Dachshunds on the Big Screen: "Flawed Dogs" Picked Up by DreamWorks Animation

We love it when we're on the BIG screen, we look so much larger than we really are!  Via Variety:

DreamWorks Animation will adapt picture book and novel "Flawed Dogs," by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, for the bigscreen.
Story centers around a dachshund who must reclaim his place in the family after being wrongly exiled by a jealous show dog.
Breathed, who will exec produce the project, is best known for creating "Bloom County," the 1980s comicstrip featuring Opus the Penguin.
DreamWorks Animation head of development Alex Schwartz and development exec Damon Ross will oversee the project.
"All my stories are sparked by a nugget of truth hiding in plain sight," Berkeley said in a statement. "In this case, it's that all animals dream… but only dogs dream of us."

We'll keep you updated on the film's progress.  Other Dachshund films in the works include "Lonely Dog":  Warner Bros. Acquires Screen Rights to 'The Lonely Dog' - Get Ready for an Epic Dachshund Movie and "Wiener Dog Nationals, The Movie," which has been renamed "One Lucky Dog" and again renamed to Wiener Dog Nationals.   



There was just a funny little video posted to promote "Wiener Dog Nationals."

Poppy & Harry Dachshund Love :)

From youtuber emmab1983: Poppy (black/tan) Kisses Harry (longhaired red) she loves to groom and love him!!!

There's nothing sweeter than watching dachshunds love each other.

Warner Bros. Acquires Screen Rights to 'The Lonely Dog' - Get Ready for an Epic Dachshund Movie

What on earth is 'The Lonely Dog?' It's a bit complicated, but here's an excerpt from the East & Bays Courier which explains it pretty well:

Alveridgea and the Legend of the Lonely Dog started life as sketches and paintings by New Zealand landscape artist Ivan Clarke to accompany the stories he told his kids about the family’s pet dachshund.
As the Lonely Dog concept grew Mr Clarke added partners Graham Burt and Garry Phipps, both publicists from St Heliers, to the pot and with author Stu Duval’s help, they crafted a fully realised fantasy world.
It was launched as a book which catapulted into the imaginations of people in just the right place and time.
The founder of five-time Oscar winner Weta Workshop Richard Taylor created a range of bronze sculptures to complement Mr Clarke’s works, followed closely by the collector’s books, the Almalogue.
Only 95 numbered and signed copies of this hand-crafted book have been made, with 70 released for sale. All have sold, the last sales reaching an incredible $60,000 a piece.
Now Warner Bros has acquired the screen rights to Ivan Clarke’s dog’s tale and in the coming months Hollywood legend Akiva Goldsman will breathe life to this up and coming legend.
Mr Goldsman will produce the movie through his Warner Brothers-based Weed Road banner.
It is being touted as "the next big thing" to come from New Zealand roots and is already being compared to fantasy greats like Lord of the Rings.

Read more at the East & Bays Courier.

If you've never done so, we highly recommend checking out The Lonely Dog website. This won't be the last you'll hear of The Lonely Dog; the Day of the Dachshund is coming.

Dachshunds in History: President Nixon

OK, so this isn't actually President Nixon, but rather a scene with Frank Langella, who plays Nixon in the new film Frost/Nixon, released today in the US. The story goes: It's 1977, and disgraced former president Richard Nixon, played mesmerizingly by Frank Langella, has lost his public swagger. He emerges from the final bout in a series of interviews with British talk-show host David Frost looking beaten down and bewildered.
A crowd gathers as he heads for his limousine. Nixon walks up to a woman holding a dachshund and pets the dog, tapping it gingerly, then tugging clumsily on its ear. With this wordless gesture, he conveys a palpable sense of defeat and social awkwardness. Read more at USA TODAY.

Also from LA.COM: Following his last interview with David Frost, Nixon is seen leaving the suburban home where the conversations were taped. Shaken and emotionally vulnerable, he tentatively approaches a woman holding a small dog.
"Is that what they call a dachshund?" Nixon asks the woman in a characteristically awkward moment of public interaction.
Nixon then pats the dog and walks to his waiting car.
"Everybody mentions that moment with the dachshund," says Frank Langella, who plays Nixon in the movie. "It's just 35 seconds, but that's the power of film. There must be something in all of us that responds to that need for some form of contact with another living creature after feeling failure." Read more, including director Ron Howard's take on the scene at LA.COM.

Slightly Related: Dachshunds in the White House

Open Season 2

Hey animation fans, you can catch the adventures of 'Mr. Weenie' in Open Season 2 for free over at filmikz.net. Just watch out for an adult-oriented pop-up that we encountered if you're watching with the kids. It's a little over an hour in length, and will be released on DVD in the US in January, 2009.

