An Apology

 I apologize for my last post if I offended anyone who may have accidentally read it.  I get a bit emotional on the subject of dachshunds falling into the hands of the wrong owners.  What I said that may have offended some people was that I have taken dogs to the humane society.  There will be folks who say I had other options and should have used them. In my defense I will say that I exhausted all my options. I tried giving them away. I tried sending them to no kill shelters. The last thing I wanted was to take them to the Humane Society.

 I have only sent four dogs to the society. They had problems that would have eventually led to some bad consequences for me and them. People in my little town will shoot problem dogs. There was one lab who turned over trash cans. A neighbor who I owe many favors to told me that the next time he saw him doing it he was going to kill him. I asked him to hold off on that and give me some time to work with the dog. This was not even my dog, he belonged to a neighbor who worked all day.

 Sure enough I caught him turning over my neighbors trash can.  He was a stubborn dog. I grabbed him by the loose skin on his neck. I made sure he was looking at me then I shook my finger at him and said "NO GOMER NO."  I did not think that would work but it did. He lived for over ten years after that. My neighbor could not believe I had broken him of turning over trash cans. In defense of Gomer I'll just say that probably no one had ever corrected him. Gomer would later save me from a mauling by a pit bull.  Gomer was not stupid, just exceptionally stubborn.

  I hope to never take another dog to the humane society.  I did have something good happen with the last dog I took there. About two weeks after I dropped him off I saw him again just by accident. He was with a family who had kids and he looked happy. I knew it was him from some of the unusual markings on his coat.  I was pretty sure he'd be adopted when I took him. Besides that I'd left a decent donation when I dropped him off. I do that every time.

Dachshund Care

 I saw an article on Dachshund Care in a website called Wiki-How. I get concerned when I see an article like that because it was misleading. The person who wrote it said that Dachshunds are sweet,kind,gentle,and loving dogs who cause no problems at all. Whoever wrote that article is too much in love with their own dog to be objective. I fully agree that Dachshunds are sweet, kind, gentle, and loving but if I'd written that article I'd have added "As long as you don't wake up the German in them." I am of mostly German heritage and I'm familiar with it. I call it the attitude of "Ve shall DEFEND the fatherland and drive our enemies into the SEA!"

 I love the Dachshund breed. Dachshunds are not for everybody. Articles like that can cause the wrong people to go out and buy one. They wind up with a dog that they don't know how to handle. What do they do then? They bring them to little towns like mine and dump them off sometimes in the dead of winter. If they don't dump them off here they dump them off at the Humane Society where if they don't get adopted they get put to sleep.  There are no-kill shelters in my area but on the few occasions I tried to send a dog there I was very rudely told no. They were full. I'd like to think that the dogs I gave to the society were adopted but I doubt it and it takes a toll on me to drop one off even when the dog was causing a big problem. Before I go any further here I need to explain that the dogs I dropped off there had been dumped here in my town. Stray dogs that cause problems get shot. There are also people who take them and sell them to medical facilities for research. My dropping them at the society at least gives them a fighting chance.  This should never have to happen with any breed of dog.

 Please do not leave flaming comments at me for this. I only do it when I am forced to and I don't like it then. Save your anger for the people who actually do dump their dogs on the roadside.  I'd really love to catch somebody doing it. 

Just Another Cold December Day

 It was cold and sunny today. Too cold to do anything outside because the slight wind canceled out the sun. The enforced idleness is starting to make me lazy.  I've spent most of the day inside fiddling on the computer. I need to install that electric heater out in the garage Find out if it works or not.

 If I go outside and have Dolly with me she gets too cold too fast. There is three things she'll do when she gets too cold. 1. Want to go back in and come right back out to check on me. 2. Try to "Herd" me back inside like she is a sheep dog and I'm the uncooperative ewe. 3. Start begging for me to pick her up so that I will hold her and keep her warm. 

 I enjoy option three except for when I need to get something done. She likes three because has a better view of her territory from my lap. She also helps warm me up too. My problem with sitting like that is that I stiffen up after sitting for awhile.

 Dolly did do something a bit funny.  I think she was trying to tell me that she wants to go back to Tractor Supply. When she was recuperating from surgery we kept her on a leash for her potty runs.  When she needed to potty she'd get up on the arm of my chair and stretch her long body over to a partially open drawer on the desk. Then she would start nosing through the contents of the drawer then look back at me and wag her tail. I kept no food in that drawer, it was where I kept her halter and leash. It was her way of 'Talking' to me to tell me that she needed to potty.

 Even after she got her freedom back she would occasionally 'Talk' to me.  She wanted to go on a walk on the leash because it's fun to do something like that with her humans. She had not done that for a few months now. I'd thought she had forgotten. Today she did it again but this time it was right after a potty run. I honestly believe she was trying to tell me she wanted to go for a ride then go on a leash into the store,

Boredom Relief

 We have had too many days of cold dreary weather. Dolly spends too much time burrowed under the covers. I spend too much time in my recliner playing Facebook games. It was time to break up the routine. I did that by taking Dolly to the Tractor Supply store in Fulton MO.

 Dolly likes hardware stores especially the Farm and Home type stores. Probably in hopes of sinking her teeth into the baby chicks sometimes found there.  The smell of chicken feed gets her excited. She's a sweet dog towards humans but with birds her hunting instincts take over and she has the typical dachshund hunting instinct.

 She may or may not have been disappointed to find no baby chicks at Tractor Supply. I think she forgot about them because as soon as we entered the store one of the workers started calling to her. She was almost galloping in place to get to her. Sort of like a Fred Flintstone run. 

 It turned out that the employee grew up in Germany. She called Dolly a dachel and told me she had one like her when she was a girl. She said that she and her friends used to sneak the dog into the movie theater and feed her popcorn to keep her quiet.  When she got home her mom would be mad at her for feeding the dog too much popcorn.  Her dog's name was Schatze. I laughed and told her that if I were to ever change Dolly's name I'd call her Schatze. That's German for "Little sweety" or "Little Sweetheart".  Dolly fell in love immediately with the woman. She kept trying to jump up on the counter to see her better. 

 A bit later on I was approached by an older man.  He asked me how old my coonhound pup was. I was tempted to tell him that she was a new breed of dog called the Miniature German Shepherd.  If he asked me about her ears I'd have told him "Oh they don't rise up until they are eleven and a half months old."

 It turned out that the old fellow was doing a really good job of teasing me. Good natured teasing. He was a dog lover too. Told me that he and his wife babysat their kids dogs when they were on vacation. He was not kidding when he looked me in the eye and said " Some of those little dogs are so smart you can talk to them and they almost understand what you are saying." 

 I liked that old fellow. I'm going to have to go to Tractor Supply with Dolly more often. Not to buy stuff but to just visit.

Reactions Part Two

 There is a thing that I have put on my Bucket List, or more precisely my bucket list of things I'd like to do but won't because of potential embarrassment.

 I want to find a Wal Mart that has a door greeter who goes by the book. One of those folks who don't know what to do when a situation is not covered by rules or only partially covered. I would make sure that person is on duty and I would try to take Dolly in the store.

 In my perfect little scenario the greeter would yell at me in a authoritarian tone of voice; "Hey!" "You can't take that dog in the store." "Only a service dog is allowed."  At that point I would give the greeter my 'lights are on but nobody's home' look and I would say; "She's a service dog." At that point the greeter says "No she is NOT!"  Then I would say "But my psychiatrist says that I am far less homicidal when I have my dog with me." "He seemed a little scared when he told me that and I don't know why."

 Me pulling a stunt like that would probably end poorly with me explaining to the cops that I did not threaten  the greeter and no I don't have a psychiatrist.

 I have had far more positive comments and reactions to my dog than I have had negative. There have been times I thought it would turn negative but Dolly would do something cute and defuse the situation.

