Miniature Dachshunds | Chloe | Odie | Molly

Molly Looking Very Pretty

Originally uploaded by chloeodiemolly

This is one of my favorite pictures I took this year of Molly. She’s such a beautiful Dachshund. I just love to hug and kiss her all the time.

Dachshund Rescue Education and Mentoring (DREAM) needs your help. One of the biggest challenges they have today is to place 18 Dachshunds from a retiring breeder in a good home and family.

We would like to help, but we already have three cute Doxies and my wife would just kill me if I got another. But if you’re in the Atlanta area, please contact DREAM.

The Dachshund is a beautiful dog. The short, smooth clean lines and elongated shape is a characteristic that uniquely sets the breed apart from other dogs. You can quickly tell and identify, without question, that a dog is a “wiener dog.”

When Evelyn Morris Hecht approached me with the idea of using Odie as a model for her next Dachshund drawing, what proud parent could refuse?

According to Evelyn, she “would love to show off the fabulous Doxie schnozz at more of an angle as well as great emotion in the eyes.” With Odie’s big schnozz and expressive emotional face, he would made a great model for her drawing.

As you can see for yourself, Evelyn captured the very likeness of Odie and the unique characteristics of the short-haired Miniature Dachshund.

I simply love her drawings and I’m sure that you will too! To see more of Evelyn Morris Hecht’s works of art, please visit her site: Top Dog Art.

Last week our house was painted by Eric Ortlieb, an excellent Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village Painter. His team of painters were in and out of the Doxie’s backyard causing the Dachshunds, especially Odie, to start barking.

Normally, I leave the curtains open, so the three can look outside while we’re working. But with the constant barking, I had to leave the curtains closed.

Since it was impossible to let them out during the day, they we’re pretty much couped up all day long. If I was able to get home during lunchtime, they were able to go for a walk and do their business.

So it was a stressful week for the dogs. But as Eric said, he would keep the paint off the dogs. Now our house looks great, the Doxies are clean, an can now go out and play outside.

I really need to get a video recorder with better resolution for you to appreciate how funny these Dachshunds are when we’re playing ball. I’ll toss the ball for Chloe and Odie will get to the ball first since he’s the fastest. Next Molly runs up to him and grabs a hold of the ball. Then Odie and Molly return the ball in a tug-a-war style running back towards me. See for yourself:

Yesterday was time to give the Three Dachshunds a bath. We used to send them out to the groomer at PetSmart, but since Odie ruptured his disk, I’ve been giving them baths.

Since I’m a perpetual clogged-up-sinus guy, it usually starts with my wife Ann saying “Molly stinks!” Even then I push it out to the weekend or several weeks later until I start noticing the problem.

The best shampoo that works for our long-haired Dachshunds is Hartz Groomer’s Best 3 in 1 Conditioning Shampoo Tropical Fruit Fragrance. It leaves their hair clean and silky smooth. It’s kinda hard to find but you can pick up a bottle at Walgreens, CVS or your local supermarket. It’s got a picture of a Red long-haired Dachshund on the bottle.

Odie is the first to go into the bath. With his short hair, he’s the easiest to clean and air drys in about 20 minutes. Molly goes in next followed by Chloe. In both cases, Odie had to help wash the girls wanting to hop back into the water with them.

The two girls always take several hours to dry since the absolutely hate the blow dryer. Just a simple towel dry and let them run around damp. When they get somewhat dry, it’s time comb out any tangles.

One reader recently asked asked “How big do Doxens Get?”

Miniature Dachshunds are smaller than the standard Dachshund and typically do not exceed 11 lbs. Standard Dachshunds weigh in at at hefty 20 lbs all the way up to 32 lbs.

There are also Tweeny Dachshunds which are between the mini and standard breed. I really believe that these dogs are just overweight minis.

Our three Dachshunds are minis. Both Molly and Chloe are the same physical size, and both overweight at 15 and 12 lbs. They’re about 18 inches long and about 8 inches tall.

Odie weighs in at 14 lbs and is the same height as the girls, but is about 2 inches longer.

In this video, Odie demonstrates his canny ability to “go around” objects. He’ll do it on command or by just waving my hand at the object to go around.

This is one of the training steps they teach you at PetSmart if your enroll in the Advanced Training Class. Besides being a very cool that trick you can teach your dog, it comes in handy if you use a long leash and your Dachshund gets wrapped around a tree. Just say “go around” and your dog will “unwind” itself from the tree.

You too can train your Dachshund this trick in five simple steps.

1. Place a chair or stool in the middle of the room.
2. Leash your Dachshund and stand next to the chair.
3. Cue your dog saying “go around” and lead your dog around the chair while you are standing in a fixed position. Reward and praise your Dacshund. Initially you may have to hold a treat in front of their nose to get them moving around the chair.
4. Repeat step 3 until they can do it without your leading.
5. Remove leash and repeat.

Training consists of no more than one 15 minute session per day and takes 1 to 2 weeks to learn.

We’ve had mixed results using housebreaking pads for Dachshunds. They worked very well for Chloe, but Odie and Molly thought the pads were toys and promptly chewed them up.

The best thing to do is to tape the pads down with masking tape. This helps prevent your Dacshund from playing with the pads.

The best masking tape is the “blue painter’s” masking tape that you can buy at Home Depot or some other hardware/paint store.

The two-inch wide painter’s tape holds securely holds down the pad. With Chloe, all we needed to do was tape down the corners. With the other two, we had to tape down all four sides of the pad.

Once your Dachshund figures out that it should pee on the pad, you start moving the pad closer to the door so that it knows to go to the door to pee outside.

Eventually your dog (and you) will associate going to the door as an act of asking to go “poddy.” Usually the hardest part is you watching for the dog to ask to go out.

It is sad day for Dachshund Owners around the world. Suzanne Pleshette, died today at the age of 70. She battled lung cancer and died of respiratory failure at her home on Saturday.

Ms. Pleshette, who stared in many movies and sitcoms, perhaps popularized the Dachshund in the late sixties when she stared as Fran Garrison in Disney’s The Ugly Dachshund. Fran, a proud owner of several dachshunds, notably her prize winning Chloe.

Her husband Mark Garrision, played by Dean Jones, decided he needed a manly dog and buys a Great Dane, “Brutus,” which thinks it is a Dachshund.

The Ugly Dachshund undoubtedly started our collection of Dachshunds, Chloe, Odie and Molly. Chloe, of course, is named after the Dachshund in the movie. Odie’s original name was “Brutus” keeping with the theme of the movie. Molly has no relationship to the movie. We just love her!

Ms. Pleshette will be missed by the Doxies.