Happy 8th Birthday Miss Peaches

Today is Miss Peaches birthday, and she is 8 years old. That makes her older than me. Yesterday was Foozies birthday, or we assigned April Fools day as his birthday. When we got him from the SPCA we knew he was born in April, so the first seemed appropriate for him. Peachy we got from a vet tech who had taken on too many dogs, but we knew her actual birth date.

Peaches is a sweet wirehair who is the diva of the group. She grumbles at me when I stop patting her. She barks for me to come put her up on the couch. (which I will do for her to limit her jumping). She is also the the only female I know who feels the need to pee where the boys do and to not only squat, but lift her leg at the same time.

If I were to put a plate down for them to lick, everyone else knows to hurry up and get theirs because when Peach gets there she will stand over the plate to make herself seem bigger then let out the most awful growl you never expected from a little dog and they all back away. Except maybe Spaatz, who will try to get a little more because he knows she is all growl and no action.

Happy 7th Birthday Foozeball !

Foozie, Sandie, Spaatz and Miss Peaches

Well the gangs all here to celebrate Foozie's 7th birthday. We went for walkies and had some extra biscuits. The sun is shining, so it seems like it would be a good time to lie around and soak up some rays. There are few things Fooze likes more. I did mention we already had biscuits, and I imagine there will be more later. Foozie is a classic red dachshund , he probably is the best behaved of the group, although he is a little off. He will growl at you sometimes when you pat him, although he's not serious about it, and he's known for rubbing against your legs like a cat. He is also the best howler in the group, which is truly a hysterical thing to behold. Happy birthday big guy! His muzzle may be turning grey,but we love him just the same.

How to call Dachshunds

I know as a dachshund owner it's not always easy to convince your dog to come when called. I have found that there are three basic methods:

The first method of course, is to simply just call their name and if they're not too busy they will actually come. We all have experienced when they have their nose to the ground that they're not listening to you anymore. Then you might try method two which involves the mention of their favorite treat, be it a biscuit or a cookie,whatever, but we are talking bribery at this point. This often is a very effective way to entice them to come running. We all know the way to a dachshunds heart will be through his stomach. I have a jar of low calorie tiny biscuit by the back door, but I don't want to use them all the time. Need to keep our doxies trim!

Method three, when all else fails I have taken a little squeaker that Spaatz quickly removed from a tennis ball and I just blow in it. This is especially effective when they're rather far out in the yard as shown in the video.

There is also the dreaded method four which is when you have to go out and carry them in. This is usually reserved for Miss Peaches who gets the merit badge for not listening. When she sees me coming to get her she just lays down and offers the belly because she knows she's in trouble.

Miss Peaches-Trouble Maker?-Not her!

Did someone say "walkies"?

Spaatz certainly hopes so. It's been a long winter and we have gotten out for a couple of walks, but both of those were followed by a bath. Now if it were one dog, then sure, go ahead, but were talkin 4 dogs. I know they're little and for the most part cooperative when it comes to getting washed. When you add up washing, drying, the number of towels dirtied, its a project. I think were nearly done with snow for the most part, soon all the loose dirt on the roads will be pushed aside by the cars and we'll be up and running, literally. We'll be on the rail trail, the Morse estate and perhaps we'll go on the walkway over the Hudson. We'll be running those little short legs for all they're worth. Believe me, it's quite a lot, last year we were on the rail trail sometimes up to 3 miles, them pulling all the way.

Real soon , my people

The Light at the End of the Dachshund

Foozie the golden boy

I'm happy to say there may be light at the end of winter. I can now see bear ground where the dachshund trails were dug around the yard and soon the doggies and I will be out for walkies again. It's been a tough one, not only has there been so much snow on the ground but, it's been stinkin cold. Foozie here, is known

to be quite the sun worshipper , here going to the lengths of getting up on the paper shredder to be in the only sunny spot in the room in the afternoon. He did step on the button a couple of times which didn't seem to alarm him, but he did end up knocking it over, sending paper shreds flying and finding himself straddling the overturned shredder bucket and the open desk drawer next to it. He needed a rescue at that point. All in a days work in the life of a dachshund.

Go, Little Sandie, Go!!

So at least the snow has melted and compacted down enough so that the dogs can run on top of it. Probably less than a foot in some areas. It was a good two to three feet high, and when your a dachshund that means when you run outside your only going as far as the trenches are dug. We did have quite a little habitrail system laid out for them, but it's not the same as having the whole backyard to stretch your legs out in. Little Sandie does love to run and roll around in the snow like some kind of polar bear.

But deep down she really is just another dachshund that loves to lay around in the best sunny spot in the house

Dachshunds got the snow storm blues

Well if anyone has noticed, it's been snowing, a lot lately. I don't know about you, but we have between 2 and three feet on the ground. That doesn't include the horrendous piles made by shoveling and the snow plows. We're all like a bunch of rats in a big snow maze. So naturally the dachshunds being short in stature have it particularly difficult. They wanted to go out the other morning, and I was really tempted to just let them go because I knew it would be amusing when they took that first step and disappeared into the snow. But I would have to go save them and they would be all snow bound and that would be a mess. So I told them to wait while I went out and dug them some channels to get around the yard through. They seem to enjoy the little habitrails, each corner is a new adventure.

Not all dug out yet

So the doggies are doing a lot of laying low. They are good at that, plus being small dogs they utilize the space of the house to get exercise inside when the weather prevents spending much time outside.

Dreaming of warm sunshine and green grass.