 There was a quick shop that the gals who worked there encouraged me to bring her in. She loved the place because of the attention she got. Then one day the wrong person was there.  I had Dolly on a leash like always. I was filling out a lottery ticket and Dolly started sniffing at a package of beef jerky.  I always keep an eye on her and I knew she would not get into the jerky because I was about to tell her NO. Almost all of the time my word is law to her. I don't speak loudly or angrily to her unless I just have to. That particular employee did not give me the chance to say anything to her. She just flew up to me and told me to get her out of the store and never bring her back. I still go there but it's only because I like the other people who work there.  I don't even have to tell Dolly to stay. When she sees me pull in there she goes to her pillow and lays down.

 Another time Gretchen tried taking her in the Habitat For Humanity Store in Jefferson City. One of the Volunteers there yelled; "You can't bring that dog in here, didn't you see the sign!"
"Dogs always make a mess, ALWAYS!" We just politely removed ourselves from the store. Have not been back since. Their prices are too high anyway. Sometimes people go on a power trip when they volunteer for an organization like that. One time at the same store I pulled my truck up to the door where you drop donations off. A volunteer approached me and said "YOU cant park there, it's against the rules!" I looked at the dummy and said " Are you telling me I can't park my truck here to drop off a donation??" They were too dumb to be embarrassed. The person then said "Oh..well you have my permission to do that." 

 I will continue to take dolly in any place that I can. There's days I don't feel like it because I hurt too bad. She can somehow sense when I do that because I get even more long and loving looks after we return to the vehicle.

 I want my Dolly to have a long happy life. I'll do whatever I can to make it happen.

I Enjoy Watching People's Recations

There are not that many places where I can take Dolly inside when we take our little trips. We have been run out of a few places. Sometimes nicely, sometimes not so nice, but that's a topic for a different day. Today I want to talk about the places where we are welcome.

 I took her to Home Depot in Columbia. It was her second visit there. She was doing her happy walk all the way in. She seems to like hardware stores over stores like PETCO. She especially likes Orschelen's, a Farm and Home store. It's like Tractor Supply with baby chicks and rabbits. She'd like to eat the baby chicks and I am getting off topic here.

 We had no sooner got in the store when she started straining on her leash to get to this tall man standing at the counter. She has this ability to spot a dog lover from twenty feet away. She jumped on his leg, he smiled and leaned over to pet her.  I asked him if he owned a dog. He said "No". I was a bit surprised because when I've asked this in the past the answer is Yes. A bit later he says "Miniature Longhair I see." I had to smile at that. Most people if they do get the breed right they don't get the fact that she's a longhair right. That's a bit hard to spot in her because her dad was a longhair but her mom was regular. It's the tuft of hair at her ears that gives her away.

 A minute or so later the tall guy said to me; " My wife and I are considering buying a Miniature Dachshund." My response was " If you get a good one you will NEVER regret it." I then told him our story of how we came to own Dolly in spite of the fact I did not like small dogs. He liked my story. He told me that he used to own Dachshunds when he was a kid. I said to him "Ya know, some folks think these dogs are dumb." He said "They are not dumb, just stubborn."

 Dolly enjoyed her little visit to Home Depot. The tall guy was not the only person who gave her attention. Several of the employees there did too. After we left the store I got several of her long "I love you thank you" looks.

Making Up For Lost Time

It must be warmer outside this morning. 

Dolly reluctantly barked for a potty run. On a cold dreary day her habit is to go out, make two or three barks, do her business, and then we want back in. This usually takes about ten minutes or less. The colder the weather the shorter the time.

She's been out about 30 minutes now barking most of the time. She must be making up for the last few days when she hardly went out at all. 

In the past I worried about her barking. I was afraid it was annoying the neighbors. I have approached each neighbor and asked them if her barking bothered them. It turns out that all of them don't mind. There is one set of neighbors she barks at more than others. That's because they are a large family and have lots of visitors coming and going. Those neighbors told me that they actually liked her barking. That's because their own dog will not bark when somebody pulls in the driveway. They have had things stolen from them and they want to know when somebody is outside.

It's very true that their dog rarely barks. Dolly seems to know this too. One day their dog actually did start barking at something. Dolly, who was in our bedroom at the time, came boiling out from under the covers, and ran barking all the way to the front door. Her buddy needed help and by golly she was going to help.

After that incident I noticed that there are dogs in the neighborhood that bark and she will ignore them. She never ignores my neighbors dog on the very few times I have heard him bark. It's like she's thinking "If he barks it's serious business and I must go help!"  

I have never owned a dog who barked intelligently like she does. There have been times that I think I have made too much of her intellect. I've thought that maybe I see what I want to see like a doting grandparent would with a favorite grandchild. On the opposite side I have seen things in her that makes me wonder if I underestimated her smarts.

There are times that she acts as if she wants to hide how smart she is from people. She can get the back door open if it's not locked. She won't do this when any human is near. I'd like to know how she does it. There was also that one time that she pulled a trash bag out and pottied on it rather than wake us up to go out. She has not done that since. 

I Have a Very Bored Dog.

I have a very bored dog and my dog has a bored owner. The weather has been cold and dreary except for today which has been sunny but cold.  We both want to be outside but neither wants to be out long.

In a way she's lucky. She can nap and has been doing that a lot. I can't nap but would like to sleep the whole day away. Sleep until spring would be even better.

When I finally go to bed at night it's play time for her. She has to burn some energy off because of all the sleep. I like to read before going to sleep. She will sit on the bed and glare at my kindle as if to say "Why are you looking at that when you should be paying attention to me." She will sit patiently for awhile trying to be mannerly. She can only stand it for so long.

She's found the perfect way to divert me from my book. We run up to my face and start licking. My little German girl is very precise with her licking. All facial areas must be licked. Both, and I do mean both, ears must be licked. We keep this up until I put my Kindle down. One of two things happen then. I'll pet her and she continues to lick OR once I set it down she jumps away out of my reach. This means that she wants to play fight.

At that point I figure that she really does need to burn some energy so we play fight. I run my hand under the covers and we play the game I call "Brave and Bold Dachshund Defeats the Evil Blanket Badger Game."  She never bites hard. The few times she did I said "Ouch!" and she ended the game without any action on my part. She'd get a hurt look on her face and go to sleep. She's the most gentle dog I have ever owned.

It's not long before she's tired of this. At those times I will say "Where's Rabbit??" "Find Rabbit" She will look at me for a bit and then go hunt for her toy rabbit. Rabbit is never dead enough to suit her. Sometimes I grab rabbit and play fight her with the rabbit. She don't really like me doing that but will play along.  I think she's afraid she'll bite my hand by accident.

This all takes about 15 minutes. Once she's tired of playing  she'll bark to go out. She may spend a whole 10 minutes outside usually less. Then we bark to come back in. We will jump back in bed and go to sleep. Sometimes we will take rabbit and kill him some more until she gets sleepy.

I love living with a Miniature Dachshund

I am laughing at myself.

I used to think that many owners of small dogs were like this woman who lived in a town in North Missouri.  She was not rich, but well to do, comfortable might be a better term. She was of the upper crust in her town.  She had this poodle she adored.

She would bathe the dog, perfume it, and then send it outside to exercise. The town had no leash laws so the dog was free to roam. Nobody bothered it because it the woman was well liked in her little town. The dog would make it rounds of town and then come home. The woman would welcome her dog home by picking it up and saying something like "Oh Foo Foo give momma a big kiss!!"

The fellow who told me this story lived next door to the lady.  He said that she was very clueless as to what her dog was doing on it's rounds. The dog knew just where to go to get it's favorite food. That particular town did not have a sewer system. In fact many of the homes still had outdoor toilets. Some were well built, some were in bad repair but being used anyway. The dog avoided the homes with well maintained outhouses. The folks who owned the ones in bad repair were OK with the dog visiting them. It kept them from having to clean them out so often.


Fortunately, my little town HAS a sewer system, and those old toilets were torn down long ago. Still I realize that my dog can get into things that I don't like.

I don't care, she can lick my face and ears anyway. It's not like I have a choice. If I don't let it happen I will wake up in the night to find her standing on my head with her front feet, licking my face and ears. I guess she is determined to see to it that her human is well groomed.

I also did not comprehend why people bought clothing for dogs. I now completely understand why, at least in the case of Dachshunds. A doxie has no undercoat. This was bred into them. It helps them to be better able to hunt game underground. A Doxie gets very cold in the winter and my Dolly, even though she's a longhair,  gets very cold when outside.

