What's Tougher than Shaving the Underside of a Dachshund?

My sweet Sandra, she would be such a mop if I let her be. Eventually the fur needs to come off. It's cool because she really only looks like a dachshund when she is trimmed up. It's like "Oh yeah, she actually is a dachshund. Plus she does a happy dance after. Sometimes a haircut can be so liberating.

I have been shaving our wire hair dachshunds ever since we first got Watson back in 1997. He was our first. He was a standard sized wire hair. He was a big boy, a solid 30 pounds. His coat seemed to get more fuzzy every year. I would shave him 2 or 3 times a year.

Then came Miss Peachy who was so timid when we got her, but she turned into a feisty little top dog. She could also be spooked by a random leaf blowing by.

Sandie came along while we still had Peaches, so she learned eveything from her. They are kinda similar looking, so when Sandie is all shaved up she can give you that milisecond when your brain thinks its Peaches. It's nice to get that Peachy moment. She's been gone a few years now.

So the job of shaving Sandie is a big project to gather all the tools and space to do the work. She's pretty coopertive but it does take awhile . It's also difficult to get to the underside of a dachshund. I end up sitting on the floor with her laying on her back on top of my legs. She's pretty chill with this whole deal, especially if she can lick my arms while I doing it. It's good so I can get to her undersides and her legs. Those fuzzy legs.

And look I have enough fur leftover for a whole nother dog! There is half again as much stuck to my clothing. Somehow I will also end up doing this on the hottest day of the year.

 

My Three Doxsons Rides Again!

So we've been away for awhile. It felt very odd to only have 2 dogs. After having 4 for 7 years and 3 for, I was going to say 8, but we had Watson years ago so there was more than that. Anyway, we are back to 3 with the arrival of the new guy. Let me introduce you to Flynn. He is our first long haired dachshund. He's sweet and loving, but needs some work to be his best boy he can be.

We were kinda thinking that we would get another wire haired dachshund, but the simple truth is they're hard to find. I thought that we could maybe get a long hair. It would be cool to have one of each coat type. We have known several nice long hairs, My daughter has had three of them.

Here we have Lorelei, who is Spaatz's sister and Hugo and Rupert. My daughter's dogs, two are long hairs.

The funny thing is that the way we got Flynn is almost identical to the way we got Foozeball, who passed away this past December at the age of 14. My husband is the dog control officer for our town, as he has been for 22 years. In both cases he was taking a stray to the shelter, and when he gets there it's "we have a dachshund for you". Both dogs came from non-ideal circumstances, so they come to live with us, a veritable dachshund paradise. 

Think about it. Friends to play with, dog beds to sleep on in every room, unless there's a couch available. A fenced in backyard, complete with red and grey squirrels, chipmunks and the occasional mouse or vole. Spaatz even caught and dispatched a weasel in the woodpile. There's a bluegrass fiddle and banjo song there somewhere.

So now we embark on a new chapter in the lives of My Three Doxsons. Flynn is about 1 1/2 and he has spent most of his time cooped up in an apartment barking, so he will have to learn some manners. He is very smart with a great play drive, so I think he has a lot of potential. We have work to do, I'll keep you posted.

The original My Three Doxsons: Spaatz, Miss Peaches and Foozeball.

Sweet Fluffy Muffins

 Oh Sandiepoo, so sweet and funny. She is Miss Fluffy Muffins, and we love her. Not the sharpest tool in the shed by any means, but the sweetest by far. I usually keep Miss muffins trimmed up, except for the signature beard and eyebrows that let us know that we have a wire haired dachshund.

Right now though she has gone full "O-Cedar", and I let it happen. Ordinarily in the winter I will keep her groomed so she doesn't get matted and we keep all that fur under control. Then she wears a sweater.

This year I had intended to shave her, but kept putting it off. Then it was so dang cold I decided to let her go with the fur. I know I will regret this at some point. I don't want her to go on full mop like before. Here she is, her first winter with us. Now, I at least keep her "nosehairs" trimmed so we can see her eyes

All that fur does give her protection from the elements. She goes out in the cold and snow and basically has a good time rolling around. The boys are both smoothies and not up for the real cold.

