The Cuteness Factor

Before I go any further I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. May all of you have a year full of good luck and happiness

Dolly upped her cuteness factor last night.  She was in her usual spot. That is on top of the back of my recliner with her butt on my shoulder. Sometimes she will rest with her head and her paws on my right shoulder. She don't do that often because it's a bit uncomfortable for her. She had decided to rest like that for a while last night when all at once she started barking. It was after dark and she could not see outside. No cats were violating the rules. It was a mystery for a few seconds.

She was barking at the TV. A movie was on that was about slavery. The scene that was on was several white men whipping and beating Africans.  In the world according to Dolly no human is to cause harm to another human even on TV. She seems to know that TV is not real but she did not like what was going on anyway. I was proud of her and it was just one of many incidents that makes my love for her grow.

Dolly has never been in any circumstance where she has seen actual violence but she knows what it is regardless and does not like it.  About a month or so ago Gretchen was standing in the doorway between the hall and the living room. Dolly was asleep in the bedroom. My son came up behind her and playfully put his arm around her neck just to get a reaction out of her. Within a second Dolly came boiling out of the bedroom madder than hell.  When a Dachshund gets angry they get really angry really fast. From her angle she could not see that it was my son who put his arm around Gretchen's neck.She calmed down when she saw who it was. It still was not OK by her. She rather grumpily went back to bed.Sort of Like an old person whose sleep had been interrupted by the grandkids.

When the cats fight with each other within seconds you will hear this little growl followed by the click of toenails on the floor.  Next thing you know the offending cat is making a mad dash through the house with Dolly chasing her.  Sometimes Dolly will make a run at Misty but if Misty has done nothing wrong she will just stand there and watch Dolly run at her.  If she has broken a rule she will run. To my knowledge Dolly has not bitten any of our cats.  I know she has nipped them but with her nipping is not serious. When Dolly bites hard she is faster than lightning and she draws blood. She will also hang on like a pit bull.  I know this because when her pelvis was fractured she bit Gretchen twice and that is just how she acted.

A dog or cat that is wounded will bite anyone or anything, even their own mothers.  In the dog world biting your mom is like the unpardonable sin. Sometimes we humans could learn a thing or two from dogs.

I wonder if Dachshunds have a bit of German Shepherd in them??

That thought sounds rather silly when you think about it. A tiny little dog like that having the GSD as a close relative. It sounds impossible. It sounds like something you'd hear on a late night comedy show.

Over the past few years I have joked that Dolly has the spirit of a GSD. I'm not joking about it now. The past year has provided me with some incidents that have led me to think that maybe this is possible. To understand this I'll have to give you some background.

When I was a kid I always wanted a GSD as a pet. My wish came true when my Aunt Rosina Osbourne gave my sister her GSD, a female named Duchess. Duchess did not like me at first sight, in fact she tried to attack me. Dolly hated me too. Unlike Dolly the next morning I matter of factly walked out to where Duchess was tethered. I made sure she saw the leash in my hand.
She was a city dog who had never been out in the country. I took her for a walk and in 15 minutes I became that wonderful human who introduced her to it. On that walk she decided that I was to be her new owner. She also appointed herself as my protector. I was 12 at the time and I had never met a dog as intelligent as she was. I could write a book about her. If she'd had her way she'd be at my side 24/7.

Jump to the future. A few months ago just for the heck of it my son came up behind Gretchen and put his arm around her neck. Dolly was in the bedroom. She only saw his arm. Within seconds we had an enraged Miniature Dachshund on our hands who only calmed down when she saw it was my son. She still did not like it even though she loves Rich very much.

A few days ago I was sitting in the parking lot of the new Wal-Mart in Jefferson City while my son was loading groceries in the back.  A young woman walked by and one of her friends snuck up on her, grabbed her, and hugged her aggressively nearly taking her off her feet. When Dolly saw this she became enraged. She wanted to hop out of the truck and go bite the hugger. it took some doing to get her calmed down. When the scene ended the young woman who had been hugged,walked on into Wal Mart. Dolly alertly watched her the whole time until she disappeared.

A few seconds later a car comes flying up and slides to a stop. Inside is someone who looked similar to the hugger. The car took off and left quickly. This put Dolly into another barking frenzy.

Not long after that we were ready to leave. As I am pulling out of the parking space lo and behold here comes another person who looked like the hugger and she was walking directly towards the truck. Dolly's temper hit the ceiling this time. This was a time that I was glad dogs cannot talk like humans because I believe that this person was being cussed out and threatened too by Dolly. She did not calm down until we left the lot.

