The Case of the Mysterious Harness Eater

Note the foot rest has become a dachshund hammock
 Last week I was preparing for our first camping trip in our new trailer, the first for M3D. I was concerned about how they were going to behave. The campground policies stated obnoxious dogs and their owners could be ejected. Fortunately they were quite well behaved. In preparation I got new harnesses and some tie-outs for them so they could be secured quickly if need be and so they could hang out and not have to be watched every second. I have harnesses that they wear usually but they are the vest type ones. Anyway, I put them on them and continued to get ready, I only had a couple of hours and much to do. After say 30-40 minutes I look at Spaatz and he's sitting funny and the harness looks askew. I check it out, and he has chewed through it already! Oh my, I was really very unhappy with him. I did manage to repair it on my sewing machine, but it was brand new! In the photo he is wearing his regular harness, I put the one he ate in with the stuff we were taking, but it disappeared, still haven't found it. This harness worked most of the trip, until he ATE THAT ONE TOO! So I ended up putting Foozies everyday harness on him, as you might guess, it also needs some repair now. He can chew through a nylon harness in literally seconds, so leather might be a good option for him, or it might just present him with a challenge.

Dogs really enjoyed the comfy chair in the camper.

Dachshunds First Camping Trip

MD3 Take over my chair
This weekend we took the dogs for their first camping trip. I will clarify the term "camping" here. We have a 20ft camper with all the amenities one really needs, including bed without pine cones or rocks, bathroom facilities, kitchen, stereo and AC. So its not really roughing it. We do sit and cook by the fire and enjoy being somewhere nice away from home. I am happy to report that the dogs really took to it. They behaved better than I had hoped, barking was controlled to a minimum. I was kinda worried about that, but we used what I call the "jingle bag", a little bean bag thing that has chain in it that we jingle whenever they bark, and they stop. Its a lifesaver. We hope to get the dogs to where we don't have to jingle. It was a great first trip, great weather, couple long dog(haha) walks a day, visit the swimming hole, hangin by the fire. I think the dogs will be lookin forward to our next trip too.

Lookin for critters