[Our post today comes from Heidi from Portland, Oregon! She now lives with two Dachshunds, Señor Rolo and Miss Gigi. She rescued Gigi from Oregon Dachshund Rescue a year ago.]
I have always owned pets but I think that I had a thing against Dachshunds because so many of them are named after me. So I was in my thirties before I actually met a wiener dog and fell in love with the breed. I am mostly German and I can really relate to their idiosyncratic and sometimes extreme little (big) personalities!
Anyway, it was love at first sight for me and Señor Rolo, my partner's mini-Dachshund. It actually took longer for my relationship with his owner to develop over time! I am blessed by having a picture of Rolo and me from that first night, though I am truly horrified by the way that I am holding him. It looks like he is too!
Rolo is an extremely affectionate dog, but he is also at other times very independent. He is what I like to call a 'breedist', in that he only really likes other Dachshunds, which is why I rescued another
wiener dog to keep him (and me) company. He is very good at telling whether a dog has even a sliver of Dachshund in them, I have been surprised by his mellow response to another dog and found out from their owner that their dog was part wiener when I couldn't necessarily tell by the dogs appearance!
Rolo hates puppies in particular. When I met him he was only four and I remember asking his owner the first night I met him if he was a puppy himself, but he can have a grumpy old man attitude. I have found that telling Rolo to be a 'good boy' when he is in the process of meeting other dogs can encourage him to use his good manners but if his lip starts quivering you have about two seconds to reel him in before he will startle the day lights out of any civilized dog.
And I should mention that Rolo is all bark and no bite, even with dogs he hates, he suddenly will lunge and bark and snarl, but he doesn't actually bite them, which makes me worry about him even more!
[Have a dachshund story you'd like to see here? Click over to our submissions page to send in your guest post! Need to warm up before a full post? Get started by uploading your dachshund photos to our Flickr group!]
[Mike and Jess are the owners of two Dachshund/Chihuahua mixes: Ellie and Winifred. This family of four of moved from Canada to Malta, a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, in the autumn of 2010. They currently divide their time between this small island and an even smaller Canadian city. You can follow their adventure at Mike and Jess in Malta (+ Halifax).]
As we split our time between Canada and Malta we are always surprised at how well dogs adapt to big change. When we moved to Malta in the autumn of 2010 leaving our dogs in Canada was simply not an option for us. They are our family. You wouldn't ditch a family member if you were moving, would you? Well, at least not one with four legs.
Our pups adjusted beautifully to the change. Although Dachshunds can be stubborn, they are also fiercely loyal and loving, and it appears that they are willing to be a little flexible for their favourite humans.
Most of you are probably don’t know much about Malta. With a population of just over 400,000 we can’t blame you – it’s a tiny place. If you want to learn more you can check out our blog here.
We travelled a lot during our year in Malta, but since we were on a student-sized budget our dogs couldn’t travel with us very often (they had their own fun at their favourite local kennel). But on our way back to Canada this Fall we had the opportunity to take the dogs on their very first mini-vacation to Frankfurt.
As fellow dachshund owners and/or lovers, please share in our amusement that we were able to take our wiener dogs to Frankfurt, where we learned that they do indeed enjoy eating German frankfurters.
What is it like living in Malta with dachshunds? In a word, hot. But our dogs loved that we traded Canadian snow for Maltese sand last year. And it’s no surprise – dachshunds love the heat. Their favourite pastime quickly became lying out in the sun on our terrace. Sound familiar? We also taught Ellie to swim in the Mediterranean Sea which she loved – it’s a much more comfortable temperature than the North Atlantic which we are currently calling home.
What about dachshunds in Malta? We didn’t see one the whole time we lived there, so Ellie and Win were little celebrities around town! British and Maltese people call dachshunds “sausage dogs” so when we walked our pups anywhere in Malta we would get lots of stares and questions. Children especially liked to call out “sausage dog! Sausage dog!” whenever they saw our pups. So funny!
Does traveling, or moving, to Europe with dogs sound interesting to you? As of January 1st, 2012 pets can now travel to Europe from Canada and the United States just 21 days after their required rabies vaccination & blood test. Which means you have no excuse not at least consider bringing Fido on your next European excursion!
[Have a dachshund story you'd like to see here? Click over to our submissions page to send in your guest post! Need to warm up before a full post? Get started by uploading your dachshund photos to our Flickr group!]
Our pups adjusted beautifully to the change. Although Dachshunds can be stubborn, they are also fiercely loyal and loving, and it appears that they are willing to be a little flexible for their favourite humans.
Most of you are probably don’t know much about Malta. With a population of just over 400,000 we can’t blame you – it’s a tiny place. If you want to learn more you can check out our blog here.
We travelled a lot during our year in Malta, but since we were on a student-sized budget our dogs couldn’t travel with us very often (they had their own fun at their favourite local kennel). But on our way back to Canada this Fall we had the opportunity to take the dogs on their very first mini-vacation to Frankfurt.
As fellow dachshund owners and/or lovers, please share in our amusement that we were able to take our wiener dogs to Frankfurt, where we learned that they do indeed enjoy eating German frankfurters.
What is it like living in Malta with dachshunds? In a word, hot. But our dogs loved that we traded Canadian snow for Maltese sand last year. And it’s no surprise – dachshunds love the heat. Their favourite pastime quickly became lying out in the sun on our terrace. Sound familiar? We also taught Ellie to swim in the Mediterranean Sea which she loved – it’s a much more comfortable temperature than the North Atlantic which we are currently calling home.
