Dog Blog

In August 2011, I blogged  And Then There Were Two. It was about the arrival of our new puppy Jake and how I thought it would be a good idea to get our other mini-dachshund, Lily, a friend. I thought it would make our lives easier by providing Lily with a playmate. Not sure why I thought she needed a playmate...if I'd asked her, she would have said no thanks.

Lily and Jake became great friends but there was an uneasiness in Jake. He was nervous, edgy, didn’t like to have his tummy rubbed, couldn’t stand anything around his neck. He backed away when I tried to pick him up. He didn’t trust me.

I took him to puppy class and he wouldn’t leave my side. During play time he hung out with the people and didn't want anything to do with the other dogs. The trainer said he seemed a little lost – she said I needed to find him a job. I could barely get this guy to walk on a leash let alone do anything that required training so we put up with his strangeness. He grew into a lovely, gentle, aloof guy with a collection of doggie neurosis that would choke a Great Dane. And then it got weirder.

In April, 2012, I found another dachshund puppy we called Clancy. Note I am not saying mini-dachshund anymore as both Jake and Clancy left that lofty group behind about six pounds ago and only Princess Lily remains below the 11 pound designation.  Clancy arrived as a result of “oh please, please, please, I’ve always wanted a wire-haired one and three won’t be any more trouble than two, oh please, please, please.” And so he joined our strange little group of four-legged buddies.

When we brought Clancy home, Lily rolled her eyes and went to sleep on the couch. She scowled at me a lot and if the pup peed on the floor, she turned her back in disgust. She had no mothering instinct whatsoever. Take him back where you got him, she seemed to say.

Jake, however, had found his calling. He was a natural mother. He followed the pup everywhere, cleaned his face, cleaned his ears, cleaned…well…everything. He let Clancy play with his toys and he backed away from the food dish and let Clancy eat first. He slept with him and he wouldn’t go outside, or come inside, without him. When the pup came for a cuddle, Jake was there too, making sure we were treating his baby right.

This new Jake was a little disconcerting at first but with a new purpose in his life he calmed right down. He had become a dog with a job and he took it seriously.  The flighty, nervous, squirmy dog we knew had transformed almost overnight, into a responsible canine citizen. And now that Clancy has grown up and is slightly heavier than his mother/brother, he gets a little grouchy when Jake pins him down and licks his ears, but for the most part, they are great buddies.

Jake is happy, cooperative, affectionate and confident. He now likes to have his tummy rubbed and his ears scratched,  and he has taken on a second job – when he isn’t being a mother, he’s a people walker.