[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!]