Dogged Determination

Vet assistant Brandi Barden cleans out the ears of a red piebald.

It's been about 3 weeks since the puppy mill bust at Whispering Oaks Kennel in Parkersburg, W.Va., where 1,000 dogs, mostly dachshunds, were rescued and transported all over the country for medical care, socialization, and adoption. While some dogs have been adopted, many are still being fostered in homes and shelters, and are available for the perfect home. The organizations that have assisted in this effort still need your help.
The Virginian-Pilot took a look at how the Virginia Beach SPCA is coping with its increased workload after taking in 113 of the rescues, and here's an excerpt: "We couldn't have said yes to helping rescue these dogs if it wasn't for the community," said Sharon Adams, executive director of the Virginia Beach SPCA. "The response is amazing and it has strengthened our efforts to help these animals."
Volunteers have a nonstop job. Besides holding the dogs, workers are cleaning out their ears, clipping their nails and giving them baths. Dogs make the rounds between spending time in a play pen, being walked in the grass, sleeping in their crates and enjoying being held in the arms of people.
"Our costs went up one third when we took these dogs in," Adams said. "But to see the volunteers working and pushing through to get to the heart of each animal helps me know it was all worth it." Read all about it and see more pics at the Virginian-Pilot.

Related: Whispering Oaks Kennel Puppy Mill Bust

Eleven Dachshunds Left at Overcrowded Ohio Shelter

We're sad to report that eleven dachshunds were abandoned at the Fairfield County Humane Society on Monday in Fairfield County, Ohio. This is just 2 months after 50 cats were left at the same overcrowded shelter. Excerpt from NBC4i.com: "As I pulled up, I was met by a volunteer who told me we had been left 11 gifts overnight," said Executive Director Michelle Sahr.
The dachshunds, ranging in age from 1 to 8 years old, were found in cages behind the shelter -- yards away from a yellow sign stating that what the dumpers were doing was illegal.
A note left with the dogs said that the owner was unable to care for them. But, Sahr said, the dogs weren't cared for all that well in the first place.
"They're not in horrible condition. They look to be well-fed. They are flea-infested pretty badly. Some of them (are) missing hair because they need flea treatment pretty badly," Sahr said.
Read more and see a video at NBC4i.com. See a slideshow of pics at WBNS 10TV.

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!

Weenie's Race in Germantown, Tennessee

About 80 dachshunds gave it their best yesterday at the 37th Annual Germantown Festival in Germantown, Tennessee. The always popular "Weenie Races", a fundraiser for the Germantown Animal Shelter, is the highlight of the two-day community event. There was also a Best Dressed Hot Dog competition before the races. Read more at WMC-TV.

Dachshund News Stories That Won't Go Away: The Dachshund's Decline in Germany

We simply refuse to believe it. We first reported this story back in August of 2007: Panic in Germany: Is the Trusty Dachshund Dying Out? and thought like a bad penny, this story keeps turning up, as it was all over the papers just a few months before. Well, it's back again,, as it's been reported at about a dozen news sites over the last week. It seems to show up in the press about every 6 months or so. Interesting and fun, nevertheless!
We tend to believe that, much like the fact that this story will never die out, neither will the dachshund in the Motherland. We're just taking a break before the Dachshund Revolution.

Related: Panic in Germany: Is the Trusty Dachshund Dying Out?

Dachshund Health Watch: Vaccines, Weight, Toys

In a sad tale out of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, a routine vaccination may be to blame for the death of 'Tina,' a smooth chocolate dapple. Our hearts go out to Tina's human and dachshund family. Excerpt from KXLY: Last month, Mokka, Olga and Tina all received the Vanguard+5 vaccination, to prevent diseases such as distemper and leptospirosis, a potentially fatal disease affecting a dog's kidneys and liver. On the way home, all three dogs began vomiting.
"It was obvious they were in distress," says owner Jerry Higgs. "They couldn't be still, their faces were in distress."
Mokka and Olga eventually recovered, but Tina became paralyzed.
"Her paralysis advanced," says Higgs. "It went from her motor nerves into sensory nerves."
A week later, Higgs says Tina's condition got much worse.
"Wednesday morning, at 10:15, I had to put her to sleep," he says. Read more at KXLY.

