Miss Peaches, At It Again

My sweet Peaches, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. I do love her terribly, which is a really good thing for her, because she has a tendency to get into trouble. Which usually ends up with me having to give her a bath and in this case clean up a big mess.

Now I know I started this, because I heard a mouse in the closet and I alerted her to this fact. So she has been rooting around in there the past couple of days. Well today, it took on epic proportions as she really decided to get to the root of the problem. That being a mouse in the wall of the closet. Miss Peachy being the dedicated mouser that she is took it up on herself to get to these critters and eradicate them. This required excavation. When I found her it was too late, she had ripped the wall open down to the stud. Oh my, well I was not pleased, the words "bad dog" were bandied about more than once as I got the shop vac out. I actually had to sweep up the big chunks so as not to clog the machine, then sucked up the rest. Plus what she had trailed around the house. Then it once again was time for the ever popular, unplanned, washing of the dachshund. Miss Peach is almost always in these episodes. One of the ways your day takes a left hand detour.

So here she is in the sink in the laundry room about to get another bath. Fortunately she cooperates pretty good. She is quite used to it. It was a little tough because I had to spray around her snout so much, but all went well.

Spaatz and Sandie stand by at my feet, always concerned about what's happening to one of their comrades. secretly hoping they weren't going to be next.

She's all clean again, ready to get into trouble at a moments notice. I have to keep the closet door closed. Now she's running amok, rolling on the dog beds to get dried off more. She hasn't lost a bit of spirit since her back surgery in July. Nope, not one bit.

Mission Impossible

If you own a dachshund, or two, or more, you my find that what might be a simple everyday task may have a slight twist to it. There may be a dog in the middle of it. Oh, and they know how to be so cute and charming. You most likely will find them impossible to resist. Spaatz here, loves to "help" with the laundry folding. Especially if it's warm out of the dryer. Then he may settle down right on top of some freshly folded clothes. Why wait to put your clothes on to get dog hair on them? You can have it preapplied. I just made that word up.

Spaatz's main hobby is hunting, but he is never too busy to help with cooking of course. He loves to be on stand by in case something is dropped or if something needs taste testing. I once was at a get together where there were no dogs in residence, I looked down and there was quite a bit of food debris on the floor. I thought to myself if there were a couple of dachshunds here this place would be half cleaned up already.They may be hounds, but they're working dogs too.

Anyone who follows My Three Doxson's knows that Miss Peaches has been on the mend following major back surgery in July. She is continuing to do well and is adjusting to her new normal. While she is getting around great she is getting used to waiting to go up or down stairs or on furniture. She even "calls" me when she needs me. It's not a bark or a whine, it's more of a harrumph. That's a underused word, but she's always been a great communicator and had a way of speaking to me. I just have to figure out what she wants. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not so much.

The Peaches Report

Things are kinda back to a new normal. Miss Peaches is doing well after her back surgery. You may know she ruptured a disc on July 13th. We had to take her to a specialist in Yonkers. It really was one of those days, right down to the truck breaking down 2 miles from the vets, then several times on the way home after we dropped her off. When she came home I slept on the floor for 10 days until she got stronger. We tried the crate thing. No deal, cried ALL night. At least on the floor I got some sleep. Now Peaches is feeling a lot like her old self. Hunting is back on the activities list.

She seemed to feel that there were mice in the laundry room. I believe her completely. She has shown to be an expert mouser. She spent a good deal of time waiting for said mouse to show himself.

While today she had no trophy's to offer, it was a way to keep her out of trouble for a while. She really has her mind on much bigger quarry. There is a woodchuck which frequents our backyard that she really would like to tangle with. It is my job to make sure they never meet. We are still carrying her up and down for her own good, but when she's on the ground she can motivate.

I try to calm her down and tell her the critters are gone before I put her down. This seems to diffuse the excitement level. So she goes about and does her sniffing. She is walking pretty well now, but still has this swagger. Think John Wayne. Only time will tell if that will go away. So we're very happy she is doing well, getting stronger everyday, and continuing to brighten our lives.

Yep, it's officially the dog days of summer here, but then again, everyday is a dog day around here.

I Was Going to eat Lunch.... Then...

I was working outside, trying to keep my vegetable garden watered in this summer heat where it hasn't been raining hardly at all. I was planning to stop for lunch when my plans abruptly changed. All the dogs were inside except Sandie, who was sitting over be the wood pile they love to sniff around for chipmunks and other vermin.

I called Sandie to come in. I called her several times. She just sat there and looked at me. Offered her a biscuit, not moving. I went over, and as I picked her up I knew lunch was on hold. Her paws and face were caked with mud. It was once again time for The Ever Popular Unplanned Washing of the Dog. A feature of this blog for sure.