Did I scold Dolly?? No I did not. I saw the situation from her point of view. She believed she had seen someone being assaulted and at the very least needed to alert humans to it or best of all do something about it herself.

We don't horseplay much here at home. I don't think she knows the difference between play and aggression. All she knows is that she don't like it.

My German Shepherd Duchess was the same way. A friend of mine when I was a kid, stopped by one day on his tractor to talk. Like all young men of that era some friendly horseplay started when he puched me on the top of my arm. Duchess put him right back up on his tractor. She'd have soon figured out how to get up there herself had I not stopped her.

The only difference between Dolly and Duchess is size. I also hate to say this nut intelligence too. Duchess was highly intelligent. Dolly is smarter than Duchess was  BUT not by too much.
Like Duchess Dolly knows the names of everyone in the house. Unlike Duchess she knows the names of all the cats and knows the names of some of our neighbors. Duchess too may have learned like this but it was different circumstances.

What I have pointed out in this post leads me to believe that somewhere in the history of the dachshund there has to be a bit of German Shepherd there. No one really knows for sure because when the Germans developed the Dachshund it was done by many different breeders over many,many years of time. The people who started the breed were not around to see the end result. 

Any and all comments will be appreciated. If someone has proof of my theory and can give me a link to a website I'd be very happy. To be honest it still sounds a bit ludicrous that a Doxie would have GSD blood in them.

Possible Lost Dog

This dog showed up in our neighborhood a few weeks ago.

He is either a Lab/beagle mix or a Golden Retriver/Beagle mix. I am not sure on either one so please leave a comment as to what breeds you think he is. His personality is like that of a beagle.

One of my neighbors feeds him. He comes to me and my wife for attention. It took him awhile to make up with us. he is a bit shy.

He has NO COLLAR. The unwritten rule in my little town is that if you own a dog you put a collar on them or they will be considered strays.

He is NEUTERED. I know this because some of his guy parts are missing. It's one of the oddest neutering jobs I have seen. Usually a vet will leave something behind.

He has average intelligence. I think if I tried I could tech him a few tricks.

My wife and I have named him BUDDY and he answers to that name and he did it immediately. It's possible his owners may have named him that. The name fits his personality.

Speaking of personality. I could go into a very long post on that. I'll try to keep it short. The best i can say about him is that my Miniature Dachshund liked him at first sight. She does not like other dogs and has been known to be rude to the few dogs that have befriended her. When she first sees him in the morning she wags her tail, I've never seen her do her intimidation routine with him. She also likes him because he plays gently with her.

I have only had to tell him NO one time. He obeyed me instantly and then had a sorrowful expression on his face. His moods are easy to read. He loves gentle attention from humans and loves it when you do what I call the "Silly Talk" routine. That's merely talking to your dog in a loving way and saying whatever silly phrase comes in your mind. With Dolly I used to say thigs like "There's my little PeePeePooPooPuppy Youse a goood Dawg!" I did that because when I first got to know her I'd pick her up and she be so excited she'd pee on me." I no longer get pee'd on but on rare occasion I still say that phrase.

Buddy is a bit afraid of cats. My cats feel safe around him and right now are trying their intimidation routine on him. They do this to all new animals that come here. If he passes that test they will love him.

Buddy is VERY laid back. few things excite him. He has excellent manners. I don't know if he is house broke but I'd bet that he is. This is a dog that I just like to set and look at. He only requires a little attention from humans and if you pet him too long he will gently let you know it's time to stop.

I cannot imagine why somebody would dump this dog after having gone to the expense and trouble of neutering. Usually people will dump a dog here because it has a personality problem or a physical problem. Problems like the stray I met several years ago that when I was using my weedeater, tried to bite me. That dog learned quickly no to bite a person with a weedeater and the lesson was by accident. Buddy has none of those issues.

One last thing. I deliberately left some things out of this description. Things that only his true owner would know. I plan to ask a lot of questions if somebody contacts me.I did that to prevent people who are less than honest from claiming him. I want him to go back to his true owners. If he has no owners I want him to go to a good loving home. He deserves that. I have too many pets now but I will take him in if he don't have a home.

I need to come back here more often to write

I have been doing all of my posts about Dolly on Facebook. I have ignored this Blog because I thought almost nobody was reading it. I have over 800 friends on Facebook and quite a number have told me they enjoyed my stories about her.

I came here tonight and saw that my Blog has over 15,000 page views. Nobody to my knowledge has left a comment so i assumed that most of my readers came here by accident and never came back.

So I will be back soon with more stories. I never have to wait long for one, Even if  it's a quiet day she is always doing something cute.

Like today for example. She's been bored because of the rainy weather and I don't like it either.  So we went on a van ride to Jefferson City.  I got several long 'I love you' looks. I'd wanted to take her in to Loews with me but left her in the van with my son.

