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.
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.
Molly has the finest baby hair you can imagine. I never knew how she keeps it so soft, but now I know…
Molly eats fabric softener dryer sheets. She especially likes Bounce. It makes her fur soft and static free. The only problem is that dryer sheets do not digest and she ends up throwing it up making a terrible mess. Our other Dachshunds don’t touch those things, but she sure likes them.
Last week she managed to get one all the way down, and only to get it stuck at the tail end. Needless to say, it was like pulling one of those magic handkerchiefs that never stop coming out of the magician’s hat.
The dogs are happy that we’re back at work this week. They can go back to their routine of sleeping all day long.
The past few days they didn’t know what to do with them selfs. As soon as it hit 9:00 PM, they were the first in bed and asleep before their heads hit the pillow.
For once, Odie didn’t get up during the night to ask to go out. This meant a peaceful night sleep for all of us. Regardless of being on vacation, he got us up bright and early at 6:00 AM. So much for sleeping in.
I’m not really a YouTube fan but I like their service and I can post some videos of our three Dachshunds up there for free. For some reason, I can only record 14 seconds on my cell phone but at least you can see a video of Odie and Chloe. Molly is still camera shy since her bad hair cut. I’ll try to sneak a picture of her when she’s sleeping.
Like all pet owners, the recent recall of dog and cat food really had us scared. Lucky for our three doxies, their favorite food (Ceasers) was not on the list of recalled dog food.
Over the past months we’ve been trying to “wiener our dogs” off the can food by cooking for them. As it turns out, the cost of preparing and cooking for your dogs is less expensive per ounce than store bought dog food. I’m sure it’s by far fresher and healthier than what comes in those cans.
To reduce the cost, we look for the “Manager Specials” where the date is about to expire. Usually, we’ll pick up 1.5 lb of Jenny-O ground turkey for $1.99 at Ralphs on Saturday and cook it up for our Dachshunds that afternoon.
It will feed them for two meals, three if we add rice.
Isn’t it strange how dogs associate things? For instance, I’ll go to the kitchen and pull out a plastic baggy and Odie will immediate run to the front door.
Either he’s reading my mind that we’re going for a walk or he’s associating the plastic bag with walking. He doesn’t do this when I get a bag out to put some food away. But perhaps he has something else on his mind … food!
Su Lum, a columnist at The Aspen Times, keeps a status report on her two dachshund puppies, Nicky and Freddie. She’s happy to report that her two 9-month old puppies are almost completely housebroken.
I’m really happy for her and I’m glad that I’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.
Dachshunds are stubborn dogs. Especially when it comes to potty training. Molly still has her occasional “accident” when she forgets to go #2 in the morning. When she was first learning, every night she would wander upstairs and find that special spot in the guest bedroom and leave #1 or #2.
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.