What about dachshunds in Malta? We didn’t see one the whole time we lived there, so Ellie and Win were little celebrities around town! British and Maltese people call dachshunds “sausage dogs” so when we walked our pups anywhere in Malta we would get lots of stares and questions. Children especially liked to call out “sausage dog! Sausage dog!” whenever they saw our pups. So funny!
Does traveling, or moving, to Europe with dogs sound interesting to you? As of January 1st, 2012 pets can now travel to Europe from Canada and the United States just 21 days after their required rabies vaccination & blood test. Which means you have no excuse not at least consider bringing Fido on your next European excursion!
[Have a dachshund story you'd like to see here? Click over to our submissions page to send in your guest post! Need to warm up before a full post? Get started by uploading your dachshund photos to our Flickr group!]
[Today's post comes from Marja, a married woman from Finland living in a small town in Southern part of the country. Her house is a home to her husband, stepson, and three lovely dogs: two Cairn terriers and one wire haired dachshund Iita.]
My family's life was truly changed a couple of years back when we (me?) decided to get a dog. After some research where we tried to tick all the boxes of our needs we have for the pet into a one animal, we decided to get a Cairn terrier. All went well, found the nicest breeder, she just had a litter and Nessa came to us four years ago. She is the nicest, most clever, greedy dog you can want. But a hunter dog she wasn't (hubby hunts).
Then I decided (I consulted my hubby but was quite adamant to have another dog) that we should also adopt one of Nessa's puppies when she was expecting. At the same time, Hubby wanted a dachshund, but, dear Lord, please not at the same time. So we found another lovely breeder of sausage dogs and agreed that would be in the "queue" for the litter planned next year.
So, Nessa's puppies were born (at the breeder's) and eight weeks later, home came Mindi. Beautiful, big eared goofball. Only a month later came Iita, our little sausage dog. Somebody did not want her since she has a little bend in the tail. But we wanted her. She was tiny (rut of the litter, breeder's little princess), feisty and cutest thing in the world.
Now that we have all lived together for about a year-and-a-half, I do understand why they say that Dachhunds are very special breed. They are. Pampered, funny, ferocious when hunting, cuddly when in sofa, furniture eaters, fast (one flash and they are gone into the woods with ears flopping), co-dependent and independent at the same time...
I have replaced a kitchen chair, coffee table, a rug because of her eating away at them, still mercifully forgetting the evil deeds she has done with her sister's help or on her own. She is the one in the morning jumping to the bed when the alarm goes off and waits for my eyes to open. Then the dance begins and I get tens of kisses in my face and neck. The other dogs let her do the waking up, too much effort!
She has travelled with us when we drove to Lappland to stay with relatives for two weeks (sister Mindi had her social calendar full with dog shows being a beauty queen) so only Iita and Nessa went with us. No matter how many hours we travelled in the car, Iita would always jump in and start to snore. Nessa on the other hand is a regular state patrol, always looking out the car window to see if we have the right route.
There are so many stories already and many more to come. This fall she will go hunting deers with the hunting party for the first time. There will be another dachshund at the party who is a veteran at that. I can't wait to hear how she does. Already she loves to run around the woods, now will she take to deer smell? Who knows? During our normal walks she hunts for the little birds, sparrows watch out...
[Have a dachshund story you'd like to see here? Click over to our submissions page to send in your guest post! Need to warm up before a full post? Get started by uploading your dachshund photos to our Flickr group!]
My family's life was truly changed a couple of years back when we (me?) decided to get a dog. After some research where we tried to tick all the boxes of our needs we have for the pet into a one animal, we decided to get a Cairn terrier. All went well, found the nicest breeder, she just had a litter and Nessa came to us four years ago. She is the nicest, most clever, greedy dog you can want. But a hunter dog she wasn't (hubby hunts).
Then I decided (I consulted my hubby but was quite adamant to have another dog) that we should also adopt one of Nessa's puppies when she was expecting. At the same time, Hubby wanted a dachshund, but, dear Lord, please not at the same time. So we found another lovely breeder of sausage dogs and agreed that would be in the "queue" for the litter planned next year.
So, Nessa's puppies were born (at the breeder's) and eight weeks later, home came Mindi. Beautiful, big eared goofball. Only a month later came Iita, our little sausage dog. Somebody did not want her since she has a little bend in the tail. But we wanted her. She was tiny (rut of the litter, breeder's little princess), feisty and cutest thing in the world.
Now that we have all lived together for about a year-and-a-half, I do understand why they say that Dachhunds are very special breed. They are. Pampered, funny, ferocious when hunting, cuddly when in sofa, furniture eaters, fast (one flash and they are gone into the woods with ears flopping), co-dependent and independent at the same time...
I have replaced a kitchen chair, coffee table, a rug because of her eating away at them, still mercifully forgetting the evil deeds she has done with her sister's help or on her own. She is the one in the morning jumping to the bed when the alarm goes off and waits for my eyes to open. Then the dance begins and I get tens of kisses in my face and neck. The other dogs let her do the waking up, too much effort!
She has travelled with us when we drove to Lappland to stay with relatives for two weeks (sister Mindi had her social calendar full with dog shows being a beauty queen) so only Iita and Nessa went with us. No matter how many hours we travelled in the car, Iita would always jump in and start to snore. Nessa on the other hand is a regular state patrol, always looking out the car window to see if we have the right route.
There are so many stories already and many more to come. This fall she will go hunting deers with the hunting party for the first time. There will be another dachshund at the party who is a veteran at that. I can't wait to hear how she does. Already she loves to run around the woods, now will she take to deer smell? Who knows? During our normal walks she hunts for the little birds, sparrows watch out...
[Have a dachshund story you'd like to see here? Click over to our submissions page to send in your guest post! Need to warm up before a full post? Get started by uploading your dachshund photos to our Flickr group!]
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