Mark Your Calendars: MidWest Dachshund Festival THIS COMING WEEKEND

This year's event and t-shirt theme:  Rocking Out The Puppy Mills!

If you live in the MidWest, there's no other place to be this Saturday, September 10th,  except Danville, Illinois, for the annual MidWest Dachshund Festival!  This event used to be sponsored by Dodgerslist, but is now sponsored by Dachshund Rescue of North America.  Find out all about it at the official site.

DRNA rep Maria Adams writes:

We will be selling some great items to benefit our medical fund, like these unique jute rugs and dachshund butter dishes - just $25 each.

Can't wait to see everyone at this wonderful event!

Dachshund Public Service Announcement

We interrupt our regular scheduled programming for this Dachshund public service announcement for Dachshund Rescue of North America. 
Video by Image Makers, a program that teaches high school students in the DC/MD/VA area how to create, film and edit a public service announcement for a local non-profit.

Related:  Dachshund Public Service Announcement for Dixie Dachshund Rescue

Related:  Dachshund Public Service Announcement for Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue

Gary the Doxie

Thanks to some dear friends for sending this in! By youtuber McGrath1105 who says:  Go get yourself a Gary at Dachshund Rescue of North America.

DRNA's Adopt-A-Senior Month

Dachshund Rescue of North America says that Seniors are the neediest group of Dachshunds, and to honor them, DRNA is waiving their adoption fee for the entire month of June!  

Check out DRNA's top ten reasons to adopt a senior:

1.Adopting a senior dog, saves a life. "Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog". -Sydney Jeanne Seward

2.Senior dogs love to sleep the day away and enjoy a nice walk, but the best part of their day is being with you.

3.When you rescue a senior dog, you have a best friend forever.

4.Senior dogs reward your care with everlasting devotion. Nothing matches the love of a senior dog for his/her rescuer.

5.Senior dogs have learned many of the life's lessons. They know that shoes are for walking and toys are for chewing.

6.Senior dogs know that the outdoors is for potty and the house is for relaxing. Your carpet will last longer with senior dogs.

7.Senior dogs can learn new tricks and make excellent therapy dogs.

8.Senior dogs often fit into your home with ease. They find the best spot in the house and claim it for their own, but they will share it with you too.

9.Senior dogs make great companions for anyone, especially senior people.

10.Seniors don't have a chance in shelters and are the first to be euthanized to make room for the younger dogs. 

Find a new Senior friend at DRNA.

Dachshund Mother's Day Raffle

Wouldn't your beloved Mother look great wearing this little gem?  Head on over to Dachshund Rescue of North America to purchase a raffle ticket, and it might be yours!  Tickets are just $5, or 5 tickets for $20.  Features:  10k White Gold Diamond Dachshund Pendant:  1/10-carat total weight; 3/4-in. pendant; 18-in. necklace.

Winning Ticket Drawn May 2, 2010.

The Sad Story of Matthew the Wirehair Puppy

(Pre-surgery)

Things are looking up for this handsome fellow - now that he's in the good hands of Dachshund Rescue of North America.  Thanks so much to Barb, a DRNA volunteer who helped transport this sweetie last week, and wanted to share his troubling story. 

When people hear Matthew's story they shake their heads, tear up a little and say things like "what type of monster would do this to a puppy" (along with more colorful statements about the person and what should be done to them). You see, Matthew was thrown out the window of a moving vehicle in Virginia Beach, VA and he was then hit by a truck last Wednesday. A witness to this offense stopped and collected the standard wirehair Dachshund puppy and rushed him to a nearby Animal Emergency Hospital. The Vets there stabilized him, made him comfortable and contacted Dachshund Rescue of North America (DRNA) to see if they would take Matthew into their care and get him the extensive surgery he needed to survive. After a few phone calls Matthew was transported 3 hours north to a Specialist at Springfield Veterinary Referral Center the next morning in the care of DRNA. Additional x-rays showed the extent of Matthew's injuries. Along with road rash, Matthew has 2 fractured rear femurs involving growth plates and a fractured rear tibia that all required pins. And sacroiliac joint dislocation, this is where the hip bone, iliac bone, connects to sacrum or where the hip joins the spinal column. This needed to be fixed with 2 hip screws. He also has a fractured right hip socket that currently they are hoping with crate rest will repair itself; otherwise will require a later surgery to pin. All this damage to a puppy Veterinarians estimate to be 9 months to a year old. Surgery was performed on Friday and it went very well. They are unable to cast his back legs because he needs daily physical therapy on his rear legs to prevent quadriceps contracture. Throughout all this Matthew has charmed everyone he has been in contact with. Even when he was in pain all he wanted to do is to give kisses. Matthew was discharged from the Hospital on Monday and is in loving DRNA foster care. Please keep this little dachshund in your thoughts and prayer as he begins his road to recovery.

