We lost our first Dachshund, Selenay a few years ago and she
really left a hole in our hearts.
Selenay was your typical Dachshund---she had standards. You had to prove
yourself to her but once you did, there was no more faithful friend. Selenay would get on your chest and stare
into your eyes, not wanting anything, just looking at you with so much love you’d
think her head would hurt. Congestive
heart failure took her suddenly at a relatively young age. Our Italian Greyhounds are the heart and soul
of our house, but they’re kind of quiet on their own. We needed someone to liven up the place a
little. That’s pretty much in the job
description of a weiner dog.
We were just starting to feel like we could entertain the
idea of another Dachsie when I caught a lost and found “found” ad in the paper
for one. Even though I knew she wasn’t
the one we were missing, I called on the spur of the moment. I just left my name and the information that
in the unlikely event that a purebred Dachshund was not claimed we would be
interested in giving her a home. Imagine
our surprise when we got a call back a couple of weeks later!
Pepper, or “Dottie” (??) as they called her had been found
as a half-grown puppy in the bottom of a bar ditch twenty miles away. She’d evidently fallen in and been unable to
climb out. She’d been there for some
time because she was a bag of bones and for days after being found passed
nothing but sticks and stones. How could
no one be missing a perfect little Dachshund?
We went to meet her, and she captivated us on the spot.
Pepper is the smallest version of Dachshund, and that is the
only thing I would change, given my druthers, about her. A medium or full sized Dachsie is by
definition sturdier and more hardy. We
live on a farm in the woods and while we keep a close eye on her, it’s easier
for things to happen to a small dog. Pepper
weighs in at a solid eleven pounds. Her
defining characteristic is her sense of democracy, which is somewhat rare in
the Dachshunds I have known. She loves everybody, and never met a stranger, be
it human or dog. She’s the only dog I
know who absolutely loves to go to the vet.
If allowed, she’ll sneak into their surgery center in the back and ecstatically greet all
the workers, joyously running from one
to another with little yips of happiness.
And this in spite of the fact that she’s been poked and prodded, clipped
and needle-stuck there a number of times.
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Pepper’s other defining characteristic is her sense of
responsibility to the other dogs. A few years ago we had a poor, puppy-mill
Italian Greyhound with neurological problems.
Somehow, Pepper appointed herself Sophie’s nurse and all around
care-giver, guiding her in her blindness, always by her side. We are lucky enough to have reasonably
healthy---knock wood---“children” now, but let one involuntarily yip and Pepper
is instantaneously there, hovering
until she is satisfied that her sister is okay or until you have to move her
away so that you can treat the patient.
Carefully, she washes both her little sisters every night, satisfying
herself that all is as it should be with them.
Dachsunds seem built for whimsy and a few Halloweens ago I purchased a costume for Pepper that resembled a hotdog bun, complete with a zigzag of mustard down it's length. It had elastic straps to go under the belly, and with humor in mind, I put it right on her. Apparently the humor did not translate, because she was not amused. She froze in place and her whole outraged body language shouted, "Get it off---get it off!" Okay, that was kind of a failure and I didn't try her again til this year. While portraying a real life hot dog was perhaps just not that funny from Pepper's point of view, becoming a lobster was alright! We let her keep it on for a good week after Halloween---not all the time of course---while she strutted and wiggled in delight, even letting out proud little yelps. The Iggy girls wear coats freqently and it seemed like Pepper felt like she was finally getting her due. Can't wait to put it back on her next year!
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