You have probably guessed where I am going here. Yes I did buy Dolly not one but two coats. I called them Christmas gifts. So I have now done two things I have never done before, Buy clothing for a dog, and buy Christmas gifts for a dog. That little old lady does not seem as foolish to me now.

Oh...I bought Dolly a blanket too. I was frugal. Two coats and a blanket about thirty dollars. I still can't believe that clothing for Dolly actually costs more than clothes for me. I have to buy big and tall clothes and pay extra for them. What would cost a normal person thirty dollars will cost me seventy.
I was able to get a good deal on her stuff because Orscheln's Farm and Home had a great sale going on for the holidays.

Dolly loved the blanket and seems to understand that it was gift from us. She don't exactly like the two coats except for the fact tht she is warmer.

To anyone who might accidentally read this I want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I'm doing it early just in case I don't post again for awhile.

It's been a decent summer

I have not posted since June 2nd 2011. I need to get back in the habit.

Dolly did not tolerate the summer heat as well as she did in previous years. She has sensitive skin and during a trip to the vet we found that she is allergic to fleas. Children's Benadryl  helps a lot but it was not until about two weeks ago that we found out about that.

She spent quite a bit of time asleep in the house under the air conditioner. She'd go out with me in the morning but after about an hour or two she would try herding me back inside. She eventually gave up on that and now will bark to go in when she thinks she has spent enough time outdoors. Once the Benadryl was started she began to act a bit more like her old self.

One incident sticks out in my mind. We had gone on a truck ride into town. My usual habit after a rather long trip is to go inside and rest in the recliner. I could not do that this time. I had things to do.  Dolly was aggravated with me. I was supposed to go in like normal. So she barked at me in a fussy manner. I let her inside but she was not happy with me because I did not do as I was expected to.

Gretchen looked at me, laughed, and said " I think you have a second wife there Carl." I had a good laugh there. Gretchen further said "Normally I would not tolerate that for a minute, but since it is our Dolly I will."  Gretchen also said " I'm glad she is a dog because if she were a human female we would be fighting,"

Another funny thing that happened was that during the heat of the summer Dolly would not get in the truck with me until I had ran the AC for a little while. It was funny when I was not in a hurry but if I was late it got to be aggravating. So I got to where I did not call her until the AC had ran for awhile. On one occasion when I HAD to leave right then I left her behind. That one time ended her refusal to enter the truck. I don't like doing that because she is a most excellent traveling companion.

Last week we had another funny. I was outside and she came up to me clearly wanting something. I said to her "Do you want to go IN?" Instead she ran to the drivers door of the mini van and ran back to me. I say "Do you want to go for a RIDE?" She again runs to the minivan and runs back to me. I smile and say " How about a TRUCK RIDE instead?" She almost pee'd herself with joy then immediately ran to my pickup truck. I had been using the minivan instead of the truck for the past few days and she apparently thought that would be the vehicle we would use. I gave her her truck ride how could I not?

Yes I have spoiled Dolly but she has spoiled us more than we have spoiled her. She expects nothing more than love, truck rides, potty runs, and food all in that order.

Just another Monday.

But not a manic Monday. I'm just trying to get back into the habit of writing again. Puppy Dolly did not do anything really special today except.... She barked at a young guy walking up the road. It was not serious barking but then.... the young guy showed me he knew nothing about dogs when he yelled  "GIT" at her. Well she did 'git' by about three feet and when she turned around it was serious barking.

People like him make me wish Fritz was still alive and at the same time glad he is not.  Fritz was a German Shepherd. Nearly all black and with intimidating looks. He was intelligent, hated other dogs, hated kids, but loved cats and elderly men. I was 30 at the time and I could barely control him.  I now believe that if I had given him to an elderly farmer who lived way out in the country he would have settled down and lived out a life of freedom with somebody he loved.

Fritz had many Dachshund like traits. Very stubborn, smart, and extremely loyal. He only turned on me one time and that was when he was interested in a female in heat. I could not let that incident pass. I did not hurt him but left him with the impression that I would hurt him. The beauty of a dog like Dolly is that I can let her win on some things and it does not matter. She may try to intimidate and dominate other dogs but she will not try that with humans.

Even if I had given Fritz away he would have run off and came back to me. Fritz loved me and I him.  One time a lady we did not know stopped by and asked if she could buy him. Fritz had many bad behaviors but one of his most endearing qualities was that he acted like a giant puppy around people he liked. We told her he was not for sale. A week later he disappeared.  I learned that she had moved to a town about 20 miles away in a small mobile home. I had no luck in finding him but at the end of four days a very tired and hungry Fritz showed up at home. He had sore feet and some blisters on his footpads. I am positive he was stolen and he ran away from the person who did it. They probably made a mistake by letting him see where he was going.

That's why I always let Dolly see where she is going. If she ever gets stolen and gets away she will try to come home. If she sees certain things she recognizes she'll know she is on the right track.

Things Have Changed

 



I see that it has been Feburary since I last posted here. Dolly shows no ill effects from her accident. She does seem to have a bit of an odd gait. It may have been there before and I just never noticed.

We slowly kept giving her more and more freedom. It was just a few weeks ago that one day we let her loose entirely from her leash. She responded by going on a run which was a joy to see. She then tried going too far away so we put her back on. A day or so later I let her off and she chased a car 10 minutes later. She went right back on the leash.

She seemed to enjoy full freedom inside the house. I finally gave in and let her have it outside too. She was not getting enough exercise and she seemed to be depressed. Seeing her depressed was hard on us. I think we will regret this in the future. She had freedom for her entire life up until the accident. Had she been on a leash since a pup she would not have missed her freedom so much.

I caught her chasing a car a few days ago. I called her up to me and she knew she was in trouble. This time instead of tying her up I stood there and in a calm gentle tone of voice, gave her an ass chewing. I had forgotten that the calm and gentle sometimes works far better than yelling. She acted as if she would have like to find the nearest crack in the earth and melt in to it.

She went after one more car after that. I almost yelled at her but then I noticed something different. She was following the car. Head up, tail erect, and strutting at a fast pace. A few minutes later I saw that her former owner was in the car. It was not his car, it was a friends car, and it's never been in this town before. How Dolly knew he was in that car is beyond me. The only thing I can think of is that her eyesight is better than most dogs.

Dolly spent 5 months sleeping in the crate at night. I assumed that she would totally forget her bedtime ritual. I assumed wrong. The very first night she was free I went to bed like usual and I read my Kindle until I get good and sleepy. Dolly seems to think that's a waste of play time. So she hopped up in bed and started licking my feet like always. Not just one but both. A human has TWO feet and a Dachshund has failed in it's job if both are not licked.

Once done with the feet she comes up to lick my face. I protect my face with one hand. She tries to do the routine where she expertly flips my glasses off my nose with one quick motion. At this point I put the Kindle down. Now she is happy. She will jump away from me and wait patiently for the next part of the ritual. That part is what I call the defeat the evil blanket badger routine. My hand slides under the cover and she attacks it. She almost never bites hard. I do this until she wears down or gets bored.If I want the game to end early all I have to do is say "OUCH!"  She will get this hurt and embarrassed look. She will go lay down. I only use the ouch option if I am very tired or if she really is biting to hard. It hurts her feelings and if I use it too often it will lose it's effect.

In the 5 months she was confined I got to learn even more about her. I've made this post too long so I will save that for another day.

Flying Glasses

As I was thinking of a title for this post the word 'flying' caused me to stop and think a bit. That word flying can apply to a Dachshund quite a bit. They make amazing leaps and jumps for their size. If you think about it further that word applies to a lot of what they do except for sleeping and even then I bet they dream about it. In this case Dolly has gotten to be an expert at making my glasses fly off my nose. One quick flick of her nose and they are gone. She can lick my face better when they are gone. If i insist they stay she can usually manage to do her duty without smudging my glasses. How and why she does this is beyond me. I have never fussed at her for the few times she did get them dirty. The only thing I can think of is that she has seen me clean them afterward.