Spaatz gets to shivering out in the cold if he's not busy with something. I would love to put a sweater on him, but he just hates any type of clothing at all. His body language stiffens up and he is miserable until you take it off. Fooze always has some type of shirt or sweater on. He is getting pretty old now at nearly 14 and really would rather not go out in the cold if he can get away with it. Believe me, he tries.

Soon it will be getting warmer and we will have to think about giving Sandie the big shave. It will take me over and hour and there will be fur everywhere, including stuck to my nose.

She behaves pretty well during the process. Getting her legs done nicely is the biggest challenge. That and her undercarriage. Ever try to shave the underside of a dachshund? There's not a whole lot of room

Afterwards she is so sweet and "doughy" and she runs around like a new dog and is so happy. It makes it all worthwhile. Whether her coat is short or long she's always the sweetest little muffin you'll know.

Foozie, Spaatz and Sandie, aka Miss Fluffy Muffins

Goodbye Sweet Peaches

 With a heavy heart, I must announce the passing of Miss Peachy. A dog of indomitable spirit, who came to us as a tiny, timid little dog that somehow turned into a force within our doxie family never to be forgotten. She will always be my golden girl. When we first got her she was very timid, didn't like men, Which my husband took personally, him being the dog warden for our town, figures to be a dog whisperer. He did win her over with patience.

She learned to be a more self-confidant dog and really came into her own with our older standard dachshund, Watson who was a great, good natured dog. He was a excellent teacher and mentor.

Eventually Foozeball came along and we really had our own pack, and in time Miss Peaches would be the leader of the pack. A confident and strong presence that others, that came along would look to.

With the passing of Watson, Peachy was truly the leader at this point, there was no doubt about it. After a while my quest for a dapple dachshund with different color eyes was realized when Spaatz was added to the pack. He was a puppy, and learned the ropes from Peachy. He would challenge her from time to time, but for a long time was told in plain language to back down and wait your turn.

For about three years this was the makeup of the pack, and Miss Peach was there keeping the boys in line. She is unfortunately known for killing snakes in the garden. Going as far one day to bring one in the kitchen while trying to dispatch it. She inspired Spaatz to be the great hunter dog he is today.

Eventually, dachshunds happen, and My Three Doxsons ended up being my four dachshunds because a little dog that would come to be known as Sandie needed to be rescued. We went to see her, and when we did we brought along Peachy to make sure there wouldn't be a problem between them. Peach gave her the paws up and another dog would learn the joys of being a dachshund under Miss Peachy.

That was seven years ago. Over the past 14 years there have been, of course, many highs and lows in the lives of our pack members. We knew that this day was coming. We could see her slow down greatly, and eventually be a shadow of her former self. We made the call I know was right. To be honest, it all went as well as I could hope under all the circumstances. For her and us. We are sad now that she is gone, I cried when I saw the water dish outside that she liked so much despite her poor vision making it hard to find, but so glad that the other dogs are here, still being wonderful and silly and lifting us up. Doggies lives shine so bright, and they bring that to us everyday, I wouldn't trade any of it for not missing her now. She was wonderful, and I will treasure her memories always.

Love you baby

New Senior Dachshund Milestones

April is a big month, here in the land of My Three Doxsons. Miss Peaches turns 13, and Foozeball is officially 12. They are known as the"old dogs", while Sandie and Spaatz will be 9 this year

Sandie, Miss Peaches, Spaatz and Foozeball

I must say, 9 years old hardly seems like a youngster, but Sandie and Spaatz really seem like they are maybe 6 or 7. Still very active, still giving the squirrels a run for their money.The above photo shows the dogs before I gave them a little birthday treat. I realized as I was attempting to break this dog cookie up that it was very hard. Fooze had a hard time with it because he is deficient in the tooth department. Took him about 40 minutes to finish eating it, but he was a happy boy..

Fooze does live to lay in the sun. This is his favorite place to be. Dogs look so happy when they're sleeping, and at the age of 12 sleeping is his major occupation. But on to Miss Peaches.

