spotted a duck coming fairly high but in our direction. I stopped and knelt down, knowing well it wouldn’t go over my head if it saw me. As it approached, I put the bead on it and followed through… Bang! It folded and began to tumble. I looked round and Niobe was watching closely. As it thumped out in front, she took off towards it—no concern for the gun—and a few seconds later, all 3kgs of her was wrestling with a large Mallard duck that was flapping and rolling around on the grass! She got the situation under control—as difficult as it was—and I forgave her for not retrieving it this time, as it was as big as her!

Niobe, from very early in life, had a very strong prey drive and a lot of confidence. In fact, I would say her prey drive and keenness to hunt is stronger than any Teckel bitch I’ve owned. Not only that, but she is absolutely fearless. Be it a mouse or a red stag—it matters little. She’ll handle the situation without fuss. With my work, I have about 15 to 20 Larsen traps in operation during the trapping season, and quite often the traps with side entry and smaller mesh would catch rats. This was often difficult, as it’s not easy to dispatch a rat in a side-entry trap quickly.

Enter Niobe. I have often had Teckels that would yap, whine and bark outside the trap, waiting for the rat to exit—and when it did, they would often miss it, chasing it into a hedge where it would escape. Not Niobe. She doesn’t bark, yap, or wait, but as soon as I open the entry door, she goes in, takes the rat out, and kills it—quickly, cleanly, and humanely without fuss. I trap mink in a few areas too, and often Niobe is with me when checking traps. I began to know long before reaching a trap whether it had caught a mink, as Niobe would often run ahead, tail wagging, usually yipping now and again in anticipation—before I arrived at a caged mink with her baying in excitement before I dispatched it with the .410. 

Often in the same areas, I shoot foxes. By night, they can be difficult to find among thick, heavy and often wet ground. Early on, Niobe came with me in her Hubertus Loden rucksack, and as soon as I fired a shot, she was wiggling in the bag. When I let her out, she would search the area, find the fox, and bark until I arrived. Not entirely essential—but very handy and saves so much time.

I have been impressed with her so many times and continue to be. Only last season, we were on the Moss on a Saturday morning hoping for a duck and things weren’t looking good. We checked a few water holes and had no ducks at all. Eventually, I decided to move elsewhere and we made for the pick-up along a short lane. I’ve walked this lane with the other dogs dozens of times, but this time Niobe kept scenting to the right. She was almost like a pointer… creeping and scenting, creeping and scenting. All of a sudden, she ran through some rushes on the right and about a dozen teal exploded from the ground. I fired two shots and one fell some distance ahead. I went to where she had gone in and found a very small trickle of water that ran along the lane—and I never even knew existed until that day. The other splashes and ponds were low in water, and for some reason the teal had stopped here. Had Niobe not been with me, I would have never known.

Earlier in her life – in fact, when she was around 8 months old – I had taken her out for the day with the other Teckels and a lurcher. The older dogs had hunted some cover together in the morning alongside the lurcher, and later in the afternoon I took Niobe, Remy and Poppy to some very rough ground below my childhood home. The grass is very deep and heavy, intertwined with bramble and gorse. It’s difficult walking, but often a great spot to flush a fox, a rabbit, or something else. There’s a little stream that crosses through it for about half a mile, and the banks on each side are quite high. I walked on top of the bank as the dogs worked below, running up and down—two each on either side—scenting and pushing through the heavy stuff.I spotted Niobe looking into a thick patch of bramble as the others went past it. She stopped, scented around it, and launched herself into the middle of it as a large cock pheasant exploded from the far side! I swung the gun but the sun was in my eyes, and I fired for the sake of it—and a split second later, I heard a thump.

I walked down the bank to find Niobe locked onto a running pheasant, and she was not letting go! A large cock pheasant can be quite hefty, and an 8-month-old miniature Teckel isn’t big! As the pheasant jumped, twisted and rolled, all while beating his wings as hard as he could around her head, Niobe would not give up and eventually steadied him. I caught up with them and relieved her of the bird, to which she jumped and barked to get back!

We moved on and shot a teal from the lower end of the stream and called it a day. I reflected on it as we walked back to the vehicle and reminded myself that Niobe was only 8 months old. Rats, rabbits, foxes, pheasants, ducks—and at the time we didn’t know—but later that month she would encounter red deer and fallow too.

Niobe has, since a young puppy, been a natural hunter. It is in her heart and her soul. She is like a duck to water, a bird to air. Never requiring any encouragement. She knew what a rat, a fox and a mink was. She knew the teal was to be retrieved and the pheasant was to be flushed. She knew the red hind and the fallow were to be bayed at, and that the rabbit was to be chased. And at the end of all those days, the wood burner was for lying in front of—even if it got too hot.

I love passion in people—I don’t care if you play golf, chess, or jump from aeroplanes with a parachute… If it’s in your heart, it’s in your heart. What is even better than passion in people is passion in dogs. And Niobe isn’t just a dog with passion – she is a passionate dog.

Her passion comes from her Gesselner Feld heritage that runs in her blood and in the heart of her breeder. She is passionate for hunting—whatever is to be hunted. Like many men, she wants to be in the thick of the action and not on the sideline. She is the first to arrive and the last to leave. She is all that a Teckel should be, and everything I hoped she would. 4.5 kgs is small for a dog—but big things come in small packages – Waidmannsheil!

This article was published in Vol III of The International Working Teckel releaed in 2025. On 28th September 2026, Niobe – Who in my time of owning and working Teckels was the most fearless, hardest working & most loyal and affectionate dog anyone could ever want, passed away in her sleep. We have no idea why, or what happened, she was only three years old. I used to lift Niobe up and hold her like a baby, she delighted in it and would wag her tail furiously and attempt to lick my face, I would tell her that she was my favourite and not to tell the others, its silly but its true. A couple of times after she passed I set her food bowl out with the others before I realised, and it really hit me each time. We buried her below a tree in the garden, a light a swedish candle and we placed her in her grave wrapped in a blanket with an Oak sprig on top and it was a sad time for us all, because there only will ever be one Niobe Vom Gesselner Feld.

Fortunately, Niobe had a litter of puppies at the end of 2025 and one of the females is in the hands of a very good friend – With a little luck we can continue Niobes line and continue to burn that Gesselner Feld fire which for me is the essence of modern Teckels.

I am grateful for the short time I had with Niobe, if she showed me anything it was what a real Teckel should be

Waidmannsruh…