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.