I do wish I knew what she was thinking and that she could communicate her needs better. If she could talk I imagine that there would be times I might not like what she was saying.

The past couple of days I may have gotten an ear full.  Her forced inactivity was starting to wear on her. We had not gotten her outside except to potty and then right back in. Below zero temps and ice was the cause. I still have two vehicles buried in the snow. I settled for just having one going and it took a few days to get it dug out.

It was quite obvious to me by her actions and by the looks she was giving me that she had enjoyed about as much as she could stand of me. I was that bad man who prevented her from flying around the house or out in the yard. Gretchen recieved all her affection because she was the one taking her.
outside.

This all changed yesterday evening. Richard and I took her on a long car trip. I let her ride on my left knee and look out the window as much as possible. If we were in a parking lot I'd roll the window down and let her stand in it. That's one of her favorite activities because she likes watching people walk through a parking lot. occasionally somebody will look at her and laugh. She loves that. Sometimes they even come over and talk to her. I believe that is her main goal, get people to talk to her. She will snort and then start sniffing them while wagging her tail. She like new scents.

Best of all I let her stick her head out the window while i was driving. I had her halter on and was hanging on to it. I drove fairly slow too. Go over 30 and she comes back in. Sometimes she has stuck it out to 40 if she is really determined. I don't blame her. Anymore I don't like a lot of wind either. Never bothered me when I was young. I miss those days. A person should start out old and end young just so that they can appreciate being young.

This morning Dolly was almost her old self again. I say almost because when she got up she did not immediately want to go outside. She was content with being in my lap and giving me some occasional affection. We also started a new game today that seemed to go well. Gretchen brought her into the bedroom. We put her on the bed and both laid down. She had a nice large flat area to walk on and we play fought with her. She never did like rough play and we kept it even more gentle than usual. The nice thing about a Dachshund is that you can let them win. I once had a German Shepherd that you could not let win because in his mind that meant he was dominate over you. The few times he beat me was actually funny because he was quite proud of himself. Even though he almost always lost he was always trying me, he never gave up. In a few ways Dolly is the kinder, gentler version of him.  She is actually braver than he was because when he was a pup there was many things he was afraid of. Like overpasses on a highway, other dogs, and even a few cats.

Nothing Noteworthy Today

Another day that nothing much happened. She's a bit under the weather today but nothing serious. If it keeps up tomorrow she goes to the vet..  We were snowed in until this afternoon when my son finished shoveling out the driveway.

Earlier today she decided that she needed to rest on my upper chest. She was actually wanting to go outside again even though she had just been out. Anyhow she laid down underneath my chin and slept for an hour. I was stretched out in my recliner at the time.

Peanuts and Snow Paths

We learned that the dog that is Dolly's friend is named either Peanuts or Peanut. I'll go with Peanuts for now. This is the dog that does not like seeing her on a leash or in a halter. He is still friendly to us, he even let me pet him for the first time. He is a mixed breed and looks to have a bit of beagle in him. He has the lines of a beagle with black and tan coloring.  A day or so ago when Gretchen picked Dolly up in her arms Peanuts started whining because that is when it is time for us to go in.

We had 16 inches of snow here. Gretchen shoveled out some snow paths, otherwise we have not even got a good start towards digging out. Snow paths come first because of Dolly. We are not sure how her tunneling through snow will affect her healing pelvis. She still refuses to potty inside the house or even close to it. With her it's the further the way the better. Yesterday she did it on the carport but that is because she had to. We were under a blizzard warning yesterday the first one since 1983 I believe.

Dolly loves the snow paths. It is something new to explore. She wants to run and explore them. When not running she struts. She almost looks like she is smiling when she struts. It is a sight I enjoy watching. She usually makes me laugh at least once a day.

Drop and Freeze.

Gretchen and I overslept today. Dolly was exceptionally anxious to get out of her crate to potty. It was noon and she is usually out by seven AM. So I pulled her out quick and Gretchen started helping me prep her. As soon as Dolly saw that we were both working on her and doing it quickly her anxiety level dropped. it was like AH-H-H, I know I can make it now. Even though we were very late she still absoulutely refused to potty in her crate.

We continue to learn things about her. Gretchen and I were talking about how she adapts to being handled by different people. There is one behavior she is doing for both of us. If anything goes wrong Dolly will drop to the ground and freeze. By wrong I mean when one of us slips on the ice or trips on something. Gretchen has fallen a couple of times. She was not hurt but I do wish this ice and snow would go away. That is not to be. We have a major winter storm heading our way. One forecast had 12 inches of snow for Jefferson City MO but they have since dropped it back to six. We will get an inch of ice instead. I'll take the snow please.

A Flying Leap

One of the strictest instructions we got from the vet was not to let Dolly run, jump, or leap.  The chances of her re-braking her Pelvis is quite high if we allow her to do that. This afternoon I had her in my lap on the recliner with the footrest extended.  She walked to the end of the footrest as if she was wanting to go outside to potty. Usually she just stands there waiting for me to get her halter. This time she made a flying leap into her crate. Fortunately she had a soft landing plus all of the shock was to her front legs. I'll have to watch her closer now. I knew it would be quite a job to keep a dachshund from jumping and leaping because that is what they love to do.

We keep having trouble with other dogs when we take her out on the leash. One of her puppy buddies accidentally hurt her a few days ago. After she got back in the house she stayed much quieter than usual in her crate for the rest of the day. Almost like it was brought home to her that she cannot do what she used to do. There is also this pit bull mix around that looks slightly like a Hyena. Seeing a human with a dog on a leash stirs up hatred in him. He has not bitten yet. He is a stray that somebody dumped here. Dogs like that do not last long in this town. Someday he will come across somebody that it does not bother to shoot dogs.

I had Dolly out a day or so ago when her puppy friend came up to us. I call him puppy but he is a two year old. He is scared of me. I like him because he always listens to me when I tell him NO. I did not know if he was going to try to play with Dolly and hurt her again. I just stood there and talked to him very gentle like. He still does not like that we have Dolly on a leash but he does not know what to do about it. I was actually able to pet him this time. I don't recall him ever letting me touch him before even though I have fed him and he plays with Dolly.

It's been warm here the past couple of days and a lot of the snow has melted off. They say we have a major winter storm coming in two days. Right now they are calling for ice. YUK. I'll take the snow please.

Something in Common

Dolly and I have something in common.  We both hate the month of January. It might be tolerable if the temperature was at least seasonal but it has not been this winter. 

She Had a Good Day Today

For the first time in several days she got a good long car ride. We have been snowed in and my son finally got the driveway cleaned out. Usually some thoughtful neighbor will clean it out for us and then go on without saying a word but it did not happen this time. When I was able I cleaned out a few driveways myself in the same manner.

She is acting more like her old self while riding. She likes to look out the windshield or the side windows. We pulled up to a couple of different drive thru windows and she had to come over to my side to see what kind of smells were there and to get some attention from the person in the window. She just loves it when that person gives her a little attention.

I even let her ride on my left knee for a short period of time. She really likes that. My knee is high enough that she can see out the side window. Sometimes she will crane her head around to look out the windshield. While I was sitting waiting for my son i rolled the window down and let her stand there. She likes watching people go by. Occasionally a stranger will stop by and talk to her. That makes her day too.

When we returned home she had a nice supper gave Gretchen some lovin' and curled up in her crate to go to sleep. She seems a little aggravated with me. Probably because I am not allowing her to jump and run like she used to. We have another month or two to go of limited activity.

She's Bored

She is certainly tired of her routine and I can't say as I blame her. On the bright side of things if she was dumb she would not be bored.

When I let her out of the cage I am starting to get this sense that she's tired of being caught before she gets out the door. Sometimes she will move back slightly to prevent me from catching her right away. Other times she will stand in the door and wave her left paw at me. Like she's saying "Ah come on, let me go just once please."

She was restless earlier on. Gretchen took her outside and she would not potty. Once back in she continued to be restless. After a while Gretchen took her out yet again. This time she let her bust through the snow. This seemed to work as she pottied a lot. Her path that Gretchen had shoveled out for her was obliterated by my son when he shoveled out the entire driveway. She liked that path and I guess she felt that a new one had to be made by her.

