Difficult Times .....

I've been having problems with my Max.  He has always been a bit grumpy but around Xmas he became really aggressive, growling and baring his teeth when I went near him and he ended up biting me twice on the leg just breaking the skin!  Pepsi just ran away in total confusion and fear though Max didn't touch him. I was absolutely horrified at the change in his behaviour and thought there must have been some physically problem that was causing this. So, the other day I took him to the vet and she found that he had pain and guarding in his thoracic spine. All his reflexes etc were normal so she was confident that it was not the dreaded slipped discs dachshunds are prone to get because of their long backs. The vet felt it was arthritis, which, as he is 77 in human years is probable! She gave him a pain killing injection and I have meds to give him each day.

Now it's the second day of treatment and Max is much more himself, he must have been in so much pain he didn't want me to touch him.  I must say though, after him biting me I am wary of him, it's amazing how scary even a small dog is when they get aggressive!  So, hopefully we have his problem under control and Max and I can now learn to trust each other once more. 

Happy Christmas!

Pepsi

Happy Christmas from Pepsi, Max and me to you all! I hope that it will be a special time to share with your human and your long, furry friends. Pepsi is in the festive spirit that's for sure, as you can see from the photo. however, I couldn't persuade Max to  pose, which is typical of him.  There's be more blogging here from us in 2013!

Another Dachshund Cushion!

My friend surprised me with another dachshund cushion the other day, and it's lovely. Though the Union Jack is not the first kind of flag you expect to see a dachshund on, I think it's great. Anyone wanting one can find them at Primark.

Longue Dog Wine

A friend in Canada recently found some French wine called Longue Dog with a cartoon dachshund wrapped around the label, loved it, but thought it probably is not available over here. Then, there was me, wandering around the wine section of Sainsbury's looking for good offers, and I saw it, Longue Dog red wine! It wasn't very expensive and only says "red wine" as a description so not sure what it will be like, but I just had to try it.  It is 14% proof so that should be very nice thank you!

Here's a photo of Pepsi posing beside the bottle.

Dachshund Walks Again

Scientists at Cambridge University have reversed paralysis in dogs by injecting them with cell from their noses. Apparently these cells are the only ones in the body that renew nerve cells, and once taken from the nose are grown for a few weeks in laboratories before being injected into the spine. Of course paralysis of the rear end of dachshunds due to back problems is quite common and the example used in this article is of gorgeous Jasper, a smooth dachshund. Before his back end was completely paralysed, after months of treatment, he was walking unaided, wonderful to see!  Great news for him and dachshund owners.  Of course this is also significant for humans with paralysis, though the treatment has not yet been trialled on humans.

Full information on this ground-breaking discovery and video of Jasper here.

Make Your Bed and Lie in It

Following on from my last post about dachshunds being number one in the Top Ten of naughtiest dog breeds, my dear little Pepsi has lived up to that accolade.

The other evening I was on the phone for a while and when I finished I went back into the living room to find a disembowelled pillow with kapok scattered everywhere.  Slowly a black snout came out of the hole in the pillow and soon an unrepentant Pepsi, covered with bits of the pillow filling, was looking up at me. I must admit I had to stifle a laugh, he was looking at me as if to say, "Hey this is FUN!" 

Dachshunds Number One of Top 10 Naughtiest Breeds

Dogster has a light-hearted article about naughty dogs and in its list of the top 10 naughtiest canines the long dogs come in at number one! I'm not at all surprised, having had great experience of the clever and resourceful naughtiness of dachshunds for many years lol. Read the article on Dogster here.

My Boys!

My BoysTaken on Pepsi's 4th Birthday in October

I've been uploading loads of photos of dachshunds on various items so I thought it was about time I uploaded one of my own real dachshunds, Pepsi and Max! They are both doing fine though Max just hates this almost constant wet weather we are having, I have to literally shove him out of the door (a gentle push of his bum with my foot!) for walks and once he has done what he needs to all he wants is to get back home! Pepsi though is oblivious to the rain and blissfully splashes through puddles as Max gingerly walks round them. I know how Max feels, this year has given the wettest weather I've seen in all my life!

Dachshund Cushion Alert!

My friend surprised me with this lovely dachshund cushion the other day, I adore it. She saw it in Primark and knew she just had to get it for me, what lovely friends I have! She said they have another more colourful Union Jack dachsie cushion too. Seems dachshunds are in fashion at the moment, they are pictured on so many things at present which suits me fine lol. 

Next Has Gone Dachshund Mad!

Next seems to have gone crazy for dachshunds, firstly there were the ornaments and bag and now they have PJs, shoes, cups and a sweater with dachshund logos on them! I went a bit mad too and bought the PJs, cups and sweater - would have got the shoes too but they didn't fit right.  The clothing is very good quality and the cups are a decent size for a good cup of tea!