Plot Details: Boog and Elliot are back for more crazy adventures. Mr. Weenie is lured out of the woods by dog biscuits placed in the wild by his owner who is still looking for him, a year after he disappeared. However Mr. Weenie is kidnapped by a group of pampered pets, determined to return him to his owners. Boog and Elliot and their friends launch a full-scale rescue mission and soon find themselves in enemy territory: the world of the pets. Led by a toy poodle named Fifi, the pets do not plan to let Mr. Weenie go without a fight.

Related: Dachshunds in Pop Culture: Mr. Weenie

Wiener Takes All: DVD Release!

Finally! If you haven't seen this film on the film festival circuit, and even if you have, now is your chance to own your own copy! Wiener Takes All will be released at the end of September, and you can pre-order your copy now. It's anticipated that the first run of 1,000 DVDs will sell out quickly, so get your order in. There's talk that the film will be making an appearance at film festivals in 10 more cities soon, and that could be your last chance to see it on the big screen. There's even a rumor that the film might make it on to a television network, but don't tell anybody we told you that! Check out Wiener Takes All to keep informed about the additional screenings.

Related coverage, reviews, trailer: Wiener Takes All

The Dachshund Purse Revolution

We know the ladies like the purses and the shoes. 2008 is THE YEAR for dachshund purses, and the styles keep rolling in. Beverly Hills designer Timmy Woods specializes in handcrafted wooden purses in shapes like horse heads, dice, and of course, dachshunds. Carrie Bradshaw can be seen carrying a Timmy Woods Eiffel Tower purse on the big screen in the new Sex and the City movie. (We heard that there's an appearance by a real live dachshund in the movie to boot!)
The designer carves her purses from fallen acacia trees and for each one that she uses, two more are planted. Above, "Debbie Doxie" can be yours for $438.

"Danny Doxie" is $275.

Upcoming "Wiener Takes All" Screenings

The excellent dachumentary Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary continues its run in the film festival circuit, and will be screened at these upcoming festivals. Don't miss it, festival tickets sell out fast:

Lake County Film Festival Saturday, March 1st @ 2:30 pmSunday, March 2nd @ 3:40 pm Lake County, Illinois
Garden State Film Festival April 4th-6th @ TBD Asbury Park, New Jersey
Los Angeles United Film Festival Saturday, April 19 @ 4:25 pm Fine Arts Theatre 8556 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, California

Related coverage, reviews, movie trailer: Wiener Takes All

Official Wiener Takes All Website

Dachshunds in Pop Culture: "Head Trip" The Movie

Huh? A few years ago, San Francisco's iconic Doggie Diner dachshund heads made a journey across the country on a flatbed trailer, towed by a bus full of more San Francisco characters. Making its World Premiere today in Alameda, California, the documentary Head Trip, a film by John Law and Flecher Fleudujon, chronicles that cross-country trek. Congrats to the filmmakers on their World Premiere!
The journey takes the group deep into America - into a run-in with Homeland Security in Arizona, adventures at Graceland, and into New York - where kids chased the Doggie Diner Heads through Brooklyn.
Read all about the history of the Doggie Diner dachshund heads and find out more about the dachumentary at DoggieDiner.com. Read about the cross-country trek at SFweekly.



Enjoy the trailer for the film.

See about a thousand pics of the doggie diner heads at flickr. Pop Culture at its finest.

Photo: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

Joey Has A Dream

Joey

"I Have a Dream" is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites among others would coexist harmoniously as equals.
Today, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, Joey is reminded of this dream, and his desire as a piebald dachshund to be accepted as a breed standard by the American Kennel Club. Joey wants to know: What's not right about white?
By no means is this slightly tongue-in-cheek post intended to, in any way, belittle the struggle that African Americans have dealt with in this country. But certainly, some parallels can be drawn upon in the simplest concepts of 'black' and 'white.' Dachshunds are probably the most diverse breed of dogs, and the AKC accepts all combinations of sizes, colors, patterns, and coat types except white.
According to archaeologist, historian, and dachshund lover Iris Love, the piebald dachshund may very well be the progenitor of the dachshund that we know and love today. The piebald dachshund can clearly be seen in photographs and images spanning over the last 100 years, and very possibly, according to Mrs. Love, the ancient Egyptian times.
And talk about a controversial topic. We're reminded of a breeder's response about white on dachshunds in the film Wiener Takes All: "Ask me next year" is all he said. When the filmmaker returned a year later to ask him again, his reply was again "Ask me next year." Clearly, this topic has divided the dachshund community.

Joey says: "It's time to come together."

Find out more about the piebald's struggle at Save the Piebalds.

Related: The Piebald Dachshund Controversy

Related: Iris Love Talks About Piebalds in Wiener Takes All

Related: Joey Talks About His Piebald People

Enjoy your MLK day, and find out more about Martin Luther King, Jr. at wikipedia.

