Dolly Taught Us To Do a Trick.

This post is a bit tricky to do without giving the little surprise twist away right at the beginning. I like to save those for either the end of the story or near the end . I will say that having a dachshund as a pet can be a bit complicated at times.

 Gretchen loves to stay up late watching YouTube videos or chatting with her friends on the Backwoods Home magazine Forums. There are some good folks  there and we have made friends that without the net we'd have never known existed.

 It was midnight and Dolly came trotting out of the bedroom in a very happy mood. She walked up to where Gretchen was and sit down. About the only time she barks at us is when she needs to potty and even then her habit is to breeze right past you to go to the back door and bark. If she wants or needs something else she will come to one of us, sit down, and look at us quietly. There is no paw on the legs or anything to get your attention. She just sits patiently. 

 That particular night she had her little grin on her face. I call it a grin but it's actually the look she has in her eyes plus her body language. She was happy about something.

 When Gretchen saw her she did the "Hi how ya doing Dolly?" routine. Dolly remained seated It was obvious she needed something.  At times like these we ask her questions like "Are you hungry?" "Do you need to potty?"" Can i pick you up?" She got no response from her questions. When can't guess what she wants we say "OK Dolly Show Me! Show Me!"  Well she did get a response then. 

 Dolly led Gretchen to the kitchen where she stared at the kitchen sink. Gretchen said " Oh you are thirsty." "The water bowl is full Dolly but let me get you some fresh."  This comment produced some tail wagging so we were on the right track. Gretchen re-filled the water bowl but Dolly would not drink. She kept glancing at the sink. Gretchen says "You don't like the water bowl any more?" Dolly did not respond but she still looked at the sink. We were back to a guessing game. All of us talk to Dolly like we are talking to another human."  We don't expect an answer but I think she understands a bit more than we realize.

 

 Sometimes a bit of inspiration helps. Gretchen dug out my old green  coffee mug. The one I quit using because I was afraid I'd break it.That particular mug is no longer sold. I used to take it to work with me. Gretchen filled it with water. Dolly drank huge gulps of water out of it for a long time. Her usual habit even when she is thirsty is to take several short laps and walk away. These were not laps they were gulps and when she was finished she did the "Oh my humans are so smart !" performance with several "Thank You!" looks thrown in. She gets happy when we figure out something she's trying to tell us. 

 I used to take that mug outside with me in the morning. Sometimes Dolly would steal coffee out of it. Sometimes I'd let her have a little.

 Now here is the twist I was talking about earlier. I quit using that cup four years ago. In fact we did not even own Dolly then. She was owned by my next door neighbor. I took it out during the summer when Dolly hated our family. We eventually became friends and Dolly came over every day to visit. Like grew to love and love grew to a deep love. That summer has a lot of good memories. When the neighbors divorced that fall Dolly decided that I was going to be her new owner. I retired the coffee cup that fall.

 So I had a bit of a mystery on my hands. I know that a smart dog will remember somebody they love for years. I have used several coffee cups since then. She should have forgotten that cup a long time ago. It was only used for a short time in the mornings. Better yet what caused her to remember it?

 I think I know but it's just a theory and another twist to the story.  Dolly had been asleep. I think she had a dream about it. I know she dreams by how she acts when she sleeps on my shoulders. She moves her legs as if she's running, her tail wags, and on rare occasion she even barks. It's not a full bark, it's more like a sleepy "Burrrff " I think that night her mind had gone back to that happy summer when she was still a pup.

 We have not seen her use the water bowl for a few days now. In fact she even quit policing it. She lets the cats do as they wish with it. However every night when it is around midnight she comes out of the bedroom and wants water from my old coffee cup.  She gets it in the morning too.  This has turned out to be a good thing. Dolly has dry skin and she's now drinking more water on a daily basis than she used to. 

 Dolly is the most unusual dog I have ever owned. She is also the best and we all love her very much. I believe she loves us more.

 

The Intimidator

My little Doxie seems to have numerous rules that she lives by and expects others to obey.

Near the top of the list of these rules is one that must go something like this; All dogs that enter into our yard must be intimidated. Over the years she has perfected this into a fine art. She just calmly and matter of factly glares at them until they go into their submissive posture. She does not bark when she is really serious about doing this. Not only does she not bark, she does not move either. We stand there like a statue with our tail up stiff and high. I don't know how to describe her facial expression except to say it's a very cold one. Whatever it is that she does must be very un-nerving to some dogs because they sometimes go running in the opposite direction. When they do she explodes. It's like she decided " AHA!""I KNEW that S.O.B. was up to no good!!"

It was a day or two ago that I finally realized that this behaviour is only for dogs that are bigger than she is.

Two Chiuaua's entered the yard and approached me. Dolly intercepted them before they could get to me. Once they met up it was like "You guys are my size!" "Lets get to know each other." Her tail dropped and there was much sniffing of each other. The only thing she would not allow them to do was sniff her butt. It was basically a friendly exchange. When they left the yard she did not bark at theml

A few days before that a big dog came into the garden, Dolly moved in to cut him off from me. She was having trouble running because I had just tilled. Her little legs were sinking in all the way. She had such a momentum going that she could not stop when she got to the dog. She wound up popping the other dog square in the butt with her nose by accident.