Meet the lean, mean, fighting machine who goes by the name of 'Stitch' out of Gauteng, South Africa. Stitch won the local paper's Pet Slimmer of the Year Award last year by dropping from a whopping 35 pounds to a svelte 16.7 pounds. Way to go Stitch! You're such a beautiful girl! Read more about the dangers of obesity in pets, and see Stitch's "before" picture at The Times. According to the article, studies show that obese dogs live 2 years less than their slim counterparts.



Finally, thanks to Dog Art Today for the tip about this story. If this dog toy looks familiar, it's been recalled after serious and fatal injuries have occurred, so get it out of your house. It's 'pimple ball with bell,' manufactured by Four Paws Inc. It seems that the ball has just one hole, and during play a vacuum can be created and your dog's tongue can get stuck inside. A 10-year-old lab mix named Chai recently had to have his tongue amputated as a result. Read his unfortunate tale at The Chai Story.

Dachshunds Can Sure Chew a Hole in our Wallets

Who, Me? We have a bad habit of ending up at the top or near the top of various lists, so why would the list of destructive dogs be any exception? A total of 3,000 dog owners were recently interviewed by esure pet insurance who found that nearly two thirds had to pay for doggy damage. Most of this destruction came when their pets were just puppies, but nearly 15% said that they had to endure this throughout their dogs' lives. How do dachshunds fare? While we're not at the very top of the list, we're definitely contenders: we cause an average of $777.58 of damage during our lives. The Great Dane was #1 in the survey causing $1,163 of damage, followed closely by the chihuahua, who causes $1,111 worth of damage. Read more at Ananova.

Above, this dachshund made a mess in the laundry room with some wrapping paper one Christmas. Check out more photos by Cameron Tally over at flickr.

Thanks again to our pal 'Clancy' for the tip about this story!

Slightly Related: Dachshunds and Veterinary Care: Oooh, Our Aching Wallets!

Dachshunds Take The Plunge

A daring dachshund launches himself from the side of the pool diving in after a floating ball at a pooch plunge in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Source.

Vintage Dachshund Humor

It's raining today at our home in Chicago. And we're not about to go outside to do our "business." We'd like to see you humans run out in the rain to go potty. Naked.
Above, YOU CAN'T BLAME US FOR THIS, circa late 1930s -early 40's. (click image to enlarge)

And that's another thing: we get blamed for everything. But we're GOOD dogs! Honest.

Have a great day!

Dachshund Revived With Oxygen After House Fire

Emergency workers administer oxygen to a red smooth after it was rescued from a house fire on Germont Avenue in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Read all about it at the Chesterfield Observer.

David Duchovny? We Had No Idea

We always thought that the voice sounded familiar, but we had no idea it was David Duchovny doing the voice-overs for the Pedigree commercials. We're just a country mile behind. Anyway, internet celebrity sites are having a good time with the lines "rub my belly...seriously, rub it" after Mr. Duchovny announced last week that he was entering rehab for sex addiction. Defamer says: Knowing David Duchovny is the voice of this dachshund wanting you to rub its belly makes us worried that this dachshund may actually be addicted to random belly-rubbing from total strangers.

We're low to the ground as it is, but we've sunk to a new low just reporting this story.

Related: Pedigree Dachshund Commercials

Rub his belly.

It's Official: Maggie For President

Our good pal 'Ali' sent the link to break the news:

Maggie & Joey,
How is it going? A friend just sent me a link to this website, and you are all over it, is this really you? New3online

Ali, your 'Long and Short of it All' hostess Maggie would like to officially announce that she humbly accepts the nomination of President of the United States on behalf of the Canine Party. Woof! Joey will do his best to assist her as her running mate. Expect big changes across the nation with the Maggie and Joey Dachshund Phenomenon! We promise a chicken in every dog bowl! Find out more at News3online.

Noodle is a Blessed Dachshund

The Rev. Donald L. Mitchell says a blessing over Betty Neely's 5-year-old red smooth, 'Noodle,' during Sunday morning's Blessing of the Animals service at The Great Conewago Presbyterian Church along Red Bridge Road in Hunterstown, Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg. Read all about the event at the Evening Sun.

Related: The Blessed Dachshund

Our Special Dachshunds: Meet Oscar!

