Color Him Warm

Color Him Warm
By JEAN P. ANDERTON

Dachshund! You roll the name on your tongue and the sound is good.
Maple brown they colored him. Colors have no shape in your world, but, the sound is warm.
Saddling his chin to your hand, you snuggle your cheek against his. What a long face! And a warm wet tongue that slobbers your nose, then turns dry and sticky as it seeks your ear.
Exploring fingers discover a cool, fleshy, button nose, soft as a sister's velvet ribbon. Now silky fur as you trace a path up, up past the eyes, closed by your touch, to ears that flop against his neck. Again, the touch of velvet as you pause to roll the triangular ear between thumb and forefinger.
Caressing fingers, inching along his jaw, sense the bone-crushing power of sharp teeth; gentled at playtime.
Those paws kneading your chest, the hind legs dancing on your lap, seem awfully short. A leg fits snuggly into the palm of your hand! Here his skin is so loose it folds softly over your fingers! Your thumb flicks a toenail while your little finger tickles his tummy.
Inquisitive fingers, moving again, down an elongated muscular back. Silky fur stretched over yielding skin becomes as prickly as your toothbrush when you reverse your stroke. Abounding energy pulses through your fingertips with each shift of puppy weight.
What's this? His tail! Almost as long as his body! Ropelike and sharply pointed at its thumping end. What's wagging what?
This vibrant bundle of love and vitality, from sloppy tongue to slap-happy tail, is yours! Small matter you're blind - you've seen him! Your very own Dachshund! The sound is good. Color him warm.


For the American Dachshund magazine, February, 1967
Mid-1900s vintage photo source unknown.