Our Dachshunds - Part 4

Welcome, Duchess!

Getting over Molly’s passing was difficult – neither Thanksgiving nor Christmas were particularly happy times for us.  We always had the sense that she was missing – both literally and figuratively.  But 2011 rolled around and things got better each day.  Our four dogs were doing well and before we knew it, summer was upon us.

One day in July, I made a foolish mistake.  I looked at the DRNA website and browsed through the available Dachshunds.  I honestly don’t know why I do this to myself – I end up wanting to adopt them all as I cry while reading their stories and feel hateful toward the humans who caused them suffering.  I visit the site fairly frequently because I like to read the success stories and see the photos with “Adopted!” written on them.  It makes me happy to think there are good and kind people in the world who are willing to give needy little dogs a chance at a loving home and devoted family.

This time, it was different.  I found Duchess.  And I don’t know exactly what it was about her, but I was hooked.  Some people might say that it was her name, given my love of all things royal (ask anyone who has ever set foot in my classroom) and given our last name, but it really was her sweet little face.  She was a black-and-tan miniature Dachshund, and she was already 15 years old.  That sounded exactly like Molly, except Duchess looked nowhere near her age.  I emailed her foster mom to arrange a meeting, and C and I drove four hours on a Saturday through miserable heat and traffic to meet her.  Whether or not you believe in love at first sight, we were smitten.  We spent about an hour with her, and knew we wanted her to be ours.  We had plans to go out of town for two weeks, so we arranged to pick her up and bring her home once we returned from our trip.  We drove the four hours home asking ourselves if were we crazy for doing this, but kept coming back to the idea that although we can’t save every dog, we could save this one dog.

On August 13, 2011, we made that long drive again and adopted Duchess.  On the way home, I sat beside her in the back seat and she happily snuggled right into a dog bed and fell asleep.  We should have known then what a low-maintenance dog she would be!  We got home that night and she was immediately accepted into the herd.  Since that day, she has been content to snooze and eat and do not much else!  She had truly been a delight – she rarely barks, except when breakfast or dinner is being prepared, and that is really just out of excitement that she is about to eat!  She is the one dog that does not sleep in our bed at night; she prefers her own little dog bed right beside me on the floor.

Duchess is now 17, and we cannot imagine our life without her.  As I wrote about back in February, we had a bad scare with a spider bite, but she came through that with flying colors and other than a few little bald spots on her hind leg, you would never know anything had ever happened to her.  The fur that did regrow in that area is white, which is in stark contrast to her shiny black fur, and it is a good reminder of how tough she is to have survived such an ordeal.

So you are all caught up now!  If you’ve managed to stick with me through all four parts of the story, thank you so much!  No doubt there will be future tales to tell about our little canines, and I haven’t even introduced you to Max yet!  Max is my brother’s dog, who is part Pitbull and part Dutch Shepherd, and much sweeter and better behaved than our five miniature Dachshunds!

Happy Tails to you!