Call of the Dachshund June 16, 2010

Every time I see an ad for a dachshund that needs a new home, there’s a little tug at my heart. It’s the “oh that dog is so cute and he needs me” tug. But then reason sets in and I back away.

Reasons we aren’t getting another dog:

• Lifestyle. We like to travel locally around neighboring states and areas. Jasmine has been welcome in many hotels and motels, but two dachshunds…that might be more difficult to manage. And Jasmine is a tremendously calm and easy traveler. Dachshund X? He/she could be barky, destructive, etc. Having Jasmine visit friends with us has been fine. Two dogs…we would be staying in hotels or kenneling the dogs when we go on visits. Not good.
• Jasmine. We don’t know how she’ll do…okay…the truth…I don’t know how I’ll do splitting my time and attention between two dogs. She’s been the apple of my eye for three years now. How will a second dachshund change her? She’s making great progress right now. Will it set her back? Make her withdraw? Make her more or less social? Unknown.
• Cost. One dog is a bit of work and the health issues have been costly with Jasmine. What will a new dog bring?
• Work. Jasmine is a gem. She’s so easy. A new dog with new issues? Oh boy. We KNOW we have it easy with Jasmine. She’s NEVER chewed anything that wasn’t hers. She has never had huge daily separation anxiety issues. She’s quiet. She’s the perfect energy level for me (couch potato). She’s house trained.

I know other people have added second dogs with no issues. Am I being silly thinking that my “bond” with Jasmine will not be as strong and I will be somehow taking something away from her/us if I add a second dog?

A New(er) Dog June 7, 2010

Since our return from our cruise, Jasmine has been different. Different, as in good different.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had our friends from Maine over for a visit. We sat around on the deck, ate and drank and just relaxed. Both our friends are dog people, and they were bound and determined to have Jasmine come up and take a treat. We broke out one of her favorites–Wagathas organic Cranberry and Cheddar biscuits. Our friends broke off little bits and pieces of biscuit and calmly and carefully dropped their hands to Jasmine-level (um, that’s about 4 inches off the ground to you and me) and waited oh so patiently for her to come and take them.

The first biscuit is always the hardest. She stretched her little body to its limits and eased her head oh-so-slowly towards that delicious morsel. Craning her neck to lengths even I couldn’t imagine, she reaaaaaaached oh so slowly and cautiously and then jumped back. When the treat didn’t move (martinis make you calm, apparently), Jasmine stretched again and gingerly snapped up the treat and ran at the same time.

Another treat magically appeared. In this second attempt, she didn’t jump back so much and took just a little less time to take the treat. A few (!) biscuits later, she was eagerly awaiting the next morsel. This was a huge step forward for Jasmine. Taking treats from strangers–especially men–has been difficult for her especially when she isn’t sitting in my lap. This time, she was on her own (I was close by, but she wasn’t accepting a treat from the safety of my lap). I was so very proud of her.

Last weekend, we were over visiting the grandkids and our daughter-in-law handed Jasmine a peanut. She eagerly gobbled it up. I was so happy to see her trusting just a little bit and being much less scared of everything. In fact, we were at one of the grandkids’ pee-wee baseball game and Jasmine was curiously watching some kids kicking around a ball. Curiously. Not frightened, not shaking, just curious.

Perhaps a week without us made her appreciate us more. Whatever transpired, we have a little more outgoing dog on our hands. I’m so grateful.

5:30 A.M. June 4, 2010

That’s Jasmine’s new wake-up time.

My alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. during the week. But I guess with the longer and lighter days, Jasmine believes that this is too late. She’s up at 5:30, complete with full-body shakes and ear flaps and attention-getting hand nudges.

I try to calm her down and get her back to sleep. She comes over, spins around a couple of times, and plops next to me in a fit of exhaustion. Those full body shakes and nose-to-hand nudges are really energy-sapping, I guess. Of course, she promptly falls into a deep, snore-bound sleep.

Right before the 6:00 a.m. alarm goes off.

Grrrrr.