If you would like to donate towards Matthew's surgery and future physical therapy, please go to http://www.drna.org/ and note "Matthew (DRNA # 04032)" on the donation.

(Post-surgery)

Savannah Wiener Dog Races 2009

Over 130 Dachshunds competed in the annual Savannah Wiener Dog Races on Saturday in Savannah, Georgia. Congrats goes out to 'Molly' for winning the championship again this year, and to all the dogs who participated! Read lots more, and see a great slideshow of the event, which is now sponsored by Dachshund Rescue of North America, at the Savannah Morning News.

Related: 2008: Savannah Wiener Race Coverage

Related: 2007: Longfellow Wins Savannah Wiener Dawg Races!

Midwest Dachshund Festival Photos and Recap

It was another great year at the Midwest Dachshund Festival in Danville, Illinois on Saturday. This was the 13th year for the event, which is now sponsored by Dachshund Rescue of North America.
We headed down Friday afternoon, it was about a 3-hour drive. We were restless in the car wondering if we were going to see grandma and grandpa, two of our favorite people in the world. But when we got to the hotel, we kinda remembered the smells, and knew that a big Dachshund event awaited us the next day. We could hardly sleep we were so excited.
We got up at about 6 AM to go outside and do our duties. Dad was busy packing all his stuff back up in the hotel room, (actually it was mostly OUR stuff), and then we argued with the hotel clerk when we were checking out for charging us a $25 pet fee on the room. Last year, it was $5/dog. He said "it's on the website, and it's supposed to be $25/dog, so we gave you a break." Yeah, right. We stood our ground, he called the manager, and they reduced it to $10 total. Don't mess with Dachshunds. We won't be staying there next year.
We finally got to the event, which started at 10 AM, and could hear all the dogs barking from inside a big metal building at the fairgrounds. There were over 300 Dachshunds in attendance. Joy! We sniffed more butts than we really care to mention.
There was plenty to do and see - wiener races, costume contests, multiple rescue groups (lots of available dogs), contests for oldest Dachshund, biggest Dachshund (not fattest!), parades for IVDD dogs, you name it.
There was also plenty of Dachshund paraphernalia to buy - some of the vendors included Dachshund Delights, the Greener Wiener, III Dachshunds Beer, meetup groups, and many of the rescue groups had lots of stuff to buy, as well as silent auctions and raffles.
We were getting exhausted. Maggie was tired of walking around, so she sat with our friends at the Dodgerslist booth for about an hour to relax.
Then it was all over at 3 PM! We weren't done yet though. We sat with our friends at our picnic table outside after the event for 3 more hours, enjoying food, wine, and song (Dad brought his boombox of course.)
Finally, it was time to go home, and we slept like logs the whole way back to Chicago. We're still exhausted. It was great to see all of our friends, and we really appreciate all the hard work that went into this event.
Enjoy the pics.

Dachshunds To The Rescue

This was the scene on Easter Sunday in Forte Greene, Brooklyn, New York, when members of the Fort Greene Dachshund Society for Social Action got together to raise money and awareness for Dachshund Rescue of North America.

Children in the area were delighted to lavish attention on the dogs and, perhaps in the spirit of the Easter holiday, crammed dollars into a collection cup nearby.

Read all about it at the New York Times.

Related: Dachshund Rescue of North America

Our Dedicated Folks in Rescue, Continued

Meet Cindi Ashbeck of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and one of the doxies, 'Firefly,' from the puppy mill in Parkersburg, WV, where 1,000 dogs, mostly dachshunds, were rescued. As a new volunteer for Dachshund Rescue of North America, Ashbeck has taken in rescued Dachshunds on three occasions since June. Excerpt from htrnews.com: Ashbeck went online and read about a few Dachshund rescue organizations, deciding on the Dachshund Rescue of North America because it was the oldest, had placed the most dogs and seemed to be the best organized.
She applied in May to be a foster parent for Dachshunds and was approved in June. Not long after her approval — she estimated it was maybe a week and a half — she received her first foster dog, 14-year-old Elric. His owners, who'd had him since he was a puppy, had given him up, she said.
"He was underweight. He had calluses under his hindquarters. You could tell he'd been just left out on the cement. His teeth were in horrible condition," Ashbeck said.
Ashbeck has two Dachshunds of her own, and they and Elric didn't exactly hit it off.
"My dogs wanted to eat him and he wanted to eat them, and I'm like, 'What did I get into?'" Ashbeck said. "That first day was pretty traumatic."
Read all about Cindi's trials and rewards of being a foster mom at htrnews.com. It's a great article.