Miss Peaches turning 13 is a huge deal because over the years we have had many a dog, I will include my in-laws dogs because we lived next door for 18 years. All of the dogs lived to be 13. Our goal is for Peachy to be the first one to make it to 14 and beyond! She made it through major back surgery a few years back and we're hoping she has a few more in her.

Unfortunately she is a little under the weather right now. She has injured her front leg. I am at the "wait and see" stage. Usually this happens when she forgets her advanced age and goes barreling down the ramp like she's going to catch a squirrel with the "young" dogs. I'll give her till tomorrow to get back to her old self, if not, it's off to the vet. For now I'm doing extra dog carrying.

Soon, I know I will be running a senior home for dachshunds. I'm halfway there now, but we will do our best to take good care of the old dogs, and Spaatz and Sandiepoo will be keeping the energy high here for now in the land of "My Three Doxsons.

It's Peachy Day

Yes, it's Peachy Day, where we celebrate the day we made our secret drive to get Miss Peaches 12 years ago.

 It was secret because at the time we had 1 standard size wire hair dachshund named Watson. My daughter Marlena said she wanted a mini wire hair, which I didn't think was going to happen. I had never seen an ad for a mini wire hair locally.

Watson, protector of shoes.

But as happenstance would have it, there was one listed in the paper, so without telling her, we went to look at the dog. It happens my husband is a dog control officer, so we said we were going on a dog call and took Watson with us. Marlena being a teenager was unconcerned with whatever we were up to.

So we drove to the next county in the snow. Peachy was one of many owned by a vet tech that needed to downsize. Peachy was sweet and her first meeting with Watson went well so we decided to take her. When we brought her home I called Marlena downstairs, I said Merry Christmas, and handed her the dog. She was so excited, she was basically hyper-ventilating. I told her to stop she was scaring the puppy.

So the rest is history as they say, and there have been many adventures with the old girl. The Peach is the matriarch around here even though she never had pups of her own. We love her dearly

She's my little digger, the brave scaredy cat, the great communicator, and if my mom were a dog Peachy would be her as she is always there for me when I need her

She's been lost and then found, survived fighting with a muskrat and major back surgery. Dug many a hole and had to be washed and I hope she will be with us for as long as she is able. Still going strong, 13 years old next April, Happy Peachy day old girl!!

The gang's all here!

Miss Peaches: Swiffer for the Planet

I recently took the dogs for a little hike on the local Greenway trail, which was very nice and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed it. Part of the trail is all leaves and sticks from the past fall. Which can be problematic for Peachy. I have to remove a variety of leaves and debris from her underside afterwards

If you find yourself lucky enough to own a wire haired dachshund or two, you may be all too familiar with the phenonmenon of the canine swiffer. Miss Peaches, in the photo above has just had a bath after a walk. As you can see, she can't do a thing with her eyebrows after a bath.

Now I'm sure the same could be said for the long hair dachshund as well. Rupert here, my "grand dog" would experience the same issue I'm sure, but he's in Florida and hasn't been on any trails in New York as of late.

Some of you may recall Miss Peach has a similar problem with snow. The worst part about that is, while you might think you could "brush" the snow away. You would be sadly mistaken. It quickly becomes embedded and has to be pulled out, snowball by snowball.

Soon, with the warmer weather I will have the ritual "shaving the Peach". It helps keep the bugs down and her undercarriage a little more tidy. My other wire hair, Sandie, I keep shaved year round.

As you can see, while she is very cute, the fur is very fine and prone to matting. She hates to be brushed, and will run away if she sees the brush. She is very cooperative for the shaving process, so it works out better for all this way. I like to say she is part "O-Cedar".

She does clean up very well I must say. Then there are the boys, Spaatz and Foozeball, or Mr. Foo.

They don't have these problems with their short fur. That can cut down on the number of dogs that need to washed after a hike. While we have the whole process down to a science, it can be a lot of work and towels. The hazards of having a bunch of low rider dogs. It's okay, they're totally worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing.

My Golden Girl