Photographer Amanda Jones: Her Boy Benny

(click photo to enlarge)

What a beautiful dog. Meet 'Benny,' one of the Dachshunds who owns photographer Amanda Jones. Based out of North Adams, Massachussetts, Ms. Jones travels the country to photograph her clients, and also photographed the book Dachshunds Short and Long.
Thanks to our pal 'Ali' for sending in the photo from Ms. Jones' Dog of the Month Club!

Those Special Dachshunds: Meet Riley!

We love to hear why every dachshund is so special. And look at this guy in his little polo shirt! Thanks so much to his mom for sending in his story of how he has touched his humans' lives. Without any further ado, meet 'Riley!'

This is “Riley Chance Krueger” – our precocious 20 month old wirehaired dachshund. He is the light of our lives. In August of 2007 my fiancé and I were visiting an adorable pet shop in New Hampshire while on vacation and as fate would have it we adopted Riley. We weren’t even sure what type of dog he was until we asked the clerk, but he was too cute to pass up. He had such spunk. We named him Riley (Rye for short) based on the location in New Hampshire where we had been visiting. His middle name “Chance” was also purposeful as our landlord at the time forbade pets – so there was a chance we would be kicked out of our apartment. Regardless of that fact, something just felt right like it was meant to be. We had to have him. Well, not even a month after adopting Riley my fiancé’s father passed away suddenly. I swear, if it weren’t for Riley I’m not sure how my fiancé would have made it through the weeks that followed. Riley has been a great comfort and a fabulous companion. My fiancé and I believe that a higher power brought Riley and us together to get through the rough times we had ahead of us without his father. He truly is a special dog wrapped into a very small package. He is our “stick boy,” our “cave-bed boy,” our “little digger.” It always amazes us how the loving, cute, and quirky characteristics carry through each member of the breed as if there were a distinct “dachshund calling card.”

Dachshund Soap

The Wiener Cleaner: Le Dachshund Soap: You know you've wanted it forever. Go ahead.....it's on sale for $12.99 at In The Company of Dogs. Was: $24.95

Dachshund News Roundup!

Proving once again that dachshunds are both short and long, here's a dachshund news roundup on what should be a nice spring day, but instead there's 3 inches of snow on the ground! It's Monday, April 6th, 2009. Above, enjoy a great video (featuring Snoop Dogg!) from iphilms from yesterday's First Annual Dachshund Derby at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, California. A whopping 11,462 fans were in attendance, the most to show up at the racing track in over 14 years. Congrats to 'Beans' for taking the win and the $300 purse. That'll buy a lot of kibble.

Some 96 weiner dogs competed in the Dachshund Derby, which featured nine 30-yard heats. The eight winners of the qualifying heats met in the championship final, which was won by Downtown Beans. Owned by Matt Madsen of Sacramento, Downtown Beans simply blew his rivals away in the final. Source.

Meanwhile, in Merced, California, Starr Henderson, owner of Cee-Jay-Starr, helps her dog, 'Boston,' a miniature wirehair, pick out a toy on Friday morning at the Merced County Fairgrounds during a 4-day dog show sponsored by the Sierra Tuolumne Kennel Club and the Yosemite Kennel Club. Source.

And in Bay City, Michigan, Phil Paulus, a member of the MSU Alumni Club of Bay County, and his wife, Sandy Paulus, sit with their dachshunds - 'Monte,' 7, and 'Gretchen,' 2 -amongst a pile of MSU swag in the couple's Bay City garage. The pair couldn't score tickets to Saturday's Spartans basketball game, but put together their own bash with their alumni club. Source.


And finally, in Killeen, Texas, Peebles Elementary School students greeted 'Cecilia' and 'Biscuit,' two wheelchair-bound dachshunds that have received care and shelter from the Second Chance Animal Shelter in Killeen. The school is conducting a service project to provide supplies for the shelter. Way to go! Source.

Have a great Monday!