 Here's Max the Dax posing beside my purchases, I think he was suitably impressed!

Dachshunds at Next!

This was one of my fave birthday presents, aren't they lovely? Perfect for a Dachsie lover like me. They come from Next.  This store seems to have Dachshund fever at the moment as also have a lovely Dachshund print and a bag that is definitely going to be my next purchase from Next!

Gavin Friday and his Cool Dachshunds

I've always been a fan of Gavin Friday, but after seeing this photo from last Christmas that a friend just sent me (thanks Serena) I'm an even bigger fan now! Here he is arriving at the U2 Christmas party with his two dachsies complete with rather large Santa hats!  All I can say is that he has excellent taste in canines :)

Who is the Culprit - A Canine Who Done It

The Evidence

The Crime:

Missing, one half of a £10 note - it was rather neatly torn down the middle and half is missing. A complete search of the area has not found the other half. No clear toothprints visible on inspection or any obvious evidence of who the culprit could be.  The note was one of my own that had fallen to the floor. Only myself and the two prime suspects were present when the crime happened.

Suspect 1 - Max

The Suspects:

Suspect number 1:
Max, an 11 year old smooth-haired dachshund that has an extensive past history of stealing and destroying items over the years. His crimes include chewing three leather purses, one pair of leather shoes, a camera, a mobile phone, a Radley dog, just to name a few of his heinous crimes.

Max does show guilt after his offences but it does not stop him committing further crimes.

Suspect 2 - Pepsi

Suspect number 2:
Pepsi, a 4 year old wire-haired dachshund who also has a criminal record similar to that of Max. Numerous chewing offences, with an extremely speedy sleight of paw and mouth when it comes to edible thievery especially. He also sometimes tries to hide his crimes by consuming the evidence.

Pepsi, unlike Max, does not show any guilt for his crimes, in fact he seems to think it is great fun to commit the offences.




The Verdict:

There is no forensic evidence as to who stole the half of the £10 note. It was done quietly while I was otherwise occupied.  But, on past history, I feel that Pepsi is the guilty party. When I found the remnant of the note Max showed no guilt at my dismay, neither did Pepsi.  This leads me to surmise that Pepsi is the criminal as he never shows guilt and Max does.  Also the fact that I could not find any remnant of the missing half of the note leads me to suspect that Pepsi has consumed it as he sometimes does hide the evidence of his crimes by eating it.

The Punishment:

Pepsi you have been found guilty of the crime of stealing half of a £10 note.  For this crime you will not get as many tickles as usual for 24 hours. Learn your lesson!

A Breath of Summer

Cheeky Boy Pepsi!

We've had a lovely couple of summery days, 21 degrees (my perfect temp!), sunshine, gentle breeze. Suddenly people are wearing their bright summer clothes, having barbecues and picnics - we Brits know how to make the most of EVERY (rare this year) good summer's day lol! I was getting morose at seeing autumn clothes appearing in the shops AND Christmas cards!!  Can you believe it Christmas cards in early august ridiculous.

I've been for a lovely walk in Rickerby Park with the boys earlier, we all enjoyed it.  It felt like we'd actually had a summer, nature had that lazy, ripe stillness of a high summer day, basking in the rich fertility of the season, I could almost forget the weeks of rain, almost.  I just love that feel of a mid-summer day, which reminds me I must go looking for brambles soon;

I like walking in this large park, even when it is busy it does not feel crowded. It is almost in the centre of the city flanked on one side by the River Eden, yet it has cattle freely wandering about and grazing, not many places the size of Carlisle can boast that!  I had to laugh as one of the cows decided to wipe her snout on a convenient parked car as I was passing by!

River Eden in Rickerby Park

The boys were the usual child magnet, and I had a couple of little girls come across to see the dogs as I walked along. I think small children relate to small dogs because they always love my boys.

The Cow Beside the Car She Cleaned her Snout on LOL!

I bumped into someone I worked with years ago (Irish Tom, some of you will know him!) and we had a good chat and relished the fact we were retired from the stressful jobs we had.

I really enjoyed having a lovely, long relaxing walk again, something the weather has put the reins on these last few weeks, let's hope I get the chance to do more before the winter sets in.

Obey??

Haha so true!

Deluge!

A Rather Wet Pepsi

Was out with the boys the other day and we got caught in one of the many deluges of rain we have been having over the last few weeks of dismal weather.


Max was very unhappy, tail down and giving me those "Please let's go home" look in his beautiful big brown eyes - Pepsi was not really bothered at all.  However, Max being a smooth-hair, was somewhat protected from the wetness with his dense oily coat, whereas Pepsi's thinner wiry coat really got soaked quickly and by time we got home he was like a drowned rat LOL!