Miss Peaches is usually featured in anything about dog washing, but she is currently on the disabled list since her back surgery 2 weeks ago. While she is doing well, she is not quite up to her old tricks, which I have to remind her of constantly. She is getting used to me telling her to hold up so I can carry her in and out, up and down.

 So my wire haired girls are the usual culprits when it comes to digging and getting down and dirty. There are occasions when Spaatz gets in on the act. He is also one to roll in something that catches his nose. Much to my dismay. He originated the unplanned washing of the dachshund. Sometimes-we-just-call-him-stinky

Spaatz, bright and shiny again.

Drabble , and the Miss Peaches Update

Sometimes it seems like this is exactly what's going on at my house. Sandie in particular is guilty of this. I tell her no barking, reassure her that there is no one here or that it's Dad about to come in. They know the sound of his truck, It's a diesel. I know they hear him coming down the road before I do. They start barking early, then I realize they heard it a half mile a way.

Then the crazy thing is later, you can be calling them to come in over and over and they really do not seem to hear you. They look up finally as if to say "oh, did you say something?" "Let me just sniff this blade of grass for another minute and I'll be right with you." Good thing they're sweet and cute and loving and all that stuff or there might be a problem.

Miss Peaches is doing really well since her back surgery, she can be the champ of not listening, but she's not the biggest barker. Now the challenge is to keep her from doing too much now that she is feeling better. I have taken up sleeping on the floor so that she is safe. She has been sleeping with people since she was a pup and is not doing the crate thing at night. So I will get down to her level. The tough part is making the floor not feel like the floor.

Miss Peaches- Down, but not out.

We've had dogs always, since 1980, and dachshunds since 1997. So far we had been really lucky. Unfortunately that changed on Monday. I'm not sure when the actual moment it happened, we knew her back was bothering her. We had taken her to the vet and were helping her up and down and hoping we could avoid a bigger problem. Monday, I was going to take them for a short walk, Peach was excited as usual. We got out the door and as far as next door when she put on the brakes. We went back home, she walked back, but it was terribly apparent something was horribly wrong. She was in major distress and dragging her back feet. I called my husband, we rushed her to the vet. They referred us to an awesome veterinary facility in Yonkers. If we to save her we would have to act quickly, we left directly. They gave us the low down, an MRI and spine surgery. My husband made the call, we would go ahead with it.

The MRI showed 95% compression of the disc, she couldn't rehab back from this. The surgery went well, after removing the damaged disc the spinal cord looked good. I drove the hour to see her on the two days she had to stay in the hospital. I was happy she chowed down some food while I was there on the first day as they said she hadn't eaten. I thought I wouldn't visit as I thought she might be upset to have me leave her again, but my daughter said her dog really got better sooner when she visited him. So I decided I would. I know I felt much better seeing her and I think she really felt better seeing me. Besides Peachy visited me once in the hospital (my daughter snuck her in her bag), so I owed her.

My sweet Peachy is home now and we are helping her with her physical therapy. The first night was tough, she cried a lot. mostly because she had to stay in the crate instead of next to me. It will be one day at a time now for awhile. I know what it's like to be paralyzed and have to learn to walk again and get your strength back, so I am going give her all the help she needs. She's got a lot of spirit and drive so we actually need to keep her from doing too much. On the way home she wanted to put her head out the window, but I just held her so she could smell the breeze. As we pulled into our road she picked her head up and was obviously very happy because there's no place like home.

The Small American Nesting Hound

The Small American Nesting Hound is alive and well and may be taking up a bit of your personal space right now. Whether you are sleeping, watching TV or just reading your email, you may have one of these creatures on your lap or stuffed in tightly against you.

If you are like me and have more than one of theses uber cuddlers you may find yourself pinned down unable to move. If you've ever gotten a cramp in your leg in one of these situations, it may be difficult to rouse them. When you shift yourself, even a small amount, they just readjust themselves and your back where you started.

In the winter, if you live where it gets cold this is not so bad, and may even save on the heating bills. There is the hazard though of when you first sit down there may be a collection of Nylabones and other chewy toys that are really uncomfortable to sit on. I have enforced the no bones on the bed rule. The couch is a different story. Once Spaatz was using my leg as a place to prop up his bone so he could chew on it better. No, no, no, this is definitely not working. Take that thing elsewhere. There is an order to all this nesting and cuddling though. everyone has their "spot". Sandie, the most recently acquired hound bends this rule a bit. She is a little behind in the ways of the dachshund, but she is learning slowly from my learned staff of professionals. She is very endearing though and sometimes I wake to find her head on my pillow next to me sleeping like a person. I find this to be kinda sweet. That she is, to the core.
Apon waking, Spaatz will nudge his way under my hand, and if I move it he will do it again. Then, most likely Sandie will try to get her head in there too. Followed by Fooze and Miss Peach will grumble that she is not being patted as well.