Oscar enjoys a good romp in the laundry (click image to enlarge)

Clara from Portugal writes: This is Oscar. He's 9 months old and a bundle of energy and cuteness. I've always wanted to have a dachshund and when my husband and I decided to get a dog, we were going back and forth with the terriers and the beagles and the dachshunds. Until, of course, we saw Oscar. Now neither of us wants another breed and we're thinking of getting another one. We live in an apartment but we have a huge back yard and built a fenced space for him to run. Oscar sleeps in the house at night and during the day is outside, napping in the sun, racing, growling at the trees; he rarely makes any kind of noise, except from 7pm to 8pm. If we don't feed him there's hell to pay. When we go on walks he's the envy of the neighbourhood. Young or old, everybody finds Oscar the cutest and he works that like a superstar… laying on the floor on his back, licking people's fingers, and making those sad puppy dog eyes…

Maggie says that Oscar is a hottie! She'd love to romp in the laundry with him. Thanks for sharing his story Clara.

Dachshund Lovers in History: Grayce Greenburg

Grayce Greenburg

by EDW. F. HIRSCHMAN for The American Dachshund, October, 1959

On Friday, September 4th, our Gracie as she was known to her thousands of friends, passed away after a stroke at the age of 78 years.
She leaves behind her husband Michael, grand children Mrs. Jayne Malherbe, Ali Stark, Jr, and three great grand children.
It was in 1931 after reading an ad in a magazine about the Greenburg Dachshunds, we drove out to Thousand Oaks with our first Dachshund Bergman. We showed him to Grayce and she liked him very much and asked us if we had ever shown him. Needless to say we did not know what she was talking about. She explained to us that she would try to get permission from the Alhambra Kennel Club to pull one of her dogs and substitute Bergman instead, and she did. This was our start in showing dogs and the first meeting with the lady who was to become our closest friend in the dog game for over twenty-eight years. My wife and I were always proud of the fact that she always introduced us to new friends as her children.
She founded the Dachshund Club of California along with her husband Mike and daughter Alverna in 1931 and held every office in the club in the years that followed.
She also founded The American Dachshund magazine in September of 1939 which is today the finest breed magazine in the United States. As its chief editor she did not miss a single monthly issue in 20 years, at times reaching in her pockets to pay the bills and keep it going.
She wrote three books on our breed, printed by the Judy Publishing Co. of Chicago, all of which had many reprints because of their popularity.
She held a license for years to judge our breed - as well as hounds and has judged most of the best shows in the country. In recent years she also judged all toys and many varieties of the non-sporting group. She was made Dogdom's Woman of the Year in 1953 by the Gaines Research Center.
Her Champion Kensal Call Boy whom she imported from England, was the first dachshund in America to win the coveted "Best Dog in Show" award. Judge Frank Simmons made the award at the San Bernardino Show in 1931.
Along about 1936 she was presented with the registered kennel name of Teckelheim by a friend of hers in the east, Mrs. Emil Fuchs, if my memory serves me correctly. I believe it is the oldest registered dachshund kennel name in America.
Grayce, as Show Secretary, and her husband Mike ran the Ventura Kennel Club for about 25 years.
I firmly believe that Grayce Greenburg, through her unselfish work for the breed, should be given the credit more than any single person in America for our breed becoming one of the most popular breeds in America. The A.K.C. registered 373 dachshunds in 1931 and the staggering total of 40,100 in 1959.
Grayce's every thought throughout the years was for the good of dachsies, their owners, the Dachshund Club of California and its magazine, the American Dachshund.
She was the most unselfish person as to the above ideals I have ever known in the twenty-eight years of our acquaintanceship. She was looked up to as the "First Lady" in Dachshunds by all who knew her or of her.
As I sit here and think about all the people that i have seen and met during the last quarter of a century in the dog game, I find myself with many pleasant memories of the real fine people we came in contact with.
Then on the other hand I can't help think of so many people in our breed who cared nothing for the breed, were only interested in satisfying their own ego, winning at shows, making money, took everything out of the breed and gave nothing. Thank goodness, these kind never last too long.
When I think of Grayce Greenburg and what she stood for in our breed I can easily forget most of the rest.
If there is a special Valhalla in heaven for dog people who have given all of themselves in time and love toward our dachshunds, Grayce will be sitting in the Queen's chair.
I know Mike Greenburg must get some consolation from the fact that his wife of 58 years was regarded as the "First Lady" in Dachshunds by all who knew her.
A person like Grayce Greenburg comes along once in a lifetime and I am so glad I was fortunate enough to have known her during mine.