I was tooling along in one of their handicapped carts when all at once my son popped up with her in his arms. He dropped her off on me, told me there was no leash, and he needed to use the bathroom. Off he went and there I was with her in my lap.

She did not like it at first.  Her preffered method is to be on the leash, down on the floor, strutting along proudly by my cart. She gets to explore a bit that way too. She also gets to be friendly to more humans. People tend to not see her sitting in my lap.

Even though she did not like it she never gave me a minutes trouble. She rode quietly in my lap very much like she rides with me on the John Deere.  When she's in my lap she cannot roll over on her back and expose her belly to humans she likes. 

It's late,I am tired, I will see you good folks later.

Bad Things Happen

 Sometimes no matter how much you love and care for your dog bad things sometimes happen.  Gretchen and I are always checking on our little buddy. If I can't see her I will call out for her.  She will usually answer back with one short bark. When she does I'll say "Good Dog!"

 A few days ago we were working on the second garden which is about 150 feet away from our house. By working I mean our usual work for 10 minutes and sit for twenty. Dolly was in the shade most of the time. She's always been good at politely letting us know if she needs something or if something is wrong. Sometimes it's a matter of guesswork as to what it is. She did not do that on that particular day.  One of the bad things about a dachshund is that they might want to do a certain thing but when they go to do it they may all of a sudden decide that they don't want to do it after all. This can be very exasperating at times.

 We did not discover that Dolly had gotten too hot until we went in for the day.  Instead of jumping up on me and sleeping on my shoulder she went straight for the bedroom and laid where she got the best breeze from the ceiling fan. One of the best home improvement projects I have ever done was those ceiling fans. 

 When Gretchen went in to check on her she had a hard time waking her up. That's very unusual because she wakes easily. She did wake and she was OK but Mrs.G and I decided that she was exhausted from the heat. This happened in spite of the fact that we had ice water over  there for all of us. When Dolly needs water she comes to us and we let her drink from a bottle. She loves curling her tongue up and sticking it inside the bottle to drink while we tip it for her. She also seems to enjoy getting her water in the same way her humans do.

 We decided that the next day we'd train her to go back in the house for a little while to cool off. It turned out that she trained us instead of us training her.  When she needed to cool off she started coming to us and barking AT us one time. We would then say"Do you want IN ?" She'd then wag her tail and head for the door.  Another thing she did was if she saw someone going back in the house she'd go in with them. She'd stay inside anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour then bark to go back out.

 Yes sometimes no matter how well you know your dog these things happen. 

The Guilt Trip

Dolly knows our routine better than we do.

My normal spring and summer routine is to get up in the morning and spend a couple of hours trying to get my body to wake up. I might get up early but I am not and never have been a morning person. The problem with this is that I am an outdoor person in spite of the fact that I held a job for 35 years that was an indoors job. Note to outdoor people; don't do what I did. It's not healthy for you and it kills your soul.

Back to the routine. Shortly after I get up Dolly usually wants a potty run. This used to involve her going to the front door and doing a single short bark. If we did not hear her she then  starts with a series of short barks.  If she is desperate the barks become faster and longer. She will also ignore you when you say "I'm coming Dolly."

Now that we have her on a leash she has modified her routine.  Instead of going to the front door she comes out of the bedroom and gives us that 'Grin' of hers, wags her tail, then heads for the BACK door where her harness and  leash is kept.  The funny thing about this is the only time she goes to the front door is when she wants Richard to take her out.  Rich is young but Gretchen and I are old and going out the front door causes problems for us. There are steps out there plus there is a long flight of steps that go down to the street.  I don't know if Dolly goes to the back door out of consideration for us or if it's just habit.

She does not like the leash or the harness but she LOVES going on walks with her humans.

When I finally do get my body semi-awake I go outside. During my preparations for this Dolly usually watches me intently. She don't move or get excited she just watches. When I finally put my bandanna on she will head for the back door and wait for me. If I put my CAP on she gets excited. That means a long ride into town.

When I do go out I let her go without a leash because by this time the traffic has died down. We will go back in before the traffic picks up in the late afternoon.  We seem to have an understanding. She is not to be in the street and she is not to be out of my sight. If she is out of my sight I will call for her. A few days ago she started barking once to let me know where she is.

She spends most of her day sleeping on a cool place after she has done her inspection rounds. When we come back in I wait for her at the door but she won't go in until she sees that I have gone in first. With her it's almost always humans first most of the time.  I don't know if it's because she considers us the leaders or not. If she's excited she will go first.