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's On Its Way

We smell rabbit.




Peter Cottontail---as sung by Gene Autry

Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity, hoppity,
Easter's on its way.

Bringin' every girl and boy Baskets full of Easter joy,
Things to make your Easter bright and gay.
He's got jelly beans for Tommy,
Colored eggs for sister Sue,
There's an orchid for your Mommy
And an Easter bonnet, too.

Oh, here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity, hoppity,
Happy Easter day.

You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev'rywhere.

Oh, here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity, hoppity,
Happy Easter day.

Dachshund Topiary

(mossed frame topiary)

Spring is right around the corner, so gardeners.....get your dachshund topiaries ready! We recently got an email from Brad Granatier at Green Piece Wire Art:

Hello Joey and Maggie,

I recently came across your blog and loved reading some of the articles. Being Dachshund lovers, I thought I might write to let you know about our Dachshunds. Probably our best selling breed of topiary, no surprise there. We sell them as frames, mossed frames (for planting), lit or as a close wire sculpture. I am attaching a couple of images for your reference.
Anyway, I didn't want this to come off as a sales pitch, although I guess it is. Just wanted to show off our work.

No worries Brad. It's OK to be proud of such nice little pieces of art! We actually just bought your dachshund topiary last fall for this year, and are excited to try it out in the coming weeks. From the comparisons we made, Green Piece Wire Art seems to offer the best topiaries available.

We got ours from an on-line store that was having a nice sale in the fall. Internet prices seem to vary widely on these, so shop smart. Look for the Green Piece brand, and support fellow Dachshund Lovers!

We're hoping to try and do a topiary like in this video, where a complete dachshund topiary is created. If it's a complete failure, the backup plan is to buy solar string lights for it.

Either way....it's dachshund art in the garden, so you can't lose. We're sure your neighbors will love it.

If any readers would like to show off a pic of their planted dachshund topiary, feel free to send it in or post a link in the comments! We'd love to see it.

(close wire sculpture)

(completed planted topiary)

(basic frame)

Dachshunds and Their Humans in the News

Thank Dog It's Friday! Here's a little roundup of humans and their best friends recently in the news. Above, Maryville College students Mary Brafford, left, and Amber Gray spend some time with smooth chocolate piebald 'Rufus,' one of the few pets living on the Tennessee campus. As a fundraiser for the Smoky Mountain Animal Care Foundation, Gray and Brafford are organizing a “Pup-a-palooza” pet fair at Maryville tomorrow, April 4th. Source.

While modeling diapers isn't nearly as glamorous as modeling a $350,000 dog collar, it must be done. Above, 'Ginger' models a dog diaper made by her human, Lisa Hunziker of Bluffton, South Carolina. Through her website, www.planetpawprints.com, she sells doggie diapers around the world. Lisa, who has two dachshunds named 'Oscar' and 'Ginger,' discusses the business of selling and making diapers at The Island Packet.

Trish Russel and Tami Nagato, both 46, checked out the Fuzzy Nation/Fuzzy Couture dachshund handbag, which is no longer made and is a collector’s piece valued at $200 at a benefit auction for Greenwich Village School in New York, New York. Source.

The descendants of George Miyagawa have kept George's Appliance operating 69 years after the Kalamazoo, Michigan store first opened in 1940. At right is George Miyagawa's son, Jim Miyagawa (holding 'Onyx,' a dachshund), his wife, Betty, and their sons, from left, David, Jim Jr. and Tom. We'd shop there just to see Onyx. Source.

And finally, meet 'Cher,' the top Long Haired Dachshund in the UK and her human Gerry McFaul. Gerry's love of dogs goes back some 25 years when a client gave him a dachshund to look after. Since then he has shown some of the world's top dachshunds. Read all about him and some of his champions at the Coleraine Times.