Hundreds Show Up in Parkersburg, WV, to See Rescued Dogs

This was the scene on Saturday morning when hundreds of dog lovers showed up at The Humane Society of Parkersburg to look at adopting one of the 1,000 dogs (mostly dachshunds) rescued from Whispering Oaks Kennel a week ago. Excerpt from the News and Sentinel: Most of the dogs have been scattered around the country, in adoption centers as far away as Utah. A total of 65 remain in Parkersburg for adoption, according to Maryann Hollis, executive director of the HSOP.
"We kept the ones that can go into homes right now," she said. Read all about it at the News and Sentinel.

Related: Whispering Oaks Kennel Puppy Mill Bust

Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit by Paul Greenwood

Did someone say Woof? Dachshunds are a recurring motif in artist Paul Greenwood's work, inluding posing in security jackets (The Bouncers), or interacting with humans (Man & Girl In Room With Blue Dog, Forbidden Fruit, above). He's got a show through September 12th at Bath Fine Art in Bath, UK. Find out more at Metro.co.uk, or visit Bath Fine Art to see more of his work.

Freddie Wins 'Pets On Parade' Competition

Meet handsome 14-month-old black and tan silver dapple longhair 'Freddie' and his human Heather Taylor, who hail from Worle, UK. Freddie won the local paper's Pets On Parade competition after a public vote from readers. Way to go Freddie! Excerpt from the Weston Mercury: A dog owner has pledged to 'cherish every moment' with her terminally ill companion after it won the Mercury's Pets on Parade competition. The pedigree hound has a terminal heart condition, which could cause him to drop dead at any moment. Heather, aged 58, said: "He's such a great pet and we love him very much. It's awful that he has this illness, but we cherish every moment with him." Read all about it at the Weston Mercury.

Frankie, the Walk ‘N Roll Dog to Help West Virginia Dachshunds

Frankie, the Walk ‘N Roll Dog and her mom, Barbara Techel will be donating a percent of book sales for the month of September to Dachshund Rescue of North America. DRNA has taken in 138 dachshunds from nearly 1,000 dogs (mostly dachshunds) rescued from West Virginia’s largest puppy mill bust in history.
A story from The Washington Post wrote, “Frankie's eyes drooped with fatigue. With grimy fur and nails a half-inch long, he wobbled on his paws after apparently spending most of his life in a wire cage in a West Virginia puppy mill.” Barbara said, “My heart is so heavy with sorrow when I read about Frankie and what he has had to endure. My Frankie and I just have to reach out to try and help.”
Frankie, the Walk ‘N Roll Dog teaches compassion and overcoming challenges through her story and compassion is what all these dogs need now more than anything…. And our help, whether through donations, adoption or helping with transports. If you know of anyone looking for a gift for their children or grandchildren, for birthdays or the holidays, Frankie’s book is one of the best life lessons you can teach your little ones. At the same time you will be instilling in them what compassion is all about by having a portion of your book sale donated to the dachshunds that desperately need our help right now.
To purchase a copy of Frankie, the Walk ‘N Roll Dog, or find out more, please visit www.joyfulpaws.com. Together, furry friends and humans can make a loving, compassionate difference.

Hard Working Dachshunds: It's Labor Day, Relax!

Whether you have a job as a hunter, therapy dog, squirrel watcher, wiener racer, agility or flyball dog, circus dog performer, tracker, protector, drug sniffer, or bed-warmer, this is the day for all the hard-working dachshunds to kick back and relax. Go on a vacation. Go outside and graze on some grass. Go for a walk in the park. Sit on the couch. Enjoy. It's Labor Day.

Above, Jolanta Jeanneney and her husband John play with two of their wire-haired dachshunds, 'Billy' and 'Elli' at their Berne, New York, home August 26. The Jeanneneys specialize in training dogs for tracking wounded deer and bears. Excerpt from the Daily Gazette: What Jeanneney and the more than 150 state-licensed trackers do is actually humane. When hunters wound deer or bear and cannot find them, they can turn to the volunteer trackers who stand ready to drive considerable distances to begin a search.
The trackers and their trained dogs are usually successful. Since Jeanneney began pioneering the service in the mid-1970s as a permitted trial program watched over by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, he and his German wirehaired dachshunds have found 232 deer and three bear. Once on Long Island, he tracked a deer for nine miles.
Read all about it at the Daily Gazette.



Related: The Working Dachshund