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.