Once back in she settled down in my lap for a nice long nap. I eventually put her back n the crate. She came out long enough to eat supper and then wanted back in. When she was out she was determined to climb up my chest a be my pillow for awhile. So I let her do it but I had my hands close by so that she would not fall. She was very happy and settled in for a short nap.

Snow Tunnels

We have had about one foot of snow in the last day or so. Officially it's nine inches but here locally I think we've had a bit of river effect snow. A storm cell will feed off the moisture from the river and drop more snow in a small area near the river. This does not happen nearly as often as people would think but the snow is too deep for a Dachshund to walk in.

During a normal snow Dolly would bark to be let out, make a short trip into the snow, do her business, and then immediately bark to be let back in. She would then hibernate most of the day until it was time to potty or go bark at intruders. That is not how it worked this time.

When the snow first started we took her on a potty run. The temperature was not too bad and the snow had an energizing effect on her. She did not want to come back in, she wanted Gretchen to stay outside with her and let her play in the snow. When they finally got back in Gretchen had snow in her hair. She has black hair with very little gray in it and the snow had a nice effect. I told her she looked like Mrs. Santa Claus. Once back in the house Dolly was awake most of the night scratching at the door of her crate wanting to go outside.

The next morning she was more hyper than usual wanting to go out desperately. By this time we had all the snow we were going to get. So we took her out. She did not have to go as badly as she was letting on like. This is the deepest snow she has dealt with in her short life. She did not like the fact that she could not see over the snow. What she had to do was tunnel through it to get to her potty spot. Of course Gretchen was not too impressed with the snow either. After a bit of tunneling Dolly was more than ready to come back inside and sleep.

While Dolly was sleeping Gretchen and I went out to see what we could do about the snow. I had to knock snow off the satellite dish to get it working again. I have a device I rigged up a long time ago to knock the snow off. It is far from perfect but so far it has worked. While I was doing that Gretchen was shoveling a snow path for Dolly. It's a short path but it goes in a circle in the driveway. I also used the shovel for a minute or so to get rid of a small patch of very slick snow off the carport . I was very aggravated that my back only allowed me to do it for a few minutes. In my younger years I loved shoveling snow and would not allow Gretchen to do it.

Dolly did not want to go out. She waited until she was desperate before she signaled to me that she needed out and even then she acted like she really did not want to. Once out everything was OK. Gretchen led her around the circle and once her potty business was done she started her strutting routine. She did attempt to go off path and tunnel but she immediately went back to the path.

This morning it was the same story. Yes she wanted out but not with the urgency she normally shows. Once out she did a large amount of potty and then proceeded to strut. When she struts it almost looks as if she is smiling. We did try to tunnel again but was easily led back to the path. Once back in the house she stayed in my lap for a long time but then she signaled that she wanted back in the crate. That's where she is right now and she is sound asleep.

Dr Ann McHugh Lionsgate Pet Hospital Overland Park Kansas

Dr. McHugh Called me today to check on Dolly again. It's been almost 4 weeks since Dolly had her accident and Dr. McHugh's office is 170 miles away. The chances that I would become a regular customer of hers is slim but she has called several times in these past weeks to check on Dolly anyway. If I lived close enough I would be taking all of my critters to her because she is one of the best Veterinarians I have ever met.

One thing I remember best about the conversation was when I told her that she did not see Dolly at her best as she was hurting. Dr told me " I know that but I saw Dolly at her bravest and she is a very brave little dog." I did not think of that until she mentioned it.

I do remember how well they treated Dolly there. You could not move her without hurting her. Dr's staff went out to my truck and brought her in without hurting her at all. Now that I think about it I do not remember her yelping out in pain when they were doing X-rays and such. I cannot imagine how they managed to do that but they did.

I also remember sitting out in the waiting room and several of her customers telling me that I had brought Dolly to the best vet in Kansas City. I think the term "Customers" is the wrong one but I'll just call them that until I can think of a better term. I want to call them patients but they aren't.

The people at the Vet School Clinic were very happy with Dr McHugh's X-Rays. They only did one more. I am glad she sent them with me.

Ouch

I say ouch very frequently and far more than I like to. How it relates to this post will be explained a bit later.

Dolly had an off day yesterday. Restless in the morning and slept way too much in the afternoon. She wanted out of her crate just before dark and signaled that she needed to potty. It was more like a false alarm as she hardly did anything.

Gretchen went to bed early. Dolly wanted out to go potty again. Rather than wake her up I took her out around 10:30 PM. I was concerned about snow and ice but much of the snow had melted yesterday and it was still warm at that time of night. Her trip outside was a false alarm. She clearly did not like it that I had taken her out instead of Gretchen. She wandered about aimlessly and stopped frequently to see what I was going to do. Trying to manipulate a belly sling, a leash, and i cane is something I do not do well. At one point I tried carrying the cane but Dolly mistook it  as me wanting to hit her with it. She dropped to the ground and cowed like she was expecting a blow. I've never even said "Git" to her let alone hit her. Gentle words accomplish far more. I picked her up and brought her back in.

I gave up trying to get some sleep at 3:00 AM. I went out to the living room to watch a little TV and here Dolly thinks it's morning and time to get up. So I take her out of the cage and try holding her in my lap. She has to potty. I'm not very impressed by that but I took her out anyway.  Not wanting to scare her I left my cane on the carport. I have a problem working the belly sling anyway. At that point I began to even doubt my ability to walk and chew gum at the same time without messing up.

We walk. Dolly is giving me those concerned looks of hers. maybe she thinks I can't walk and chew gum too. Within a short period of time she finds the spot that is just right and does her business. By that time my blasted back stiffened up and i uttered the word "Ouch" a couple of times. Dolly immediately dropped to the ground and refused to go further. She's looking up at me with that concerned look again. I picked her up and took her back inside. Once in the recliner she put her front paws on my chest and began to lick my face. Once finished she curled up in my lap and went to sleep. I let her stay there until I stiffened up again. I put her back in the crate where she is sleeping now.

I tried sleeping in the recliner but had no luck. While I was trying to do that I got to thinking and all at once realized that the word "Ouch" is in Dolly's vocabulary. I was remembering the incident where one of the cats scratched me, I said "Ouch !" and within seconds I had one very angry Dachshund come charging out of the bedroom barking and growling because someone or something had hurt "her" human.

I believe she cut her trip short because I said ouch. The refusal to walk further was her way of trying to get me to go back inside.  She's done a similar but different routine in the past, trying to get me to go inside if she thinks we have been out too long. Typical of an intelligent dog the routine is a bit different each time. I get aggravated by our circumstances but then I remember that had we all been paying more attention a few weeks ago this entire situation would not be necessary.

Earlier today I read in a Australian newspaper that their tree huggers down there are ranting on pet owners. They claim people should not own pets because they damage the environment and contribute to global warming. Down there they call these people "Warmists".  The Warmist's claim that one dog puts out as much pollution as two Toyota Landcruisers.  Yes they hate SUV's as passionately as our own American Warmists do. I am very pro-environment myself but I doubt the claims about Global Warming. Yes our winters are warmer than they used to be but I believe it is part of a natural cycle. I see the Warmists as just another form of communisim.

I am surprised that our own sensationalist news media did not report this so-called crisis. I think they did not because it would anger too many pet owners and possibly turn them against the green movement. If they ban pet ownership they will have to pry my Dolly from my cold dead fingers.

Every Day is Different

A couple of days ago Dolly was very restless. She wanted out of her crate and did not know what she wanted to do once she was out except to try to go back to her pre-accident routine. The next day she slept almost all day. She's basically doing the same thing today except now she's sleeping in her crate with the door open. I only leave it open when I am setting right there with her.

Why the change in behavior? Two days ago it was sunny and warm. The last two days have been cloudy, warm, but cloudy. I'm thinking that sunny weather makes her want to go out and stay out. When she was well you could tell what kind of weather we had by how long she wanted to stay out.

