Best friend of man of God

Three years ago Catholic priest Urs Steiner’s terrier Fionnley had to be put down at the age of thirteen-and-a-half. “It was a Friday,” he recalled, “and the next day there was this terrible emptiness.” Within three months, the then 59-year-old had become the owner of another dog. He turned down the offer of a Dobermann bitch and took on a three-year-old poodle, who had been previously owned by a lady in her eighties, though she was not really up to taking it for energetic walks and this had led to the dog having muscle wastage.
 
This was soon cured by a walking holiday Steiner and his dog, renamed Humphrey, spent in South Tyrol. “In the evenings he was worn out,” said the now 61-year-old, but now the dog is very fit and likes nothing more than to go on long walks in the Gut Hirt area, where his master is priest, as well as on the Zugerberg and by the lake shore, where he is much enjoyed by children, too, for his endearing ways. Now the pair have taken to going to the Camargue for holidays; Humphrey even enjoys the car journey there. As Steiner explained, French kings used to take this breed of dog out hunting.
 
Since the beginning, the pair have remained inseparable. Humphrey even accompanies his master to church, though he waits patiently in the vestry during services. Only when the priest has a particularly busy weekend does he have to be housed elsewhere.
 
With his black woolly coat, Humphrey is also very popular with members of the congregation, some of whom, as well as catechist Karen, have given him neck scarves, of which he now owns twelve.
 
Talking of the dog’s endearing little ways, Steiner mentioned how, when he goes out without telling Humphrey where, he barks, but when he tells him he is going to church, he’s happy. “So I actually tell him a white lie when I go out training and say I am going to church,” he confessed.
 
The dog acts very much as type of therapy for his master too. “As a priest, one hears so many sad stories, so it is always good to have Humphrey with his cheerful demeanour around.”