2 How AOVET started
Dr Guggenbühl’s huge dogs Before Dr August Urs Guggenbühl became the chief and general surgeon at the Hospital in Grenchen (near Solothurn) in 1957, he worked as chief resident at the Liestal Hospital under Hans Willenegger, one of the AO Founding Fathers, Guggenbühl was the youngest of the 13 AO founding members in 1958. Urs Guggenbühl was the proud owner of seven dogs (Irish Wolfhounds, a Great Dane, a Bordeaux Dane, a Mastiff, as well as a Greyhound) who used to accompany him almost everywhere in his Jaguar convertible (Fig 6). He was renowned for showing up with all of them in tow. Actually, he had never planned to have so many (and such huge) dogs. He had ended up with them by accident but he loved to live with them. Of course, Guggenbühl was in contact with the local veterinarian at that time but he was not impressed by the techniques and equipment used for fracture care in animals. Therefore, he started teaching the veterinarian the AO Principles of osteosynthesis. Occasionally, Guggenbühl himself carried out a surgical intervention with the veterinarian’s assistance.
Fig 6 Urs Guggenbühl in front of his house with four of his prize-winning giant dogs.
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