There may be some good come out of this. When we have her out walking she gets a little scared when cars go by. I hope she stays scared but only time will tell. I think we may have some changes in store for when she is well again. Nighttime trips outside will be on the leash. That might also go for any time we let her out to potty and we won't be staying outside ourselves.

We have little trouble with the potty walk now. Only one false alarm. She seems to understand that if we take her out she had better go potty. We finally did get the belly sling from Foster and Smith. We almost sent it back. Had there not been some red tape involved I would have. Once I got it home and looked at it we decided to keep it anyway because it is better than our current system.

5:30 PM Edit. I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong. She's been in there almost all day. I have left the crate door open a lot of the day but she does not even want out to potty. I'll get her out a little later and try to work with her to see if anything is wrong.

Never Brag or even Sound like You are Bragging.

In my case something always happens to prove me wrong.

I'd thought we had gotten Dolly's potty signals down pretty well. I even told Gretchen that I had gotten pretty good at knowing when she needed to go out. Then along came today. I missed calling it right one time and almost missed on another. A reader might wonder why I am concerned about missing one time out of five and an almost miss. That is because Gretchen is the one taking her outside not me. Zero false alarms is my goal. If I was the one taking her out it would not matter.

She's been restless today. I think she is feeling better and wants to go back to her normal pre-accident routine. I also believe she is bored. I tried to give her one of those bones to chew on but she will have nothing to do with it even though it is peanut butter flavored.

It's funny to work with her when she is really anxious to go out. You bring out the halter and she will stick her head through the first loop she see's. Then we stand still long enough for me to loop the  strap around her legs. This morning I was trying to tie a knot in the belly sling when she stuck her nose up to it and started rooting. I don't know if she was trying to help or trying to tell me to hurry up. I think may be both.

I am also thinking now that she may be trying to delay pottying when we take her out in order to get to stay outside longer. I would not mind if it was me taking her out. Once this snow and ice clears off it will be me and I will be giving her some nice long outdoor excursions.

I really don't know why I am complaining. Most of the time she has been a very good and very cooperative dog. Even when shes bad she is funny. Usually when she is disobedient  it is done in an intelligent manner. When I do get mad at her she will give me one of those long sad looks of hers and my anger melts.

Dolly does not know the meaning of the word "Git". I have never had to say it to her. If I am doing some kind of work or carrying something she always stays out of my way. Almost always that is. I have stepped on her paw a time or two. I always remember this one cat we had. She was smart for a cat but she always had this thing about being underfoot when you were carrying a heavy bulky item. She'd get in front of you and only move a few inches when you yelled "Git" at her. You'd try moving her with your foot without dropping whatever you were carrying but your foot would never connect with her and you could still not see her. What happened then was you would step on her tail or foot. At the first indication this was going to happen kitty would emit what I call the "Death Shriek". The best thing i can compare it to would be like a Greyhound bus running over a cat's tail. This sound would make even a certified cat hater jump. I imagine it must have been a funny sight to see me jumping around like someone having a seizure and carrying a heavy bulky item without dropping it. This was the same cat who would always go into a state of ecstasy whenever she saw me installing the window air conditioners each summer.

Yes folks even intelligent critters can cause you trouble. All in all I would much rather deal with the problems caused by an intelligent critter.








 

Some Early Morning Thoughts

I woke up an hour ago after a night where again I got little sleep. My pain meds tend to do that. I go to the living room, barely get settled in, and Dolly starts wanting out of her crate. I take her out and she is full of energy. She would not settle down.

I was thinking it was another false alarm. I thought she'd just woke up and wanted to do her old routine of going outside, barking, and then come right back in. I hate asking Gretchen to take her out. She'd just woke up too. We are both old and if an accident happens we don't heal fast and we'd be less able to take care of Dolly. You can't expect even a smart dog like Dolly to know that.

Yes I could tell my son to do it. But Gretchen and I have had far more experience in dealing with injured people and critters. More so with people and we have our own set routine with Dolly.  I was also thinking that if nothing else Dolly was going to expect me to sit and hold her all day long. I don't mind.....most of the time.....but I really can't  do that. I was thinking that I was going to have to make her get used to staying in the crate when she did not want to.

Gretchen took her out. It was no false alarm. There was no long potty ritual. She had barely got away from the carport when BOOM number one happened. She went like the energizer bunny. A few feet further on and number two happened almost like number one. Then Dolly wanted back inside even though her dog buddies showed up to check on her.  Once back inside I took a towel and dried her off.

She had settled down. I was still expecting another long day of holding her. Instead she stood up , looked at her crate, and then looked at me while wagging her tail. I was surprised she was wanting to go back in her crate. She was happy when I put her cone back on and went in the crate with no problem. Once in she settled right down and immediately went to sleep.

So my early morning fears appear to have been unfounded. Our dog continues to surprise me. No two days are entirely alike but they still have some of the same routines. Our love for our dog continues to deepen. I've often wondered if she somehow senses that me and my wife cannot do the things that normal younger people can. I do know that she knows my routine better than I do.

A Late morning Post

I overslept this morning. I go out into the living room to find our Doxie making noise inside of her crate. I pull the covers back and see a bright eyed girl puppy looking back at me. Her tail is wagging so hard that the whole crate is shaking. She definitely wants out. So I get settled in and let her out.

She was so happy to see both of us. She wants to go outside too but she also wants to give us some attention first. After she gave me my attention she waited patiently for Gretchen to come back. Once Gretchen comes back she gives her a lot of attention but after she sat down Dolly strted her I want outside routine. I put her back in the crate. She's doing her whine and grunt routine now.

The problem is us old folks bodies don't wake up as fast as hers and it is very cold outside. We are supposed to get between 3 and 6 inches of snow today.  We need at least one cup of coffee before we can do anything. It is hard on me to set here drinking a cup of coffee while little girl pup is sitting in her cage looking at me with a pleading desperate look in her eyes.

Gretchen went ahead and took her out before we adequately woke up. That would have taken another hour or more because I am hurting worse than usual this morning. She took her out while my lazy butt stayed inside. I did prep Dolly for the trip out. I removed the cone and put her harness on. She got excited when she saw the harness and tried to help me put it on her. She did this by trying to stick her head in the loop. It's really more like rooting her head through the loop.

It turned out that all she wanted was to go outside. It is highly likely that once out she got too excited to use the potty. We will try again in an hour or so. What happened was her dog friends showed up. She has not seen them for a week or so and she was wanting to play. This happened at the end of our walk yesterday too. One of her buddies appeared. He is a dog that is smarter than he acts. He was very curious about the harness and belly sling on Dolly. She in turn had forgotten about all that and was wanting to play with her friend.

This morning a bunch of her buddies showed up and I am doing this from Gretchen's description. Dolly was really excited and tried to get away. These town dogs have never seen a dog in a halter and on a leash much less one in a belly sling. These are the same dogs who last summer encountered a toddler wandering around town lost and half naked. They knew something was wrong but they did not know what to do about it. So they stayed with the little boy. When adults showed up they seemed to be satisfied and calmly wandered off. I think they were protecting him.

This morning they were like "What is that human doing to our friend?"  Gretchen told them to get away but they would not leave. They hung around looking at her suspiciously. One dog she'd never seen before started barking at her. Perhaps they felt they needed to protect Dolly. I hope that's what it was. Perhaps once she gets better if she gets attacked by another dog they will jummp in and defend her. I saw this once before years ago with a different group of dogs.


It was in 1997 right after my first knee surgery. I was off work and I'd been told to exercise my knee with short walks. My lab Sparky usually went with me. The neighborhood dogs would see us and join in. When I first started doing this the dogs would come out and raise hell with me. I would stand there and talk to them in a calm tone of voice then invite them to come along with me. They'd look at me then look at the other dogs and it was like "Oh this looks like fun!". They would then join the group and I would try to make it fun for them. Occasionally a new dog would come out and attack one of the group. I would scold them until they stopped. I'd do my talking in a calm tone of voice and soon they would go into the "This looks like fun" routine and join the group with no trouble.