So if you find yourself fortunate enough to own a Nesting Hound or two, or three, or more you know how sweet and fun they are. If not, what are you waiting for? You know you want one. Go ahead, that's how it starts.

Thank you Miss Peachy

Brave Bearded Beauty

I'd like to thank my bearded beauty for coming to the rescue. Last night whilst I was trying to secure things about the house, Miss Peachy took care of a situation for me. We were supposed to get a storm that could pack a tornado, (it didn't even rain hard). I'm okay with no tornado, but being a gardener was hoping for some much needed rain. Anyway I was tuning into the TV to check out the radar when Peachy was in the corner of the living room raising quite the ruckus. A bit more than the usual late bus dropping off the neighbor kid bark. I implored her to settle down so I could check on the weather when I realized the cause for her alarm. There was a snake in the house. My first look had me a little startled as it seemed to be a good size snake. She tangled with it a bit and it hid under a small piece of furniture at the bottom of the stairs. I told all the dogs to step back. I called my husband, he said he would be right there, and for me to keep an eye on it. Fortunately his shop is right around the corner. I kept an eye on it, it came out from under it's hiding place and unfortunately went under the stairs. Oh great, a snake in the closet under the stairs. The good part was I realized it was just a big garter snake. Not any real danger to Peach.

 I figured when my husband arrived I would send in Peachy and he could be on the other side in case the snake tried to escape. This didn't work. It had disappeared. I'm in there moving stuff around, she is sniffing like mad. I was thinking if we find it in this tight space I'm probably going to scream. No snake. Well, this is super, I have a snake in the house and I don't no where it is. My husband went back to work, and I went about putting my groceries away etc.

A short while later Miss Peach let me know the snake was back under that piece of furniture again. Okay, were going to let her take care of this, I'm not going to let this keep me tiptoeing about the house until this snake decides to move his whole family in here. I moved the little hutch it was hiding under, Peach went in and grabbed it, let it go and it quickly dashed under the couch. Everyone was interested now, all ready for it, I pulled out the couch. Peach didn't want to share her snake so she ran in and grabbed it and gave it the death shake, and it was all over. Thank you my sweet little Peach. I did discard the body myself, but was glad to have my team here headed by wire hair dachshund Miss Peachy. She got an extra chewy treat and a good beard wash and tooth brushing.

It was a dachshund holiday!

Sandie, Rupert, Foozie, Spaatz and Miss Peaches

Hello dachshund lover's! We  just had an extra dachshund staying here with us. His name is Rupert, although he is affectionately known as RuRu, or Rutabaga, or as I sometimes call him- Rooster. Rupert is a very sweet dachshund, quite friendly. But he can be kinda mischievous. Rupert is one of my daughter's dachshunds, we both have 4. Yes, it's kinda an illness and it's catching, so beware.We put up some gates to keep the dogs in the kitchen while we were out. Now My dogs are content to stay in bounds, in fact you don't have to secure the gates. The gate could be lying down in the doorway and they still won't pass, but Rupert needs to get out of any confinement just because he must.

This was a big adventure for Rupert, flying up from Florida. Did you know if your doctor signs a note for you saying you need a therapy dog with you to keep calm while you travel they can travel for free? My daughter was able to do this with Rupert. I saw the form, you can have up to 3 dogs. I found this to be quite interesting, and will keep this in mind in the future.
Probably one of Rupert's favorite moments was when the dogs got a squirrel and he got to play too. Dachshund live for that kind of stuff, and it was a first for him. The only problem is when it's over they don't want it to end. Mr. squirrel is no fun anymore when he has xx's in his eyes.
I find when you have multiple dachshund's, once you have more than 2 it doesn't matter when one more is around. I do imagine that does tap out at some point. I know I've seen people with more than me so I haven't quite attained the "crazy dachshund lady" status yet. Not quite.Whenever we get together with my daughter and her dogs there is always a lot of barking, but always a lot of fun and laughter too.

Maybe another squirrel will come out to play

Dachshund Owners- You Know the Drill

Drabble knows how dachshunds operate. If you are like me, you are all to familiar with this drill. While the mighty dachshund is surely an invaluable security system, they are a little hair trigger.

If you have more than one dachshund, then there may be an "instigator". In my case I have two of them. Foozy is a barking instigator from way back, anything, doesn't matter if it's a half mile away. If he can hear it, see it, or smell it, it is an intruder and the warning must be issued. Then there is Sandie, who isn't too sharp (although terribly sweet), she barks at everything, but then she won't stop.

Sandie- Marathon barker

I think the classic moment was a couple weeks ago. We have a little fenced in area in the back yard where they can hang out. I could hear them all barking, so I went to investigate, when I looked to see what was going on, they were all barking , but facing different sides of the fence. They weren't even barking at the same thing. They were all just barking at the world.

