Those Special Dachshunds: Meet Oscar!

(click any photo to enlarge)

This will start your week off right, check out this handsome guy! Yep, this black and tan smooth's name is 'Oscar,' and he's got a new ball.....a great big ball that's just perfect for a playful boy like Oscar. His human, John E. Schultz, of the Navy Inactive Fleet Headquarters out of Portsmouth, Virginia, writes:

Dear Joey and Maggie,

I'm owned by Oscar. He's a 4.5 year old black and tan short hair mini. He's been with our family for just over 4 years now. He came to us from a friend when he was a puppy.

To say that he's high strung is a bit of an understatement. I've been reading online about this WONDERFUL breed and somewhere somebody said that they have an odd attraction to balls. Well Oscar is proof of that. He eats every single toy we give to him. We got him a professional football - he made short work of that (only a day). Then a professional basketball. That was more difficult - but in two days it was ripped apart completely.

My son and I were at the thrift store yesterday just looking around and I saw this huge 36" exercise ball. I thought, "That would be GREAT for Oscar!"

Oscar went through the normal 'daddy's here' tail wagging as I got out of the truck - but when he saw the ball he went absolutely NUTS. I mean CRAZED LIKE I'D NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE! We put the ball down in the livingroom and he chased it around the entire first floor of the house for an hour - barking 'crazily' the entire time. Eventually we put the ball away for fear he'd have a little wiener heart attack or something from the excitement. He calmed down.

I then thought it would be cool to get some pictures of. So I gathered up my kids and took him outside with the ball. Now Oscar usually sprints to the tree where the squirrels are - but his BALL was in sight.

I've attached a number of images from yesterday's ball antics for you to peruse.

After about 15 minutes - he was foaming at the mouth so we took him in the back yard and put the ball in the pool. We thought he'd jump right in - but he didn't. He doesn't go into the pool often at all. My son put him in to cool him down - and the beast that usually swims JUST enough to get to the steps and get out - swam to the ball to push it around the pool! We had to get in the pool to take him out - and when we did he just stood on the side of the pool barking at us to get the ball for him.


Needless to say Oscar slept well last night - flittering and dreaming of his new HUGE 36" chew-toy!


Sincerely,

Oscar, John Sr., Jessica, and John Jr.

Go Oscar!