If another human would stop by and talk to me during these walks the dogs would all stop and start looking suspiciously at them. I felt very protected. One day a dog came out and attacked one of the smallest dogs of the bunch. It was a severe attack that no amount of scolding would have stopped. i was trying to come up with a way of breaking it up when I looked up and saw Sparky running to the fight. His hind end seemed to be moving independently of his front end. He looked like a runaway log truck coming down a mountain road. I was very concerned at the time because I thought he was going to join in the fight by helping the aggressor dog.

In any dog fight I had ever seen in the past, once one dog is down the others join in and maul the one that is down friend or not.  Sparky jumped the aggressor dog much to my amazement. Sparky tried killing the aggressor dog. The other dogs came to his aid. The fight ended in a Mexican stand-off. No one was injured. I scolded the aggressor dog. He went into a submissive stance. I knew that dog because when I would be out bar b Q ing he'd stop in to tell me hi.

I have gotten off track here.WhenDolly came in she was happy. She settled into my arm and went to sleep. After a bit she signaled that she wanted back in the crate. I put her cone thing back on and gretchen put her back in. If anything funny happens today I will edit this post.

Things are getting back to normal.

We get her signals right today on the potty breaks. We also removed her cone collar before we took her out. We also let her walk a distance which is part of the potty ritual.

Not really too much to say tonight. She took her meds,ate and slept. She did spend a good portion of time in my lap.  I was gone for awhile and she was happy when I got back. She's afraid she's going to miss something if she is not with me.

She actually did manage to be my pillow today. It felt mighty nice. I had my hands on her to prevent her from falling or jumping.

I missed a day or so but that does not mean nothing happened.

Take last night for example. I was late going to bed plus I had trouble going to sleep.  sortly after going to sleep I start dreaming. It starts out with me driving across a rather complicated bridge over a major river. Then the dream morphs into Dolly being in pain,yelping loudly and I can't do anything about it.  I wake up immediately, look at my watch and see that it's only been about an hour and a half since I went to bed.  I get to thinking about Dolly and I can't go back to sleep. I want to get up and just hold and hug her for a long time. It was very late so I tried to go back to sleep but could not for a long time.

Of course the fact that I was dreaming about her my have been due to the fact she poo'd in my lap about two hours before I went to bed. Her signals for potty are the same as the ones for when she just wants out of the crate for a little while. The poo event was even funny believe it or not. I saw her raise that tail and I yelled for Gretchen to bring me something to catch the mess with. It was far too late to make a break for outside. As soon as I yelled for Gretchen, Dolly tried to hold back the poo. As soon as Gretchen put an old newspaper on my leg Dolly let loose.

It was at that point I made another error by saying to Gretchen that she was done. Gretchen takes the paper and goes off in the kitchen. Dolly has this worried expression on her face. Then the tail comes up again. It looked to me like she just could not help it.  Again Dolly tried to wait until Gretchen got there before she let loose again. Note that I said tried.  Once she was finished she acted as if she was totally embarrassed. She would not look at me and settled into my arm as if totally exhausted. It was not until I put her in the crate that I found that not all of the mess made it onto the paper. Oh well, that's what washing machines are for.

She did pee in the crate yesterday. We were late waking up. We had her outside 4 times that day and twice today with no results. I am thinking that she still wants to do her long potty ritual before doing anything out there. She will have to adapt to the new routine. I should be very angry but I am not. After all it's we humans fault that this situation is as it is to begin with. Had we done our jobs we would not have to do this.

I left the house today for the first time in several days. I went into town to but food for us and Dolly because we have snow coming in the next day or two.  I bought Dolly some dog insulated dog boots. They were expensive but I justified the expense in my mind by reminding myself that we have already spent quite a bit of money on vet services for her and I can't have her getting sick on me from not being used to the cold. She hates cold anyway. In the past when she put her feet in snow she would cry out in pain. That however was a very cold day and it was the first time she ever saw snow. She's been out in it since then for short periods of time but she will only stay out if there are other dogs out there.

I was in town longer than I intended. When I got back Dolly was happy to see me and started doing her happy grunt along with biting at the cage door. She was even happier when we took her out and took the cone thing off. I got my ears licked for the first time in a long time. I suppose I have gone back to being her puppy who needs groomed. Since she came home she was not giving me much attention but seemed to be saving it for Gretchen. That was OK by me as long as it helps her get better. Gretchen gives her food,water, and meds.

When I was going through the checkout the lady there appeared to be about 50 years old. I was telling her about Dolly and buying her the boots. The lady says " It sounds to me like you have a spoiled dog." I thought "What the hell." so I explained about her surgery and why I needed the boots.  She says "Yeah, I did not know they had all this stuff for animals until I came to work here." I was thinking "What kind of backwater area did she grow up in?"  I must note that the lady was friendly the whole time. I figure that she must be one of those folks who do not exactly know how to make conversation with people. I also know that when I was younger I made my own share of gaffs so I just wrote it off and let it go. Still though you'd think she'd have learned by now and i honestly hope she does not make too many more errors like that while working in a pet store. She looked like she really needed the job.

We just made another potty run without results during the process of writing this. After we got back inside she sat in my lap but then gave me the signal that she wanted back in "Her" crate. We gave her some meds and she asleep now. We will try tomorrow to cut back on the pain meds. I don't think she needs them as much as she did and I think she is becoming tolerant of them.

She's still my little Schatzi.  I'm crazy in love with that dog. I missed having her with me in the van.

My Schatzi

Shatzi is a German word that has several meanings; Sweetie, Sweetheart, and Little Treasure.

In this home I have two Schatzies. Big Schatzi and little Schatzi.  Gretchen, my wife, is big Schatzi, Dolly our Dachshund is little Schatzi.  With Gretchen I have always called her sweetie or sweetheart. We have been married almost 30 years. So I guess Dolly will have to settle for little treasure. Gretchen and I are of German ancestry and Dolly's breed originated in Germany. Dolly acts more German than me and my wife do.

Last night Dolly was acting like a little Schatzi. I was in the recliner when she decided to walk up my chest and curl around my neck like she used to do. She wanted to be my pillow again. I don't know if I have said this before but a Dachshund pillow is incredibly comfortable. It's like having a pillow that loves you. She did not do this all the time. She mostly did it on days when my arthritis was at it's worst and it helped me. It was as if she sensed I needed her. I did not allow her to be my pillow last night for fear of hurting her. I may have to stop it completely because she has a tendency to jump off the top of my recliner.

She went all day yesterday without going potty. We had her out 4 times. She's gone all day today without potty. We had her out at 4:30 AM , Once later in the morning, and I took her out for an extended trip  this afternoon. I did it by myself as I wanted to see if I could pull it off. Walking with a cane with her on a leash, while using a towel as a belly sling. I sat on a bench with her in my arms and she gave no indication of wanting to get down to potty. We set there about 20 minutes and then I let her walk on the leash for about 50 feet. She wanted to do more but i'm not pushing it. While I had her out my little Schatzi kept giving me those little looks of gratitude.

She's going to have to learn to potty while we watch.  She ate well this morning but would not drink much water, Probably less than 60cc's

She pulled a trick on us this morning

I missed posting yesterday, not because it was a bad day, it was actually rather good. She finally passed urine yesterday morning, and later that evening she was finally able to poo. She was proud of herself on the latter. Both times yesterday she signaled to me her intentions by chewing on the bars of the crate door.

So this morning when I got up and she started trying to get my attention and then chewed at the cage door, we took her out to do her business. There was no business to be done. She just wanted out of her crate. We gave her some attention, fed her, medicated her, and she was happy. Soon she started looking at her crate as if she wanted to go back so we put her back in. She curled up in the back of the crate and went to sleep.

She's more alert and acting more like her old self. I'll admit I was a bit aggravated at the false alarm but was happy too because that is more like her old self. I think she is becoming more tolerant to her pain medication. That happens, because that's how it has happened with me. You grow so tolerant  that you think the meds are not working.

Last night's poo run was rather funny. Once she was done it was almost like she was smiling and you could see that she was happy by the look in her eyes. Happy and grateful at the same time. I need to capture those moments on a picture. This is what I like about her. All her emotions are expressed in her eyes and they are easy for me to read. The older I get the more I still learn about animals. I hope I never stop learning. I do best with an animal that is fairly intelligent. Dolly is the smartest dog I have owned and I have owned some smart ones. I had a German Shepherd that was almost as intelligent as her but he was so stubborn and bull headed that he was hard to teach sometimes.


