Weenie Dogs and me

From www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/dachshunds.html

Pros of Dachshunds -

• Comes in a variety of sizes (all smallish)
• Comes in a variety of coat types and colors
• Is comical and entertaining
• Doesn’t need a lot of exercise
• Makes a keen watchdog
• Is sociable with other family pets, especially other Dachshunds
• Lives a long time

Cons of Dachshunds -

• Suspiciousness or sharpness toward strangers when not socialized enough
• Scrappiness toward strange dogs
• Stubbornness
• Notorious housebreaking difficulties
• Digging holes
• Barking
• Regular brushing/combing (Longhaired)
• Regular clipping/trimming (Wirehaired)
• A distinctive doggy odor
• Serious back/spinal problems

Matt and I started dating in college, way back in ’93.  Believe it or not we broke up regularly.  We obviously got back together more regularly.  That first Christmas together had Matt and my roommate conspiring to get me a puppy.  What they got me was a teeny little weenie dog.  We’re pretty big fans of the book and movie Lonesome Dove.  Chris is right that any book that’s really good will get made into a movie though the fine details, I believe, are only picked up in the book.  This is beside the point.  The point is that when we were considering names for the teeny little leaky dog we decided on Augustus McCray, shortened to Gus, from the book and movie.  That started a dog naming theme for us.  Matt, obviously, has a heavy hand in the naming process.

Gus was supposed to be a mini but turned out to be a tweeny.  Miniatures are supposed to top out (lean and healthy) at 10 lbs.  Standards are in the high teens and 20s.  Tweenies aren’t mini or standard.  Gus, lean and mean, came in at 16 lbs.  He was 16 lbs of fast and tenacious and stubborn and drive me crazy!  He was obsessed with chasing racket balls.  OBSESSED!  We didn’t have a video camera back then but I wish we did.  He would sit at the edge of the carpet, eyeball the distance and angle to your position at a chair on the hard floors, set the racket ball down and tap it to you with his foot or nose.  If you ignored it he’d breath-whine for a couple minutes and then go get the ball to do the whole routine again.  Optimistic.  He was that also.  Sure that you’d eventually see how fun throwing the ball for him endlessly was.  We started with Gus pre-kids and by Nov. ’95 we had Alyx.  He was never sure of her but seemed ok until she got mobile.  Then his obsessive personality kicked in and he took to chewing his own hide off.  I mean that literally.  We tried lots of different things and ended up finding him a home with a retired military couple – no kids and the time and interest in throwing the ball endlessly.

Rocky came next in 2000.  (named for Rocky Balboa <–Matt’s influence seen here.  He was supposed to be Matt’s dog.)

This dog was sooo my dog it isn’t even funny.  He was seriously attached which was cool and very not cool.  As anyone who dog-sat for us can attest, he could and would make life difficult for those with hearing when I was gone.  On the pros and cons side he sat solidly in the suspicious of strangers category (not far off of myself outside of the gym).  He was scrappy and stubborn and tried my patience to the n-th degree and I loved him.

Rocky was mine during some of the toughest times of my life and the biggest personal struggles.  There were days he was one more thing than I could handle but mostly he was a huge comfort.  There wasn’t a more perfect heater on cold nights or for sore muscles.  He played with our cats and chased squirrels and barked endlessly.  No meant nothing if he was outside of swatting range.  He could sit (if he felt like it) and he could roll over, which was hilarious to us given that he was tube-shaped to begin with.  I don’t remember his drawbacks right now though I know there were plenty.  As a handful of our CrossFitters know, Rocky developed a brain tumor that expressed itself in the fall of 2007 with his blindness.  He didn’t adapt to being blind like folks with blind dogs said they do – effortless…you can’t even tell they are blind…they switch to using their other senses.  He didn’t.  By Feb. 2008 the tumor had affected his ability to move and within a week he went from mostly mobile to unable to walk.  We had to put him down on a Saturday.  It was a horrid day.

On that note, though, Dr. Matthew Taylor with Prestonwood Animal Clinic was and is wonderful!!  My experience over the years has been that not all vets care to deal with weenie dogs.  We’ve had some rough and mean vets over the years in our quest to find someone patient enough to deal with our goofball dogs.  I’ll refrain from listing them here.   Dr. Taylor, however, is so good with high strung little dogs that they are actually calm during visits.  He made Rocky’s last months and expecially that last day as calm and peaceful as they could possibly have been.

That brings us to Bosco.  From day one Bosco has been mine.  He is named after a character from Third Watch that I totally crush on…Maurice Boscarelli.

Bosco is beautiful and funny and goofy…and he pees.  You and I say hello.  Bosco piddles.  I’ve heard other folks say its common with this breed.  He’s the first I’ve met or seen that does it.  It’s his only major flaw.  He would go with us everywhere if it weren’t for this one thing!  It’s not a constant.  He’s 99% good with us, but if someone else comes over and even reaches down to pet him he’s leaking right away.  Dang!  Oh well.  He’s not supposed to be shared then.  He’s mine, leaks and all.  As I told Dr. Taylor last week when we went in for his yearly check-up, I want one that makes it into little-old-man-ness.   Just one.  That constant gauge of my own sanity and Richter scale for patience.  Weenie dogs have been driving me batty since 1993 and I wouldn’t have it any other way.