Related: Our Dedicated Folks in Rescue

Those Special Dachshunds: Meet Baxter!

Handsome rescue boy 'Baxter' writes: Hi Joey & Maggie! Just wanted to say your blog is swell! My name is Baxter and I'm a tweenie smooth red. My folks adopted me from DRNA last November and have been keeping me busy ever since (I was kinda chubby when they first got me!). Anyway, I just thought you might like these three videos in case you need a little filler sometime.
Happy Tails! - Baxter, Tammy, & Pat

Baxter..., boy oh boy, we would never call such nice videos "filler!" Honestly, we couldn't decide which video to post, as each one is so much fun, so we're posting all 3! You sure found a perfect forever home, and you've really got quite the dance moves, your Long and Short of it All hostess Maggie is swooning. Above is the video titled Baxter the Dachshund: Our New Fella.




Baxter talks about his summer while practicing some of the moves he learned in Beginning Musical Freestyle class in Dachshund Boogie.




And finally, Baxter fetches frisbee over and over and over and over and over again in Dachshund Fetches Frisbee.

Woof!

Our Dedicated Folks in Rescue

Meet Veronica David of Kokomo, Indiana, and one of the doxies from the puppy mill in Parkersburg, WV, where 1,000 dogs, mostly dachshunds, were rescued. As a volunteer for Dachshund Rescue of North America, David transported and fostered 33 of the dachshunds, and is still fostering 14 - two mothers and 12 puppies. Excerpt from the Kokomo Tribune: For the past few weeks, David has been working with the dogs, acclimating them to life in the real world.
“We had a hard time getting them used to concrete or grass. In the grass they were real wobbly,” she said.
For now, she has made space in her garage for the puppies and mothers to call home. Providing larger cages is a step toward freedom.
David said the mothers are far more skittish than their young.
Each day, David works with them so they can get used to being beloved pets instead of poorly treated livestock. She has been taking them on walks, getting them used to car rides, and tackling the art of house breaking.
“They have no reason to trust you,” she said.
Read all about it and see another beautiful pic at the Kokomo Tribune.

Related: West Virginia Puppy Mill Bust

Photos and News Video: Midwest Dachshund Festival

The 12th Annual Midwest Dachshund Festival sponsored by DRNA on Saturday was a hoot! There were almost 400 dachshunds and 500 humans in attendance. There is a nice slidshow of about 90 photos at The News Gazette. Also, check out the fun news video at wandtv.com and meet 'Baron,' a GIANT 65 pound smooth black and tan, as well as some solid black smooth littermates.

Related: Midwest Dachshund Festival Recap

Midwest Dachshund Festival Recap

A young assistant helps out at the DRNA nail clipping booth. The smooth red piebald is one of the 1,000 dogs (mostly dachshunds) recently rescued from the Parkersburg, WV, puppy mill.

Well, we sure had fun at the 12th Annual Midwest Dachshund Festival sponsored by Dachshund Rescue of North America on Saturday in Danville, Illinois. We went for a long car ride on Friday, and Dad tricked us because we thought surely we must be going to visit Grandma and Grandpa, but we ended up in some hotel room. It all made sense the next morning when saw all the dachshunds and recognized some of the good folks in attendance. It looked like it was going to rain all day, so the festival was moved indoors at the last minute, and of course it didn't rain a drop.
There was plenty to do.....there were several parades honoring different dachshunds and their humans....doxies with back injuries, alumni of the festival, new attendees, and a costume parade. There were several contests including farthest traveled, most doxies brought to the festival, a costume contest, littlest dachshund, biggest dachshund, and of course wiener races! We're not quite sure, but we think that the smooth red piebald pictured above won the littlest dachshund contest, weighing in at just four pounds!
There were also several vendors there....dog related vendors, a professional photographer, doxie vendors, and the rescue organizations including MWDR, and IVDD resource Dodgerslist had booths with lots of fun raffles. We've lost a couple pounds over the last few years, or maybe our long and short bodies have just reorganized themselves, but the good folks at Hug-A-Dog Harness took our harnesses for a free adjustment! Wow! We also bought a case of III Dachshunds Root Beer to share with our friends, and even a sleigh pulled by a smooth and longhair (like us) to put in our front yard for the holidays.
All in all, it was great fun, and thanks to DRNA and all the dedicated folks and their wonderful doxies who put on such a nice event.
Check out news coverage of the event at the Commercial-News. There are some heartwarming stories to read.