Diamonds Are A Dachshund's Best Friend

We're quite sure that our dachshund friends over at Born To Track News and Views are rolling their eyes at this story, but truth be told, we love diamonds. We love to be pampered, and would be more than happy to sit on a big furry bed in the sun all day, wearing diamonds and pearls, being cooed at, and being fed bon bons by our humans. Heaven knows we're worth it.
Above, handsome 'Ricky,' who hails from Rolling Hills Estates, California, knows this; he's sporting a diamond necklace from Neiman Marcus valued at up to $350,000. Finally a collar worthy for us to wear, it features 92 diamonds totaling 8.22 karats. Read all about it in a fun story at The Daily Breeze.

Stimulate the economy: shop for your dachshund.

Those Special Dachshunds: Meet Greta!

Cute little black and tan longhair 'Greta,' who hails from Woodbury, Vermont, writes:

Being a Vermont longhaired Weiner isn't easy. Especially in 10 ft snowbanks that never seem to go away... Everyday is a challenge and I just seem to be a little snow Magnet.
Hi to all my friends in Weinerville ! Greta

Florida Dachshund Mauled by Pit Bull Mix

Meet little red smooth 'Lizzie' and her human Jane Van Lengen of Tamarac, Florida. What makes this story more troubling than most of the "dachshund attacked by pit bull" stories is that Ms. Van Lengen was carrying Lizzie in her arms on Tuesday when the pit bull mix tore her away and then tore open her belly. The pit bull mix did the same thing to a pug being carried by a 9-year-old girl back in December, although that pug was not seriously injured. The pit bull mix has been surrendered to authorities. Lizzie isn't out of hot water and is still recovering.
Read more at the Sun Sentinel. Watch a troubling video at CBS4. Get well soon, Lizzie.

In an unrelated story, three dachshunds: 'Speckles,' 'Peanuts,' and 'Pupperoo,' escaped their Brooksville, Florida, home on Monday and attacked a 10-year-old girl and her two pitbulls. "One dachshund nipped (the girl's) right leg in the back right above the ankle. (The girl) stated that the pit bulls did nothing but look at the three dachshunds." Read more at ABC Action News.

Time to call the Dog Whisperer.

The Mysterious Dachshund Heads

(click image to enlarge)

This is an x-ray of one of your hosts of The Long and Short of it All, 'Joey.' He has nothing to hide! It was taken in January of 2008 when we thought he was in back pain. Turns out he had eaten too much houseplant.
The veterinarian mentioned "the dachshund heads" visible in his spine, the small dark areas which "were appropriate for Joey the dachshund!" They should be well-defined dachshund head profiles though, and aren't so great in his lumbar region, his lower back, especially where his tail begins.
Like many dachshunds, Joey and his littermate sister Maggie's use of the stairs and their jumping are as limited as possible to hopefully prevent complications of IVDD, Intervertebral Disc Disease.
For more general info on IVDD, please visit Dodgerslist. If you'd like to read more information about calcified discs specifically, and find out more about the dachshund heads, this nice article on Dodgerslist refers to them as "horseheads."

Related: More on Dachshund Health

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.

Dachshund Quilt

There's one thing we know for certain: dachshund lovers are crafty. They LOVE to sew, knit, and quilt! This nice wall hanging quilt was spotted at the recent Super Pet Expo in Chantilly, VA.
It's available in 1, 2, 3, or 6-dog displays, and custom work is available if you want to design your own. This quilt is 17.5" x 18" and will cost you $43. Find out more at Doodlebug Quilts. Thanks to our friend April S. for sending in the story!

The Stories This Piebald Could Tell

Meet one of the 67 dogs found living in filthy, stacked bird cages in the West Englewood neighborhood in Chicago on Tuesday, March 24, 2009. We're sure that this little black and tan piebald got adopted from Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society over the weekend. Source. Thanks to our pal 'Clancy' for sending in the link!