Once we get in I will go set in my recliner and grab my laptop. Even though I have been going outside for a few years now and getting more exercise I still can't set at the computer desk for any length of time without being in pain. So I relax in the recliner and use a laptop. Dolly will sometimes sit down and wait for me to grab the laptop then she jumps on me, walks up my chest, and settles in on my shoulder for a long nap.

Sometimes instead of jumping on me she will go to the bedroom and rest where she can get the best breeze from the ceiling fan.  I miss her when she does this. It don't seem right her not being on my shoulder.

Today I sat down and waited to see what she wanted to do. She headed for the bedroom. I wanted her on me so I called to her. I said things like "Please come here Dolly." "Come on up, yes yes yes." and other silly talk. The best I could do was get her to stop and look at me twice. Once in the bedroom I continued. I even spoke German to her. I said " Dolly ver ist du?" "I miss you" 

She ignored me so I ignored her completely. A few minutes after I stopped talking to her she came out of the bedroom then sat down and looked at me with that sorrowful look. I looked at her and said " Well come on up Dolly!" Her face got that grin and she leaped up into my lap. She got on my shoulder, licked my face, and tried to settle in but could not. A few minutes later she got down and went to the bedroom. I WAS hot at the time and I think she was getting a lot of heat off me.

The guilt trip worked but only for a short time.

I don't blame her. It's much cooler where she is now. I still miss having her on my shoulder but there will be other days good Lord willing.

MODOT Dolly

Dolly does not have the freedom she once had.  Dogs have lived their full lives roaming free in my little town without even coming close to being hit by a car. Their owners were merely lucky and that's not how my luck runs.


She is no longer allowed to go outside in the evenings, nighttime, or early morning unless she is on a leash. I will allow her to go out when I will be out there all the time. Early mornings and evenings are a no-no due to traffic. Night is definitely out because she is black and hard to see.


Night was definitely out after I started reading stories of coyote attacks on Miniature Dachshunds to my wife Gretchen. One story was so bad I thought she was going to grab the Mossberg and go coyote hunting.  To top it off one night when she was taking Dolly for a potty run they spotted some kind of odd looking creature off in the dark that was watching them.  Gretchen always takes a walking stick with her. She tapped it on the ground and the creature ran off. She said it ean more like a bear then it did a dog.


I do allow her to roam a bit when I am out.  I put an Orange Vest on her during those times.  She almost always tries to help me put it on. The odd thing is that she obeys me better when she has the vest on.  She made two attempts to chase vehicles.  Both times I tethered her for a short time.  So the vest seems to be a reminder to her to obey.


One time one of our young friends told us she looked like a Missouri Department of Transportation worker AKA MODOT worker.  I thought that was funny. Ever since that I occasionally call her MODOT Dolly. 


She don't care what I call her just so long as I love her. She has that for sure.

Another Accident

I have told people over the years that the reason I liked owning cats was because I had bad luck with dogs especially the really good dogs.  A very good dog when owned by me has a short life span regardless of how well they are taken care of.  

That is the main reason I tried to resist Dolly's efforts when she was determined that I would be her new owner.

A few days ago Dolly was hit by a truck.  The driver was a fellow who was always good about watching out for her.  He tried to stop and help her but she was trying to bite him. I am not angry at him one bit. He stopped and tried to help.  It had been a nice day before that. I had delayed going outside until late in the afternoon. Had I gone out earlier it is likely Dolly and I would have been back inside by the time the fellow came through.

We ran Dolly to the University of Missouri's School of Veterinary Medicine's Emergency Room. They ran some IV's did some X-rays and then kept her overnight. I did not get upset. I got the feeling that Dolly was expecting me to be strong. She quit trying to bite when I came upon the scene. If I tried to leave for a minute she got restless.  I guess I had a calming presence. 

They called us the next day and told us she had no broken bones. She had been hit on the same side that her plates and screws were in. They held just fine.  We brought her home and she acted as if she had not seen us for two weeks.  On the way home she insisted on riding on my left leg while I drove as opposed to her comfortable pillow.

She is stiff and sore along with being bruised. She can't quite bear weight on her Right hind leg. We are giving her pain killers and rest. She goes out only to potty and then she is on a leash. There was one time we could not find the leash. We took her out and she seemed to understand that she was not to leave our side. The trip went without incident.

She was out in the street because she had spotted a dog she did not know. She was so focused on that dog she did not see the truck. His truck set up so high that he did not see her. Before this happened I had broken her from chasing cars and motorcycles.  I did it just by talking to her and tying her up when she disobeyed.  I think that the full realization of what a vehicle can do to a dog has been driven in to her now. Will I trust her off the leash again ?? NO.