'The Ugly Dachshund' Actress Suzanne Pleshette Dies at 70

Suzanne Pleshette in The Ugly Dachshund

Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 - January 19, 2008) was an American actress, primarily known in character-type roles. The naturally brunette-headed Pleshette was best known for her role as Bob Newhart's wife, Emily Hartley, on The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s.
Our favorite movies of hers included Hitchcock's The Birds, and of course, The Ugly Dachshund. We'll miss you Suzanne.

Related: Dachshunds in Pop Culture: Walt Disney's The Ugly Dachshund.



Enjoy this fun clip from The Ugly Dachshund.

'Wiener Takes All' Limited Festival Edition Now Available

Wiener Takes All is a huge hit in the film festival circuit, and there is a limited 'festival edition' of the film now available while they last. Can't wait for the official release? Get it here.

Read the Reviews!

Related: Wiener Takes All: Finally!

Dachshunds in Pop Culture: Walt Disney's 'The Ugly Dachshund'

Based off of a 1938 novel by G.B. Stern, this classic 1966 Walt Disney movie was directed by Norman Tokar and starred Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette. While it didn't win any awards, and lacks the punch of Disney's other classic dog-related movies such as the heart-wrenching drama 'Old Yeller,' this light-hearted timeless comedy continues to entertain kids of all ages. It does a great job of documenting 1960's suburban glamour; the house they live in is amazing. All in all, it's great fun, and if you don't have the movie in your collection, you should! Watch it again today, and enjoy some simple laughs and crazy dachshund hyjinx. It's probably the biggest production of a dachshund-related movie we'll ever see. Read a complete review at Ultimate Disney.

Enjoy this fun trailer:

Suzanne Pleshette

Wiener Takes All: Finally!

(click to enlarge)

It seems like this dachumentary has been in production for an eternity, but patient dachshund lovers can finally see the World Premier of the film tomorrow at noon at Park Lane Cinemas in Halifax as part of the Atlantic Film Festival. The US Premier follows in a week at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, and then heads to BendFilm, in Bend, Ore. Hopefully the film will get picked up by a distributer, get released, and we can all see it soon! Excerpt from the Chronicle Herald: They may have seven-centimetre legs, but they go like lightning in pursuit of their favourite chew toy, running at up to nine metres per second.
And when denied their spot in the Wiener’s Circle, the competitors in the Wiener National Championships can fall to pieces.
"When Hailey lost, she was so depressed she went limp, her whole demeanour changed," says Shane MacDougall, who chronicled the journey of six racing dachshunds duking it out to be top dog in Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary.
The movie, the first for the Prince Edward Island-born and -raised MacDougall, has its world premiere Sunday at noon at Park Lane Cinemas in Halifax as part of the Atlantic Film Festival.
The following week the hour-and-a-half documentary whose tag line boasts it is "a year in the life of the fastest and furriest," makes its U.S. premiere at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival and then heads to BendFilm, dubbed the new Telluride, in Bend, Ore.
Wiener Takes All is a compelling tale of underdogs and egos, of a world rife with infighting and "racism" where some of the athletes come complete with entourages and racing silks bearing monikers like Pretzel, the Brown Bullet and a controversy that San Diego sports reporter Troy Hirsch said was the biggest he could recall in his community.
In Wiener Takes All, the characters in the fictional Best In Show mockumentary become real. One industry veteran says people will spend up to $100,000 a year to get their pooch to the top of the competitive dog show circuit. The winner of the national championship gets a parade, and there’s even a "muttrimonial" performed by a licensed minister, complete with a dog bone-decorated multi-tiered cake, tuxedo and veils.
But mostly, says MacDougall, who lives in San Diego with his wife and four cats, Wiener Takes All is about the heart of the darling dachsies. Read the rest.
For more info, here's the official Wiener Takes All website.

Enjoy this preview!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Dachshunds in Pop Culture: Mr. Weenie

Meet 'Mr. Weenie!' Mr. Weenie, a black and tan smooth dachshund, was a character in the 2006 Sony Pictures animated film 'Open Season.' If Mr. Weenie doesn't look so happy, that's because he's just found out that he's going to be the star in the sequel 'Open Season 2,' but it's going to go directly to DVD.
Excerpt from The Animation Blog: Sony Pictures Animation has confirmed that it’s making a direct-to-DVD Open Season sequel which will hit store shelves in 2009. The original film took in $190 million worldwide and performed well on DVD so a sequel isn’t much a surprise. What is a surprise is the decision to go straight to DVD which hopefully doesn’t mean the production value will suffer.
The new movie will focus on Mr. Weenie and Giselle, both of which were characters in the original film. No word on whether or not the Elliot and Boog characters (Ashton Kutcher and Martin Lawrence) will make an appearance.
Find out more about 'Open Season' and Mr. Weenie at wikipedia.