Is this Pschulek?

Pschulek was a dog with an attachment to Rudolf Steiner. Or perhaps the opposite was true: Rudolf Steiner was a human being with an attachment to a dog named Pschulek. Pschulek is said to have been the owner of a human being who apparently was a follower of anthroposophy. Possibly, Pschulek was the first known Caninosophist in history.

Steiner Antedote
“La caninosophie
‘Et voici encore une gentille anecdote du ‘Docteur-Chien’, comme on avait surnommé le fidèle Pschulek , le chien d’un des membres, car il accompagnait toujours le ‘Docteur’ et n’acceptait de monter en voiture qu’après s’être assuré que Rudolf Steiner lui-même y eût pris place. Un jour Rudolf Steiner déclara à ce compagnon fidèle: ‘Pas vrai, Pschulek , qu’un jour tu fonderas une caninosophie?’. (Fred Poeppig, à l’endroit cité précédemment p. 79)”

Computer translation of the French
The caninosophie
And here is another nice anecdote of the 'Doctor-dog', as they had nicknamed the loyal supporter Pschulek, the dog of one of the members, because he always accompanied the 'Doctor' and agreed to go up by car only having been sure that Rudolf Steiner should have set up there himself. One day Rudolf Steiner declared to this faithful companion: "Isn’t it true, Pschulek, that you will one day found a Caninosophy?”

Who was Pschulek? We don’t know anything more about him, except this anecdote. I know of only one photo were Steiner is seen posing with a dog present.



Steiner clearly had a sense of humor about dogs. (Even though he also believed non-human animals cannot think.) Rudolf Steiner said:

“That is why our sense of smell is inferior to the dog’s. And so you can imagine that when a dog runs over the fields, he finds everything terribly interesting; so many smells come to him that if he were able to describe it, he would say the world is all smell. If among dogs there were a thinker like Schopenhauer, he would write interesting books! Schopenhauer wrote a book called “The World as Will and Idea” — but he was a man and his organ of smell had become an organ of thinking. The dog could write a book called “The World as Will and Smell.” In the dog’s book there would be a great deal beyond the discernment of a human being, because while a human being forms an idea, a mental image of things, a dog smells them. And it is my private opinion that the dog’s book — if the dog were a Schopenhauer — would actually be more interesting than the book that Schopenhauer himself wrote!”
post from zooey wordpress blog, Sweden