[Hey gang. After a full year with us here at WYD, our good friend Tiffany has needed to step down to focus on her many other ventures that keep her busy. We are incredibly grateful for all the energy she has dedicated to this project and we wish her the absolute best in everything else that she does! If you'd like to keep in touch with Tiffany, check out her personal blog, I am Style-ish.

What that means is that we have a new contributor to introduce you to today! We met Courtney during Donate4Dachshunds and she has been so kind as to join the team with her THREE adorable dachshunds and years of experience with dachshund rescue. I'll let her take it away from here!]

I'm a dachshund fanatic from Dallas, Texas. Yes, it's hot; no, there aren't tumbleweeds or oil wells. I also don't own a gun or a truck, sorry.



I've loved these dogs since before I can remember. That's me with my first dachshund, Theo. I got him when I was 4 and he lived until I was 17. He was the best dog and the very best friend.

My life revolves around the three most perfect dachshund boys in the universe: Thor, Fred and Napoleon.



Napoleon Dynamite was the first dog I got on my own. I found him on Petfinder.com and he came home in August 2004 at only 6 weeks old. (Too young!) He was tiny, sweet and adorable. He still is. Po, as we call him, has a personality as big as the Texas sky. He was a sickly puppy, but we finally nailed his health issues - leptospirosis and/or ehrlichia, we can't be sure - and he's been healthy as a horse as an adult. He rules the house and my heart. Truly my soulmate. I feel like I always know what he's thinking. He's rarely up to any good.

Thor came along in February 2006. I had wanted a second dog and was fostering for Central Texas Dachshund Rescue. I heard there was a standard black and tan in need of a foster. I begged to take him, with the intent of keeping him if he would work out in our house. I met him in a parking lot, said "Hi Thor! Do you want to come live with us forever?" and he rolled over, flopped his tail, and peed. I took that as a yes. Now with added confidence and minus about 8 extra pounds, Thor is my superstar. We compete together in agility and it's a blast. At home, he's my snuggler and the one who always gets everyone else to play.

Fred - oh, Fred. He is the best friend to my husband, and to anyone who comes over and throws him the ball. Fred will play fetch until ... well, until I make him stop. I like to think of Fred as the epitome of dachshund. He is affectionate, devoted, driven and whip-smart. He was a true foster failure. We had him for months before we admitted in April 2007 that he wasn't going anywhere. Fred's game is earthdog and he loves to go after those rats. Before I sufficiently blocked it off, I'd spend many an hour trying to get him out from under our shed, where he'd burrowed under in hot pursuit of something. That's a dachshund for you.

Raw feeding, positive dog training, dachshund rescue, and agility are my passions. I hope to blog a lot about them here.

I'm a volunteer, board member, and web guru for CTDR. I earn dog food money as an online news editor. Beyond dachshunds, I'm a huge nerd for 30 Rock, loud music, and tasty beer. I dislike politics and cold weather and ignorance, among many other things. I have a fantastic husband, Adam, who loves the dogs as much as I do. I think two cats also live here. They hate the dogs.