I think some of her former owners thought she was dumb because she was hard to house break. To me she's proof that even a smart dog can be hard to train on some things. With her a soft easy voice and a gentle approach works wonders and I think that's what caused her to decide to be owned by us.


While I am on this subject I'd like to write about how one person may think a critter is dumb while another thinks the same animal is smart. I was talking to a custodian at work years ago. She was telling me about how dumb her cat was and how much she hated it. She somehow thought I was a cat hater. I guess in her little world everybody knows that all men are cat haters. At that time I owned a dozen cats but i did not tell her that. She was saying things like "Dat dum tat won't use his lidder bocks until I cwean id." Translation; the cat would not use his litter box until she got off her lazy ass to clean it. She went on to describe several other thing her cat was doing. I can't remember them all now but it was obvious to me that she had an intelligent cat on her hands but was too dumb herself to recognize it.


I decided that I wanted that cat. I love highly intelligent cats and it would have had a better home with me. I asked her if she wanted to get rid of it. She stated "Haw,haw, haw dat dum tat is dead now." Haw haw, dat tat tot it cud wun dawgs outta de yaad an it wuz kilt ba uh pit boo." Translation; the cat was killed by a pit bull. It had ran numerous dogs out of the yard successfully until it met a pit bull.  Sometimes our custodians were not exactly the smartest or most energetic people you would ever meet. There was one who upon being fired stated to me " Bu I tot if ya wurked for da tate dey cud not fa ya???" translation; "But I thought if you worked fer the state government they cannot fire you."  I looked at her and said "In the past five years this place has fired more people than they have in their entire 150 year history." Unfortunately she could not get her head around that concept. In her little world if you worked for the govt. you could not be fired and that is the way it was always supposed to be.  I did not feel sorry for her. She'd been warned it was going to happen and had many chances to prevent it.

Another Day on the Road to Recovery

I'm starting to see the humor in situations again. Take Dolly's new crate for example. She appears to be thinking of it as 'Hers'. I'm not 100% sure on that right now but I have a feeling that when she gets better there will be hell to pay if some of our cats try taking it over. She might share it with Snickey whom she sort of likes even though she is a cat.

I find the whole idea of a dog thinking they own something as funny especially with our dachshund. I have not quite figured out exactly how that ownership applies to me. Anything she deems as hers is OK for me to touch or do anything with that I like. I think she does that because she sees me as one of her puppies. I'll explain that insane notion shortly. That concept is funny because she is a tiny dog and I am 6'6" and weigh 350 lbs.  I believe that she thinks of me as a pup because of her grooming routine. Before the accident she was always determined to lick my whole face. She paid special attention to my ears. Licking just one ear would not do. Once she finished with one she immediately went to the other. The same thing applied to my feet. She absolutely had to do both of them. Not only lick them but get between every toe.

She's had a quiet morning so far. She had her meds at 8 AM. Gretchen spent most of the night with her. I could not sleep so around 3:30 am I came out and sent Gretchen off to finish sleeping in our bed. As soon as she left dolly started whining a bit. Gretchen had her crate covered with the blanket. She could not hear her sleeping in the chair. So I talked to her and even sang to her a bit. She soon settled down. I was afraid her pain meds had worn off  but apparently they had not.

Right now we have the blanket pulled back to where she can see me sitting in the recliner. Being able to see one of us in the recliner seems to have a calming effect on her. Sometime soon I will have to go outside to get things done. I will sit here as long as I have to so long as it is helping her but I still have things I need to do. She will think that she needs to be with me regardless of how she feels.

2:30 PM edit. We took her out to do her business but nothing happened. Will try later. had her out of the cage in my lap for about an hour. Took the cone off and allowed her to groom herself. She had a good appetite and took water too. She settled down in my lap and went to sleep. I took a good nap too. gretchen was watching both of us otherwise I would not have napped. Her stitches look good. She was attempting to stretch her left back leg out like she always used to do and did have some success.  She got a little restless and started looking at her crate again. We put her back in and she seemed happy to be there.

I set up an appointment for Wed Jan 12th at 1:30 PM to have her stitches removed at MUSVM.

She is Still a good dog.

Even sick shes a good dog. She refuses to pee and poo in her crate or even in the house at all. We took her outside again today both me and Gretchen. As soon as we sat her down on the ground she let loose with urine. She was hurting a bit so we did not keep her out long enough to poo but she has not had much food in the past week.

We got her back inside, took the cone thing off, and let her stay in my lap for awhile. She took advantage of the cone collar being gone by grooming herself. Then she settled with her head in the crook of my arm for a long nap. We sat that way for maybe 30 to 45 minutes. Then she got a little restless. She started looking longingly at her crate. We put the collar back on and put her in. She was fully cooperative.

She did hurt a little from her bad hip while in my lap. I don't know what I did to make her hurt. She never offered to bite me but the pain was not that severe.

I may be way off base here but I think she knows the collar and the crate are helping her. Once back in the crate she moved to the back and went to sleep. I think she likes her new home within a home. I don't know how all this is going to play out in the future. I hope she gets well enough that she can do all the things she used to do but from my own experience I know that will be a long time in the future or it may not fully happen at all.

Her presence in my lap had a calming effect on both of us. I needed to use the bathroom but would have sat there until i was about to burst. Even with my very minor distress I still felt like taking a nap. She also seems content if she can see me setting in my chair.

She has also been giving Gretchen more loving attention than I. It's like she's trying to make up for the biting incidents. Again I am probably way off base there.

When I first wrote this I was on low battery. My Magsafe adapter has the same problem that many others have. It's the weakest part of a Mac Book and fails frequently. I was having problems with this one and was putting off purchasing another because they cost $80. I found a place called magsafeadapter.com that is selling them for as low as $29.  they get by with that price because they only sell the part that fails and not the whole device that Apple wants you to buy. I put this here because I always like to find a bargain.

Back to Dolly. We have set her med times at 8AM, 4PM,and 12 midnight. A little bit of peanut butter goes a long way towards getting her to take her meds. We save giving her peanut butter for med times. She loves it but you can't make it a frequent item on the diet.


Even sick and hurting Dolly is the best dog I have ever known.

Adjusting

Yes today was a day of adjustment. Puppy Dolly apparently thinks that since she is home everything is normal. She wants to go outside and bark. She wants to move freely about the house. She definitely wants her cone collar removed. We have removed it for a few minutes at a time under careful supervision. She immediately proceeds to groom herself. Fortunately she is staying away from the stitches.

Another problem is that she is unwilling to pee and poo in her crate. I took a brak at this point in the writing of this. We needed to remove her from her crate for water, food, meds, and hopefully to poo. She was not satisfied with being in my lap. She never really was when she was healthy. She had to be at the top of my recliner functioning as my pillow. The only time she was down in my lap was when she was wanting to lick my face. My face and ears were handier from the top of my recliner.

She was shivering and panting in my lap. We were trying to encourage her to piddle on the pad I had on my lap. She would have none of that business. To her proper Dachshund behavior is to go outside to use the potty. Everything has to be in order. After all we are talking about a dog here who rather than use the floor to potty, once pulled out a trash bag to do her business on when we overslept. She hides her most intelligent actions away from human eyes. Don't expect her to do it in front of anybody.

So Gretchen found a leash and even though it was dark outside took her out to do her business. We were all concerned that we might hurt her or she would hurt herself. Fortunately nothing happened except for Pee Pee. She brought her back in and put her in my lap. She was shivering less but I was using a blanket to wrap her up in. She ate a tiny amount, drank a small amount of water, and took her meds. She still wanted down to explore but we put her back in her crate again. We have an old house woth a lot of drafts so we covered her crate with a blanket to block the cold air.

I had intended my blog here to be a lighthearted account of the daily antics of my miniature dachshund. I don't normally put my feelings out on the net like this as I am usually a very private person. If my posts help prevent even one pet owner to go through what my family and our dog is going through then it is worth it.