New Dog, New Life
Saturday, 4. October 2008, 18:00:06
Last June, as some of you may remember, I lost my dog and my best
friend, Baron, to cancer. His death left a huge hole in my heart. For
the first month I tried throwing myself into my work, the writing and
the blogging. That didn't work. The second month I drank a lot more than
normal. That didn't work either. The third month I spent some time with
the other dachshunds in the building, and did a babysitting gig for
another dachshund named Daisy.
If getting with the other dogs taught me anything it was that I just
wasn't going to get over Baron or get past the grief without getting a
new dog.
The other day, just on a lark, I decided to check out a couple of pet
shops on-line here in Spokane. Well, when I got to the Northwest Seed
and Pet site the first thing I saw was the notice "Dachshunds for sale."
It turned out they had three dachsie puppies up for sale. In fact they
even had a short embedded youTube video of the puppies.
When I had thought about getting a new dog, I knew that I wanted another
dachshund. I just like the breed. But I also knew that I wanted a dog at
least a little different than Baron -- maybe a long-haired one this time,
and maybe a female. Not only to change it up a little, but to avoid being
constantly reminded of Baron so much.
I called Northwest Pet on Thursday and all three of the dogs were still
up for sale. So yesterday me and Charisse drove over to Northwest Pet.
I had been to the northside Northwest Pet before, but never the east side
one. Their pet place is a real menagerie. They had rabbits, chickens,
mice and rats, all sorts of birds, and even a huge tortoise that I think
was trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for number of
times a turtle could circumnavigate a room.
So I got some hands on with the dachsie puppies. The puppies were all
black and tan color, smooth coat, and all female. After about a half
hour I made my decision -- I picked the one that you can see at the
front of the cage at the very beginning of the video. "If you give me
a kiss, I'll take you home with me" I told her. And she gave me a kiss.
(Funny, that's the first time that line ever worked.)
The woman cashier made sure to give us the advice she thought we
needed on the issue of dachshunds. In fact it was a good 7 minute
lecture. Me and Charisse just kinda stood there and tried not to
laugh -- Charisse has two dachshunds, I had owned Baron for 15 years,
and we live in a building with a total of 6 dachshunds. Make that 7
dachshunds.
I had come up with a short list of names for the new dog. But the new
puppie turned out to be such a little princess that I knew that only one
name on the list really fit her -- Sasha.
Sasha is just a beautiful little girl. She is very quiet (for the most part)
and has a very calm personality. She's a Cancer -- still waters run deep.
So far she has been a good girl. She misses her sisters (seeing Charisse's
two girls helped a little in this) and keeps getting behind the television
and crawling into the storage unit at the bottom. I think this last is due
to the fact that she was in a cage for so much of the time since her birth
and she instinctively wants to get into another cage. It's tough getting
her out from behind the television, and I have to open the glass storage
unit doors and pull her out. And so far we've had some kisses and a few
tummy rubs. Her tummy, not mine. On the docket for tomorrow is a bath.
She still has that kennel smell on her. But I imagine that a good shampoo
will fix that right up. Also planned is her first trip to the vet -- that will
probably come early next week.
It also turns out that the little princess has a fondness for eating her
own poop.
We've also had a good number of "potty outside" walks. But it has been
kinda-sorta raining here in Spokane the last two days, and like most
dachshunds she hates the rain. I've never understood how a breed that
was developed in Germany, where it tends to rain a lot, can dislike the
rain so much. When Sasha wants to go back inside she sits down and cries
and totally refuses to move. At which point I have no choice really but
to pick her up and carry her back inside.
She has now spent her first night, and I think she really liked the sheets
and blankets on my bed. She slept well through the whole night. I would
wake up every once in a while and remember that she was there, feeling
the fur up against my feet, and I would smile and drift off again quite
happily.
I think that huge hole in my heart has gotten a little bit smaller.
New life.
[Pictures to come.]
WIDGETIZE
Ed,
I am very happy for you!!!
By ellinidata, # 4. October 2008, 18:21:49
Thanks, Angeliki!
By edwardpiercy, # 4. October 2008, 18:35:20
hugs
By ellinidata, # 4. October 2008, 19:26:20
Ya'll have fun getting to know and love each other.
By Stardancer, # 4. October 2008, 19:30:52
And Sasha is a cutie
By gdare, # 4. October 2008, 19:33:56
Thanks, friends. A big sloppy kiss for everybody!
Sasha just ran a rampage. Then she was on the couch and hopped onto the coffee table -- thus earning her very first spanking! Bad dog!
By edwardpiercy, # 4. October 2008, 19:47:20
By gdare, # 4. October 2008, 19:49:45
I don't know what I'd do without my two dogs. They are such opposites in looks and temperment. 'CJ' min pin is such a pain in the ass and 'Camie' the keeshond so sweet and obedient but they love each other and love me. Just spent $464 yesterday at the vet. They both needed boosters and toenail trims and the keeshond needed another blood test to see if the Valley Fever is finally gone, after a year and a half.
The vet said CJ needed a dental cleaning and possible extractions. That will be over $700.
I have dog nail clippers and have tried many, many times to do the trimming myself but they are impossible. It costs $17 for each dog every couple of months. But there's two people doing it there...one to hold the dog and one to clip.
I'm happy for you Ed.
By PainterWoman, # 4. October 2008, 21:03:19
Best of luck and many happy hours together with the wonderful poop-eating princess.
By ricewood, # 4. October 2008, 22:21:06
Can't wait to see more pics and videos. She sounds like a pistol.
By Stardancer, # 4. October 2008, 22:28:04
Allan, it was good hearing that you had the same feeling. Might just possibly prove I'm not crazy, which, after another unsuccessful potty outside trip, had occurred to me.
Pam I hate to think of the cost of the vet bills. They have this new thing for trimming toenails advertised on television that I think more grinds toenails off than cuts them. If I see the commerical again I'll send you the link -- it certainly would be worth a shot is what I was thinking.
The cage above Sasha's at the pet store had two red minipins. Nice dogs!
@ Star. Bipolar, that's certainly a working hypothesis right now. She just will NOT come when I call her. I have to chase her all around the apartment -- and she's a LOT faster than I am. I think the real problem is nobody told her about the whole Master/dog setup. To that extent, she really is a spoiled little princess. Jeez.
By edwardpiercy, # 4. October 2008, 22:53:59
Welcome to the world of puppydom, Edward.
By Stardancer, # 5. October 2008, 00:45:22
I saw that thing on TV. It's kind of like a dremmel and I've heard of people using a dremmel on their dogs' nails. I bought one to use on a project so tried it on each of the dogs.....nope. Neither will tolerate me messing with their nails. I think if they were afraid of me, like they are at the vets, maybe I could do it. But at this late stage in their life, I'll just keep taking them in. The min pin is 10 and the keeshond is 12.
Both of my dogs eat cat poop so I try to scare all cats out of my yard. I feel bad scaring them but, hey, they should poop in their own yard.
By PainterWoman, # 5. October 2008, 00:53:42
By qlue, # 5. October 2008, 11:02:07
By wickedlizard, # 5. October 2008, 16:09:45
By edwardpiercy, # 5. October 2008, 17:12:46
By wickedlizard, # 5. October 2008, 18:47:44
By Stardancer, # 5. October 2008, 19:32:53