Related: 2007 Recap: Dachshunds Get Wet in the News

Dachshund Love Stories and The 2008 Midwest Dachshund Festival

Meet rescues 'Obie' and 'Blue,' and their humans, Roger and Suzan Dahlenburg, who hail from Henning, Illinois, near Danville. In the past year, the Dahlenburgs have brought these two rescues into their country home, joining 'Rusty,' a dachshund mix, and 'Lilly' the cat. Like your 'Long and Short of it All' hosts, they plan on attending DRNA's 12th Annual Midwest Dachshund Festival this coming Saturday in Danville, maybe we'll see them there! Read all about Obie and Blue at The Commercial-News.



For more information on this coming Saturday's Midwest Dachshund Festival, check out Dachshund Rescue of North America. Woof!

Dachshund Club of America Supports WV Rescue Efforts

We're pleased to report this news from The Dachshund Club of America: During a special teleconference Thursday evening called specifically for the purpose of discussing the West Virginia rescue situation, the DCA Board agreed to send a donation of $1,000 each to the Humane Society of Parkersburg, WV, and the Dachshund Rescue of North America (DRNA).
This week, Emma Jean Stephenson, DCA Rescue Chair, and Marlies Noll, DCA Secretary, were in close contact with the Humane Society and others directly involved in this rescue.

DRNA Press Release - Parkersburg WV Puppy Mill

For immediate release:

Dachshund Rescue of North America, Inc. is involved in what may be the largest puppy mill raid in history. On Saturday August 23, the Humane Society of Parkersburg, Humane Society of the United States, Best Friends Animal Society, Humane Society of Missouri and others sprung into action removing 1,000 dogs from Whispering Oaks Kennel in Parkersburg, WV. Local authorities had received complaints about discharging pollution without a permit and went in with law enforcement to investigate the situation. They found dogs of many breeds housed in small pens with the dogs standing on wire. While the conditions weren't as horrible as some puppy mills, the stench was overwhelming according to volunteers and the shear number of dogs is impossible to care for with 4 full time kennel employees. The owners, Sharon and Edwin Roberts agreed to surrender the dogs and other conditions to avoid or minimize prosecution. We are not privy to those discussions and the matter is still under investigation.
DRNA is helping as it has with similar situations over the past 10 years. We took custody of 138 Dachshunds on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 from a warehouse where the dogs had been taken, vet checked, cleaned and fed. According to Jill Blasdel-Cortus, President of DRNA, "The operation in the warehouse was amazing! There were rows and rows of kennels stacked two high as far as you could see. Probably 100 volunteers tended to the dogs, cleaning crates, washing bowls, getting the dogs checked out by several veterinarians on the scene and then moving them out to various rescues. As soon as we loaded a dog, the kennel was cleaned and disinfected." It took 7 hours to load all 138 dogs that were moved to Tell City, IN and Markleysburg, PA for further vetting and distribution to eleven states where our members are organizing foster homes.
All dogs will be spayed/neutered, have rabies and DHPPC vaccines, heartworm tested and on prevention, wormed, dentals as necessary. A variety of conditions including dehydration, parasites, skin infections and irritations, dental problems such as retained baby teeth and extreme tartar, ear inflammation, eye irritation and infection, etc. have been found thus far and treated. We have a few dogs that are in critical condition though most are in good condition. They will need to be socialized since they have not been handled for their entire life. Most are scared but are not trying to bite. That is a positive sign since many mill dogs have been handled roughly and are terrified of humans. "These dogs are more neglected as opposed to abused" Ms. Blasdel-Cortus added. Dogs will be ready for placement immediately and over the next 3 months and standard DRNA placement fees will apply. Puppies under 1 year of age are $350. Dogs up to 9 years old are $250. Over 10 years or with on going medical conditions are $135. Puppies will be kept with their mothers until they are at least 12 weeks old and the will be alter prior to placement as well.
Ms. Blasdel-Cortus also wanted to remind prospective adopters that foster homes and local shelters are also filled with many other dogs that need homes and that this influx puts additional burden on the participating humane organizations. Not all adoptive homes are prepared for the challenges that can come with a mill dog such as the socialization and house training issues. Please look at all of the needy dogs that would love a Forever Home.
The publicity surrounding this event is also increasing our volume of applications and email inquiries. "Our priority is the care of these dogs so please be patient and allow our volunteers extra time to respond. Email is the best method to communicate with us. In addition to caring for the dogs, most of our members have other full time jobs too. We do not have a central facility or telephone number so generally the callers are getting our cell phones. We simply refer them back to the website for more information and we will try to post any updates on these dogs" said Ms. Blasdel-Cortus.
We have also received several requests from other organizations that took dachshunds in addition to some of the other breeds. Unfortunately they did not consult us in advance and assumed we would have foster space for those dogs as well. We will do our best to place dogs quickly so that we can assist them in getting those dogs into foster care. Additionally another team of DRNA members drove 9 hours on Friday to evaluate and possibly bring in another 6 dachshunds that other rescues rejected for temperament issues. They will be evaluated and will probably need long term foster care. We will update as information becomes available.
Photos will be loaded on the DRNA website as well as dog listings. Please allow us at least 4 days. These poor dogs don't even have names much less an evaluation of what kind of home is needed to assure their successful placement.
As a very positive note on the entire operation, Best Friends disclosed to DRNA volunteers that no dogs were euthanized in this mill closure.
If you would like to donate to DRNA to help pay for the tremendous medical costs associate with the 138 or more dogs, please visit our website http://www.drna.org/ for paypal donations or checks can be mailed to DRNA, 7821 Sabre Court, Manassas, VA 20109.

