Our Fur Baby

My wife had dachshunds growing up and I had lived next to a couple over the years. She really wanted to have a dachshund in the house so a year after we got married, we went and got 2 pups. She got a smooth red minature and I got a black and tan. They were from different litters but spent a week together before we picked them up. Here are our boys. We had them for 7 and 8 years but lost them to various ailments. Such sweethearts :-)

After a failed attempt at a rescue dog (was too aggressive for us), we happily got connected, through our Vet, with a breeder of miniature dachshunds. She was a serious breeder, showing all over the country. Even at Westminster. We had decided on a puppy and somehow we ended up bringing the puppy, another puppy and the first puppies mom home with us. The other two were just going to stay for a couple of days.

The two puppies were all over mom - nipping at her, never giving her a moment. Finally the puppies settled down and my wife, so upset that the mom was getting so harried, picked her up and cradled her in her lap. When that dog fell asleep in her lap, that sealed the deal. Puppies (who we suddenly remembered were a LOT of work) went back and we kept mom. She is a wild boar wirehaired miniature dachshund. And she is just adorable! This is her at 4 years old when we got her. And we must have made a great impression on the breeder for her to give her to us. A year or two later we went to see her at a local dog show and a friend of her's was there. When she found out which dog we had, she remarked that she had been the breeders favorite.

So now she is nearly 14 and rules the house, as all dachshunds are prone to do. She takes up more room in the bed than the two of us do. She loves lettuce, ice cream and cheese (as well as anything else we give her). She loves being in the hamper with warm clothes just out of the drier. And we couldn't love her more.

She is very portable - at 9 pounds you can scoop her up and take her most everywhere. She loves to go for a walk - she goes ballistic when we start to get ready to go out. She thinks she is about the size of a German Shepard, the way she barks at every other dog we see on our walk. Have to be careful on our walks, if another dog gets too close and you try to pull her back, she is so light you can lift her right off the ground without trying.

She loves (err...tolerates) the kids in the neighborhood. We have met so many folks in the neighborhood since everyone wants to come up and pet her. She's such a joy (and sooo much cheaper than having a kid!). I hope you enjoy these pictures of our "child". Can't image not having her.