The other dog had not seen or heard her. When Dolly popped her she immediately laid down on the ground n a submissive posture. Dolly just stood there with that little grin of hers on her face. It was like she was saying "Now this is more like it.""I hardly had to work at all to show this one who the boss is."

A few days before this my neighbor brought her mini doxie to visit her mom. When the dog saw Dolly it went into a barking frenzy. It charged at Dolly several times to drive her off. Dolly stood there like she was saying " This is some kind of joke right?"  Dolly likes other Dachshunds. Her tail was not up and in fact she was giving off signals that another dog should have interpreted as friendly but not submissive. The barking Doxie was raised in a puppy mill and does not seem to understand body language.

In spite of the tiny dogs behaviour Dolly just stood there and tried to be friends with it. This makes me happy to know that Dolly is not a bully. Her intimidation routine is a self defense action. 

Barrel Racing Video Wiener Dog.mov

There is Always Something new

Dolly has developed a new habit. It started when I planted some sweet corn in our second garden which is across the street behind my neighbors home. I can access the garden by way of he alley that runs next to it. To save my back and knees I ride over on my John Deere GT245 riding mower.

I'll start the mower up and head out of the garage. If I stop and offer Dolly a ride at this point she will refuse.  When I drive on she will follow. She follows as if she's going on a great adventure with me. Some days she struts, other days she prances. It's as if she is saying "Look at us!" I'm  with my wonderful master and we are going exploring!"

As soon as we arrive she will go on patrol. Patrol is serious business to her. The area must be checked and cleared of any threats to her master. If she could talk I'd ask her how a 10 pound dachshund is supposed to defend a man who is 6 foot 6 inches tall and weighs 300 lbs.

Once the area is clear of threats it has to be checked again for new scents. We have to see how many critters have been in the area and file away that information in her mind. She's a good little tracker. Just this morning I spotted her tracking my son who had just returned from a walk. She did not know he left and she loves going on walks with him.

While she's doing all this I'm usually doing various things in the garden. Most days it don't take long and to be honest I really don't have to do it daily but I do it anyway. When I'm done I'll fire up the John Deere and head out. This is the point where Dolly will jump on the mower and climb up on my lap.

I know this sounds dangerous but Dolly has her own very strict rules on how this is to be done. Rule number one is never jump on the mower when it is moving. Rule number two is; Get away, far away from the mower if Mr. Carl has the mower blades running. Rule three is get the heck off the mower if Mr.C turns the blades on when you are riding. I did not train her to do these things...She trained herself. the only part I play is to praise her when she does this.

Once she's on the mower with me she will plant her rear legs in my lap and park her front legs on the steering wheel. When stranger sees us for the first time they usually stop and take a second look because it looks like she is steering. If i have to turn the steering wheel she will move her feet accordingly. This don;t work on sharp turns. At those times I lift her off the wheel with one hand and turn with the other.

Normally it's a short ride back home. She enjoys the ride so much that I just go ahead and make it a nice long one. We will drive along and she will occasionally function as the horn. If anything gets in the way of the mower she will bark at it. If we get behind something that's moving too slow she'll bark at that too.

Yesterday things were different. it was almost time for me to go back in the house for the day. I was sitting in front of the fan when Dolly appeared. She sat down and looked at me with a very sad expression on her face. In my opinion no dog does sad like a Dachshund. I knew what was wrong. If  I had said to her at that point " Dolly what's wrong?" "Show Me!" Show Me!" she would have lead me directly to the John Deere.

I did not take the John Deere out of the garage yesterday and she missed out on her mower ride. She may have wondered about her ride the entire time I was outside. She was doubly sad by the time she came to me. She also knows that if there is something wrong I'll figure it out and try to correct it.. In fact I think she has assigned me that job. We all have our specific jobs she has given us. Gretchen is for food and attention, Richard is the one to go to for fun things. Me, I am the correcter of wrongful things plus my shoulders are a great place for a little dog to nap.

I was too hot and tired to take her for a mower ride. I knew we needed a few groceries. I said to Dolly "Truck Ride" and Ka-Ching! her ears perked up and sad was gone in a flash. A truck ride is not as much fun as a mower ride but the truck has that wonderful glorious Air Conditioner that Mr.Carl knows how to set the vents just right to make a little dog feel mighty comfortable.

If Dolly were human she'd wear her emotions on her sleeve. Usually those emotions are happy ones. Sad is fairly rare and when it shows up I am compelled to find out why. I did not know that our mower rides meant so much to her. That's why I gave her two today lol.

I enjoy doing things for her. She in turn almost always lets me know she is grateful. I get many "Thank You" looks and lots of " I love You" looks too. She don't hide her feelings. The only thing she hides is when she is in pain.