Contact information:
Jill Blasdel-Cortus
Dachshund Rescue of North America, Inc.
President
226 E. Central Ave.
Greensburg, IN 47240
jill@drna.org

DRNA To Take 100 Dachshunds From WV Puppy Mill Raid

Among the many rescue organizations who will be helping, representatives from Dachshund Rescue of North America will be in Parkersburg, West Virginia, today to take possession of at least 100 of the dachshunds rescued in the puppy mill bust at Whispering Oaks Kennel. Excerpt from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "It's sad, it's very sad," said Dora Show, Pennsylvania's lead DRNA representative. "Puppies from mills are not very socialized because they've not had much human contact. They're snappy, they're not friendly, they're scared to death of everything."
Ms. Show drove a rented, air-conditioned cargo van from Markleysburg, Fayette County, to Parkersburg last night, where she met Jill Blasdel-Cortus, president of the DNRA, from Greensburg, Indiana. Together, the two women hoped to take more than 100 of the dachshunds from the American Humane Society warehouse where they're being kept.
Read all about it the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

DRNA Wins $1,000 Donation from iGive.com

A big congrats and thanks goes out to Dachshund Rescue of North America for all the work they do. iGive.com named the rescue group as one of the 50 charitable causes to win a $1,000 donation. Excerpt from the Greensburg Daily News: “We were thrilled to find out about this unexpected donation,” Jill Blasdel-Cortus, CEO and president of DRNA, said. “We would like to send out a big thank you to all of our members using iGive.com, and urge those who haven’t registered to check it out.”
Read all about it at the Greensburg Daily News. Above, 'Mojo,' one of Jill Blasdel-Cortus’s dachshunds, poses for a picture. Find out how your internet surfing can mean money to your favorite organization at iGive.com.

Dachshund News Roundup

Proving once again that dachshunds are taking over the world, here's another bonus roundup of dachshunds in the news from all over the globe. Woof! Above, 120 doxies and their humans attended Suburban Chicagoland Dachshund Lover's Luck of the Irish Dachshund fundraiser and get-together yesterday in Grayslake, Illinois. Money was raised for Midwest Dachshund Rescue, Dachshund Rescue of North America, Almost Home Dachshund Rescue Society, and Dodger's Dachshund Orthopedic Disc Group E-mail Resource.


Jill Blasdel-Cortus, President of DRNA, holds her black and tan 'Gypsy,' during the Luck of the Irish Dachshund fundraiser. Read all about the event at The Daily Herald.


While there was no Best in Show for a dachshund at Crufts in the UK again this year, lots of doxies strutted their stuff to win titles. Above, Laura MacDonald, a 20-year-old who works in security at Norwich International Airport, took her four dachshunds to the Crufts competition on Sunday, and won a title with her doxie 'Roger.' Read all about it at Norwich Evening News. See all the wiener winners at Crufts.
Related: Dachshunds at Crufts

'Jewels,' a black and tan smooth double dapple dachshund owned by Paula and Eddie Alejos of Racine, Wisconsin, sits for a portrait with the Easter Bunny on Sunday at a pet night at Regency Mall. Read all about it at The Journal Times.

Sandy Gachassin, a member of the board of directors of the Iberia Humane Society, nuzzles with her blue-eyed red long-hair sable 'Buddy' during Walk in the Park, a fundraiser in New Iberia, Louisiana, on Saturday. Buddy was adopted from the Iberia Humane Society by Gachassin. Read all about the event at The Daily Iberian.