Time to Shave the Wire Hairs

Yes, it's gotten to be that time of year when an older gals thoughts turn to shaving the wire haired dachshunds. It's just something that's just gotta be done.

Sandie Poo

As you can see Sandie is in full mop here. Maybe I should have called her Dusty. Sandie knows when I bring her in the bathroom and put her on the sink somethings gonna happen. Maybe just getting her teeth brushed or some drops in her ears, but this time it probably took an hour and a half to get all that fur off her. Considering how long it was, she was minimally squirmy.

A little less Sandie Poo

When it was all done I must of taken at least a pound of fur off her. I think I know why they leave that skirt of fur on the underside of schnauzer's, because you think your done, and there's still all that stuff underneath. On a dachshund there's not a lot of clearance under there so you have to be creative to get to it.

I must say that Sandie IS a new dog now. She's so happy! She has a spring in her step, and wants to lick you even more than before. That's somehow not possible. My husband says, if you lost over 10% of your weight in an hour, you'd be happy too. I certainly would. A haircut won't do it.

Miss Peaches was a breeze after Sandie. She doesn't have that dense long hair. It's just like this curly blonde stuff on top. I shave it off and she turns into a redhead.

I always leave the eyebrows ,beard and mustache on. I don't want them to lose their wire hair charm. The cut keeps them cool for the warm months ahead, keeps the bugs down by giving them less places to hide, and right now it helps with all the dirt and twigs and stuff that gets dragged in on the furry undercarriage they sport. They are both really pleased with their new do's, and Spaatz and Fooze stood by during the whole shave and were almost disappointed they didn't get one too

Dachshunds are ready for summer

The Big April Dachshund Birthday Party

April is a big month here for dachshund birthdays. We know that Peaches,  birthday is on the second of April. Foozie, we know from the records we got from the SPCA when we got him that he was also born in April, but not the day. April fool's day seemed totally appropriate for him. Peachy just turned 9 and Fooze is 8. Getting a little grey around the muzzle both of them.

So I went all out and made them a cake, I had hoped I could get a nice photo op with them all sitting at the table waiting for cake. Not happening. This is the best I could do. On the floor with Miss Peaches testing the icing. This is a dog cake recipe, with shredded carrots and peanut butter, no sugar. The icing is a fat free cream cheese with a smidge of honey. Actually not bad. The cake is bland as dirt, but all doggie friendly ingredients.

Yesterday was all about making special things for the dogs. Not only did I make the cake but their favorite dog food too. I recently started making them dog food from scratch. It's from Dr Fox, who is a vet with a weekly column in the newspaper. All healthy stuff for the dogs. I must say their coats have taken on a noticeable luster. Especially Spaatz. Soo smooth and shiny. I started with ground venison this time. You can use chicken or beef. Best thing is they LOVE it. They go ape-shit at supper time. The thing is it calls for spirulina, which is a blue-green algae supplement full of protein, vitamins and minerals. That's great, but it turns the food green. Real green.

I freeze portions and take them out as needed 

Fortunately the dogs don't care. There's also brown rice and bits of chopped apple and blueberries. There are other options like sweet potatoes, it depends on what I have on hand. My sister asked if I tasted it, nope, you lose me at the spirulina. Although it's probably healthy for anyone.

Mmm-cake

Peachy, being the girl that she is, was finding the dessert was not too bad either. Well, I didn't get that perfect photo with the dogs with party hats on, sitting in front of the cake whilst they wait for happy birthday to be sung before they "woof" down the cake. They were very happy, I gave them each a sliver. Seems to be sleep inducing, everyone is napping now. No one begging to sit on my lap. Anyone interested in spoiling your dogs rotten by making the homemade dog food can find the recipe here.
pet-care-dr-fox-shares-his-home-prepared-dog-food-recipe

THE GOLDEN GIRLS

Ah, yes my Golden Girls, Miss Peachy and Sandie Poo. An unlikely pair of friends. Peachy is the diva dog here, and we weren't certain they would get along at all, let alone be friends.
When it came time to see if we might adopt Sandie out of her unhappy situation we took Peach with us so they could meet on neutral ground to see if they might dislike each other from the get go. Fortunately there were no fireworks.                                                                            
Now it finds them often as two peas in a pod. They both sport the wire hair coat which seems impervious to the elements. The sub zero temperatures this winter didn't phase them as they kept hunting while I tried to coax them inside.

Sandie will always be the less dominant of the two, but they still can be very competitive, always wanting to see what the other is up to.

In retrospect I am so glad that Sandie has come to stay. She would never be as happy in a house with 17 cats as she is here with 3 other dachshunds, besides the fact she was so sickly. Here, she has true friends to play with and a pack of wieners to cuddle up with when ever she needs them.