Related: Puppy Mill In Our Own Back Yard

Typical Dachshund Heads

(click image to enlarge and read)

The slope of the skull line to the bridge of the nose and the insertion of the cartilage should be ideally so flat that a ruler might be laid on it, and from the insertion of the nasal cartilage there should be ideally a short slope downwards producing a Roman nose (so-called Ramsnase). There should be no furrow on the bridge of the nose or on the skull. The skull should only be only slightly arched, that is, it should be a so-called flat skull, with the occipital bone somewhat prominent. The lips should not be too heavy, since they would offer an easy target for the enemy.

Huh? This great old image is from The Dachshund or Teckel by Herbert Sanborn, 1937. Click on the image to read which heads were true to the breed standard at the time.

Texas Woman Badly Injured After Refusing to Leave Dachshund in Burning Apartment

Meet red smooth 'Minnie,' and her human's daughter, Charisse Harris, who hail from Houston Texas. Minnie's human was cooking on Saturday when the fire started inside her apartment; the landlord came to get her out, and she refused to leave without her dachshund. She was unconscious when the firefighters carried her out. Minnie found her own way out and was not injured.

“I’m not surprised that she would do something like that because I know how she feels about this dog and she will risk her own life for this dog,” said a tearful Charisse Harris, the victim's daughter. "She treats the dog like a person. It's like her other daughter."

Read the rest and see a video at KHOU.com. We're hoping Mrs. Harris has a quick recovery.

The Doxie Pillow Sandwich

How to Make a Doxie Pillow Sandwich in 3 Easy Steps, by the incomparable Flying Dachshunds Films.

Dachshunds Attack Macaulay Culkin

by Near Modern Disaster

The Trials and Tribulations of Being a Small Dog in a BIG WORLD

Just look at the sweet face on 12.5-year-old red smooth Jake as he finds comfort in his human's arms. Jake was attacked by a bull mastiff and a rottweiler last week when he went outside for a walk with his human, Terri Kuske, of Lebanon, Oregon. Although she checked for her neighbors' large dogs before she took him out, they surprised her and Jake, resulting in the mastiff at his throat, and the rottweiler at his belly. She laid down on top of her boy, who was bleeding profusely, to stop the attack.

Jake spent just one night at the Animal Hospital before being released to Kuske’s care. He had six puncture wounds, a punctured lung and hernias and was traumatized.
Kuske got one puncture wound that went all the way through one finger and into another as well as scrapes on other fingers. She was treated at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital.

Read the troubling story at The Lebanon Express.

Footlong

Oh my goodness, we laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed at this one! "Footlong"- An original music video by Jeremiah Watkins: This is an original music video about the coolest dog in the world, Footlong. I composed the song and wrote the lyrics. Here are the lyrics...

So I got this little dog, his name is Footlong.
Some call him a dachshund, I call him a wiener dog.
You better not go near him when he eats his food,
If you wanna keep your fingers, stay away from this dude.
He's a vicious little puppy, He'll bite your face off.
Like that Nicholas Cage movie except way more tough.
Beware of the dog is not just an expression,
An even more serious thing than the Great Depression.

O Footlong! How do you do the things you do?
You're such a cool dog, and a boy's dream come true.
I remember that one day, when I was just walkin' by.
Then you got angry, and tried to bite out my eye.

Yeah he's a true little thug, a true little "G."
When he gets that peanut butter, he's so happy.
Yo he's my footlong, not some 5 dollar footlong,
They don't sell him at Subway, that would just be wrong.
Footlong's my sidekick, Footlong's my pal.
He even helps me when it comes to the gals.
We like to drink that O.J. called Tropicana,
My footlong wiener dog wears a bandana.

O Footlong! How do you do the things you do?
You're such a cool dog, and a boy's dream come true.
When you play with your bear, it really scares me,
I hope that you calm down soon, and become merry.

I've got a footlong wiener, dog.
A footlong wiener, dog.
Don't touch my footlong wiener, dog.
I've got a footlong wiener dog.
"Actually, He's more like 18 inches."
I've got a foot and a half long wiener dog.