The pleasant ride down Olsen Road, left onto Moorpark and through windy Norwegian Grade to get some fresh country air.  (I know MJB is wondering how I safely navigate the Grade with a dog on my lap with its head out the window.  Let’s just say it takes a lot of practice and slow driving.)  You never would expect that an accident would occur in the peaceful suburbs of Thousand Oaks.

Chloe, our “riding dog,” truly is accustomed to and an expert at sitting on your left leg while taking in the 40 MPH breeze with her dog goggles on.  The countless rides she enjoyed to her favorite Fast Food — always friendly to the Mc Donald’s cashier — may have to end because she just won’t ride buckled up.

We have a dog seat belt harness — somewhere — purchase because Odie was constantly jumping back and forth from the passenger seat to my lap when he was going to his weekly obedience training at PetSmart.  Somehow he would manage to wiggle out of it by the time we were speeding along on the freeway making it impossible to readjust the belt before hopping onto me.

Odie is somewhat better now that he’s more obedient, but he still hates riding in the passenger seat.  Molly simply likes to ride in the back seat running back and forth from window to window barking at every stranger.  These two Dachshunds are not riding dogs.

But all you have to say is “are you a riding dog?” and she gets more excited than, well, you know what.   I know that a seat belt may save her life someday, but I don’t think she will understand why.

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It’s was strange that a picture of a Dachshund was prominently posted in the upper left hand corner of the poster. I had to ask myself “do Dachshunds bite?”

Now, being owner of three Dachshunds, I have to admit that I’m biased. But like all dogs, Dachshunds do bite.

I don’t think that Chloe would ever bite anything. She is the most passive loving dog we have. Molly is timid, will bark, run away and never bite unless really provoked.

Odie, on the other hand, is very protective. I fear that he would bite someone if they got too close and he wasn’t on a leash. Fortunately, our Dachshunds never have bitten anyone.

It doesn’t mean that they won’t. We’re just careful and introduce them to strangers so that they will know they are not a danger to us. Like all dogs, you really need to keep Doxies leashed and under control.

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.

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.

I’m really happy for her and I’m glad that ‘m not the only one who has experienced the long housebreaking cycle with dachshunds.

Chloe and Odie were really good and were almost completely housebroken within 6-months. Odie gets excited and wets the floor when he greets us when we come home. He didn’t have the excitement problem before he was neutered. My guess is that he’s nearly completely housebroken.

Molly is way ahead of Nicky and Freddie. She is just about completely housebroken. I hope Su Lum doesn’t have to wait until her puppies are about two before they get to that stage.

Needless to say, we have a nice urine stains in the room making it somewhat embarrassing to have guests stay in that room.

I just got a link request from PetStainRemoval where they are offering a free sample of their urine removal solution they want you to try. You apply it to the spot and 1 to 8 hrs it’s gone! With three Dashunds, I’m sure I’ll need the gallon solution to clean up that guest room.

I don’t know how many bottles of PetZyme Stain & Odor Remover we’ve been through, but the product works and cleans up the odor and stain. If you have a Dachshund, order by the gallon!

Of course the disclaimer states that you may have to use more incase the potty went down into the pad below. Or do they just want us to buy more? I know that with Molly, we’re going to be using it for awhile.

I don’t know why these two don’t like the rain and I usually get wet standing outside with them until I make sure they go. Odie is really good and will hold it until the rain lets down but Molly who is not quite housebroken will hold it until she’s about to burst and then will find her favorite peeing and pooping corner.

On the other hand, Chloe seems to like the rain and will go outside. She certainly smells like wet dog when she comes back in.

Happy New Year,
Chloe, Odie and Molly.

tagTRAX: odie | rain | raining cats and dogs | chloe | wet dog

The 2×2x1-inch piece of meat was huge for a Miniature Dachshund. But Molly was too fast for a scolding and she hopped up onto my wife’s chair, two paws on the table and was gone in a red flash of light with the meat.

I made the mistake of trying to get it away from her and she managed to swallow the thing without really chewing. It was too much for her digestive track to handle and she started with the diarrhea that night.

Luckily, she’s more or less housebroken and she woke me up around midnight, then 1 AM, 2 AM, etc. to let here out. She did have an accident when I was too slow opening up the sliding glass door to the backyard.

She’s getting better now that it is out of her system. I’ve been feeding her a mixture of turkey and rice to keep her hydrated and mild on her soft doxie tummy.

Dachshund Dog Food Recipe

Feeds Three Miniature Dachshunds

¼ lb — Buddig Turkey Deli Cuts
½ c — white rice
1 c — water

Combine water and rice and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes. Cut Turkey into bite size pieces then stir into rice. Total preparation time about 20 minutes. Miniature Dachshund eat time about 1 minute.

dachshund | miniature dachshund | dog food | diarrhea vomiting | turkey | recipe

I really wasn’t too mad since she came over and truly looked sorry for what she did. Plus it’s her birthday and she’s allowed a mistake or two on this wonderful day. I just hope it’s not number two.

I finally faced it that she’s not housebroken yet, but over the past three months she had very few “accidents.” Mostly I think that’s because I’m coming home for lunch to “let the dogs out” but she’s learning to go outside and she’s starting to “woof” by the door to let us know when it’s potty time.

Morning is sometimes difficult to get the Dachshunds outside. The time since Odie ruptured his disk, I’ve taken on the daunting task of carrying our Miniatures up and down the stairs. During the day, the stairs are blocked off, but at night they want to sleep in our (actually their) bed and run up the stairs to hop into it.

I truly believe running up and down the stairs caused Odie’s disk to rupture and I don’t want it to happen again. I guess we’re just going to have to get a single-story house.

Happy Birthday Molly
The Cutest Miniature Doxie