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Friday, June 22, 2012

Lore Schlechtingen: March 8, 1931 - June 9, 2012

by John Jeanneney

Frau Lore Schlechtingen passed away on June 9, 2012. She was a highly intelligent woman who focused the second part of her life on breeding and promoting Teckels. I came to know her in 1982 when I purchased one of her Zwergteckels for tracking and underground work. Olive vom Dornenfeld was the first of a number of Dornenfeld Teckels that I acquired from her as my passion for blood tracking  grew.

Frau Schlechtingen was a hunter, who leased hunting rights  in a large forest near her home west of Cologne in western Germany. She tracked there with her own Teckels and gave me valuable advice in the early years when I needed it most.

Frau Schlechtingen was a hunter (picture taken in 1975)

Jolanta and I visited her several times in Germany, and she was the catalyst in the formation of the North American Teckel Club. It was Frau Schlechtingen who approached Wolfgang Ransleben, then President of the Deutscher Teckelklub, and told him of the plight of Americans trying to develop the German version of the Dachshund as a hunting dog in North America. Jolanta and I met with President Ransleben in 1999, and  arrangements were made to set up NATC, first as an extension of the DTK Group Embken. Frau Schlechtingen was President of Group Embken at that time.

Frau Schlechtingen also took a great interest in New York’s State’s Deer Search Inc.,  which was the pioneer blood tracking organization in the United States. She donated the Schlechtingen Prize plaque that is awarded each year to the Deer Search member who goes out on the most deer calls.

In my files I have more than two inches of typewritten correspondence from Frau Schlechtingen, who must have stayed up late many nights writing to inform and advise me about training and breeding.  She was always a formal person addressing me as “Mr. Jeanneney”, and I reciprocated always with “Frau Schlechtingen”. And I always signed my letters “Your respectful apprentice”. I meant it. More than anyone else, she was my mentor.

Lore Schlechtingen and John Jeanneney in Spetember 1999 (Germany)

9 comments:

MTWaggin said...

Aww so sorry to hear about Lore but I adore that first picture. She almost has this fun little smirk on her face. Made me smile. Sounds like she was an amazing woman all the way around and I totally know what you are feeling as I lost one of my crested friend/breeder/mentor on Monday.

Susan Langworthy said...

So sorry for your loss, John, and Jolanta. And to MTWaggin. What an impact each of these people had!

Lindsjö taxar said...

Sad to hear about your loss. Really a iron woman I think who did a lot of good thinks in hunting and about dogs

Jolanta Jeanneney said...

John and I thank you for your warm words. We are sorry to hear about your loss too MTWaggin.

Claire said...

I am also sorry for your loss. What a lovely legacy she left!

I am drooling over that gorgeous loden coat!

Now, it is time to publish her letters.

Jolanta Jeanneney said...

Claire,
Several years ago I thought about putting some sections of the letters on the blog and we have a verbal permission form Frau Schlechtingen to do it.

Dr. Jürgen Bornhaupt said...

It was about then, when the picture of Lore with the boar was taken we learned to know each other. I bought one little Dornenfelder named Rani from her and half a year later she gave me the brother Radja as a gift. Both dogs became "Gebrauchssieger" and accompanied me for all their life. Beautifull and good dogs they were, what was to be expected as they followed their mother Astrid vom Dornenfeld which was herself a daugther of Lores most beloved Hexe vom Dornenfeld.
So sad she passed away and I am happy I visited her in 2011 for a last time. She had become old by then an her husband Helmut was concerned about her health.
I can not thank enough for all that hunting together in Embken (I shot my first boar on her huntingground), all that good advice she gave and the hospitallity whenever we came her place.
Dr. Jürgen Bornhaupt

Dietrich Ashoka Chopra said...


I am deaply stirred when i see your comments and the wonderful Foto of Lore. It is because i am the eldest sun of Lore Schlechtingen, she is my mother and i miss her.

In India people say that one starts to be dead when nobody remembers you.
Thank you so much beeing her friends.

You know about the second half of her life.
I can tell you more about the first half. She married as a young woman of 21 to a indian who later became a Professor for European Philosophy and was my father.
She spent some years with him in India and also in London, when she returned to Germany i was 6 years old.
She helped me so much to become a more free-minded Person and gave so much love and energy to me.

She was 100-percent-person, she used to bring her visions and fixed-ideas to reality whatever prize she had to pay.
She emigrated in the 50ties to India and was a highly accepted Person there; at that time this was a big task and meant a lot of emanzipation.
Than later after some disappointments she came back to good old Germany and did the very reverse discovering hunting and dog breeding. Again she went through successfully and found a new live with many friends.

I must admit to be not so interested in hunting.
But i can see that my mother has
good friends all over the world.
I like your comments so much.

It would like to get into contact with some of you if possible.


Dietrich Ashoka Chopra,
Bonn, Germany


Jolanta Jeanneney said...

Hello Dietrich,
Thank you for your comments - we really appreciate them. John Jeanneney's e-mail is john@born-to-track.com

He is looking forward to hearing from you.