Dachshunds and Water

We've had a terrible summer here in the UK so far, our June was the wettest ever! And I can honestly say that I have never seen rain and storms like we've had over the last few weeks.  Apparently it's because the jet Stream has moved south of the British Isles instead of it's normal position to the north of the Isles. Places north of the jet stream have low pressures drawn in over them and that's why we are having the exceptionally wet weather.

My dachshund Max hates wet weather with avengeance, I have to literally drag him out for a walk when the weather is wet. Pepsi however doesn't mind it at all and happily splashes through the puddles.  I have the boys on a coupler lead and in this weather it's been a pain because I have Pepsi striding out enjoying his walk and Max pulling in the other direction back towards home!  So, to be kind to Max when it was really bad I let him do what he had to do and then put him back inside before taking Pepsi for a proper walk, Max was very happy about this LOL!

I've found over the years that my dachshunds have, in general, not been water doggies.  None have gone swimming - not even Pepsi - and only Jenny my long-hair went into water. She used to go into shallow water and then lie down with her head above the water with a blissful look on her face, she was a very refined girl, no swimming, just relaxing.  I suppose when you have very short legs, are extra long and full of heavy muscle it's not exactly easy to swim.

We've now had three lovely sunny days with little rain and later I'm going to take the boys on a long walk so we can all enjoy this touch of summer before Mr Jet Stream gets into action again or maybe he's moved to back to his own home?

Cute Pup

So cute, I want another dachsie puppy!  I remember when my Pepsi was as tiny as that, but he always had a personalitiy so much bigger!

Quality German Engineering

Another goodie for dachshunders, so funny, sums up our little-big dogs well!

I Didn't Do It

What a gorgeous little poser LOL!

Flex Your Muscles Dackel!

This little chap is soooo cute!

Vet Day!

Pepsi and Max were at the vets today, Max for his booster injections and Pepsi for a weigh-in (he's on a diet). The good news is that Pepsi has lost the weight he needed to and is now at an optimum 5.5 kilos, wish I could lose extra weight as fast! Shame he got so excited at the vets that he piddled on the floor ..... can't take him anywhere!!

Max, who was much better behaved I'm pleased to say, had his boosters and kennel cough with no problems.  He had his yearly check up and the vet said he is in good condition for 11 years old.  His heart murmur has not got worse over the year and is still classed at just number one on the scale of severity that goes up to six.  I was pleased to hear that, I had another dachshund that had a heart murmur classed at five, so it is good that Max's is so very slight and needs no treatment. Going to the vet is so expensive now, it cost me £50 just for the injections and check up that took about five minutes! But if you choose ot have pets you have to look after them properly.

Madaline and the Crab

If you want something to smile about, watch this!

An Introduction

Dachshunds have been part of my life since I was 14 (and that's a long time ago LOL!). That was when a wire-haired dachshund followed my mother and me as we made our way home one Christmas Eve. It was cold and he seemed to be wanting to come in so we let him stay with us over Christmas. After the holidays reported him to the police, but, surprisingly, no one ever claimed him so eventually he legally became ours. And so began eight wonderful years with a dachshund - he was stubborn, disobedient, plucky, greedy, liked the sound of his own bark, a big dog in a small frame, yet he was also sweet, loyal, loving and funny, in other words a typical dachshund!

When I left home and got my own place I eventually got a dachshund of my own, a gorgeous, gentle and shy long-hair called Jenny and she shared my life for 10 years.  Then I had a gap of a few years with no dog, during that time I always missed having one though.

In 1994 I decided I wanted another dog and oddly a friend told me that she had a friend who was looking for a home for a five year old mini smooth-haired dachshund that had previously been ill-treated.  I went to see the dog, called Toffie, and it was love at first sight and so began the most special relationship I've had with a dog.  She was totally devoted to me, knew my every mood and helped me through some difficult times.  I still miss her now, ten years after she died.

Handsome Max

So now I come to the present day and my lovely dogs.  First is Max, an 11 year old mini red smooth-hair. He's been with me from the age of 16 months, he loves to lie in the sunshine, eat and sleep! He can be a grumpy old man at times, but also can be very sweet.

And my other dog is Pepsi, who is four later this year, a mini wire-hair. He is the first dog I have had from a puppy, I could hold him in one hand when he was eight weeks old!  He's bright, full of energy and makes me laugh every day, wires have such lovely personalities. The lovely thing is that Pepsi and Max are best buddies, from the moment I got Pepsi Max loved him which is good as Max doesn't really have much time for other dogs.

Cheeky Pepsi at Christmas

So these two are my canine companions, and I'll be writing about their adventures on this blog. I'll also add interesting dachshund-related things I come across. Please feel free to send me your stories about your dachsies or your comments about my blog. Bye for now!