Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
My favorite breed
Last night we watched a movie that starred a dog. He is an Akita, a breed that originally comes from Northern Japan. In the movie he was adopted by a college professor who found him wandering around the local railroad station. How he got there all alone was unknown. Anyway, the movie is loosely based on a true story of a dog who met his owner every day as he got off the train. One day the owner died suddenly while he was at work. That evening, the dog waited for him at the station. When the owner didn’t come through the door the dog waited all night. To make a long story short, the dog went to the station and waited for his owner – every day for the next nine years.
Jan and I have owned Dachshunds for decades. My first dog when I was a kid was a short hair black and tan puppy. I got her on Christmas Day. She was wiggling around in the bottom of my Christmas stocking. I rescued her and fell in love. Because it was Christmas, and she was of a German breed, I named her Tannenbaum and we called her Tanny. We were inseparable.
I don’t know why my parents chose a Dachshund, but I’m glad they did. She was fiercely loyal to me and waited by the front door every afternoon to greet me as I got home from school. She loved soup bones and always had a little collection of them. She had a specific bone for each one of us. When we were sitting around, she would deposit our bone in front of our feet and wait for acknowledgement of her largesse.
When I met Jan, she had two long haired girls. One was black and tan and the other was a redhead. They were two in a long string of Dachshunds that Jan had owned. When the older one died, there was no question that we would find another Dachshund to welcome into our home. When Minnie died we searched for a breeder of Dachshunds and acquired Mollie. And so the tradition continues.
Dachsunds originated in Germany, bred hundreds of years ago specifically to hunt badgers for their pelts. “Dach” means badger, and “hund” means dog. The breed was intended to be brave and fearless in order to find badgers, animals with a mean personality. Their long, low profile and oversized front paws allow the dog to dig into the badger’s burrow, fight sometimes over an hour, grab it by the neck and pull it out. If you’ve ever played tug of war with a Dachshund you’ll know what I mean when I say they are formidable adversaries.
These dogs are not quiet and laid back as a rule. They have a big dog sounding bark and make good watchdogs. They are cute. They are clever. They are stubborn. They are a high-energy creature. At the same time they are quite affectionate and appreciate a good cuddle. You can expect to have them in your life for 12 to 16 happy years.
Just about every dachshund I’ve known has, at some point, developed a sore back. That’s endemic of the breed, and due to their long, low slung profile. Our Mollie is a miniature Dachsie, but when she stretches out she’s over two feet long from her nose to the tip of her tail.
It was recognized as a breed in 1885, so they’ve been around a while. In a popularity contest among breeds they rank number 10 out of the 200 breeds registered by the AKC. There are short haired, long haired, and wire haired versions. They are black and tan, or red, or brindle, or sometimes multicolored. If you are their “person”, consider yourself blessed.