Through the process of having Andrew and keeping this blog, we've had the opportunity to meet many wonderful new people. Friends of friends, friends of family....whatever the relationship, everyone has been very supportive throughout. In the last few days while blogging about Willow's back issues, I realized that many of the people reading this may not have ever met her. I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce Willow to those people.
Willow is our four and a half year-old miniature dachshund. We got her at ten weeks old from a specialty dachshund breeder, in order to minimize the possibility of back issues...the very back issues we are now dealing with. She was wonderful as a puppy and even four years later, she still has the youthful exuberance (and small size) of a much younger dog. She's stubborn, independent, and has way too much control over our lives.....but she's also loving, cute, and incredibly smart. We've taught her to do all sorts of tricks (roll over, play dead, go around, shake, stay, etc), but she has a mind of her own and will only do them when interested, or when bribed with a treat. She has stairs to the couches and a ramp up to our bed, and she sleeps under the covers at our feet....spoiled much?
Willow gets a lot of attention when we take her out, mostly because of her color and her size. The color is called red piebald...piebald refers to the influence of white patches on any other color...a black-and-tan piebald would look just like a black-and-tan but have similar white coloring. It makes her resemble a jack russell terrier a bit, so we get a lot of questions about her breed; sometimes people don't believe us when we tell them she's pureblood dachshund. She's also pretty small (12 pounds) and looks young, so many think she's still a puppy.
More about Willow will come, whenever I don't have anything else to write about, but let's start with some pictures of her when she was younger. She doesn't look a whole lot different now, just bigger and more mature.
Willow is our four and a half year-old miniature dachshund. We got her at ten weeks old from a specialty dachshund breeder, in order to minimize the possibility of back issues...the very back issues we are now dealing with. She was wonderful as a puppy and even four years later, she still has the youthful exuberance (and small size) of a much younger dog. She's stubborn, independent, and has way too much control over our lives.....but she's also loving, cute, and incredibly smart. We've taught her to do all sorts of tricks (roll over, play dead, go around, shake, stay, etc), but she has a mind of her own and will only do them when interested, or when bribed with a treat. She has stairs to the couches and a ramp up to our bed, and she sleeps under the covers at our feet....spoiled much?
Willow gets a lot of attention when we take her out, mostly because of her color and her size. The color is called red piebald...piebald refers to the influence of white patches on any other color...a black-and-tan piebald would look just like a black-and-tan but have similar white coloring. It makes her resemble a jack russell terrier a bit, so we get a lot of questions about her breed; sometimes people don't believe us when we tell them she's pureblood dachshund. She's also pretty small (12 pounds) and looks young, so many think she's still a puppy.
More about Willow will come, whenever I don't have anything else to write about, but let's start with some pictures of her when she was younger. She doesn't look a whole lot different now, just bigger and more mature.
This is from the day we picked her up. She was scared at being away from her mother and just sat there on the kitchen floor, shivering.
I took her to work a few times during her first weeks at home. She didn't really understand the concept of staying off computer keyboards yet. This is one of my favorite pictures of her, even out of focus, and I often get the question, "Is that a stuffed animal?"
Willow takes after D and me in that she knows how to relax.
I wanted at least one picture that shows her length...she is a wiener dog after all.
Dear Jamie and Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing Willow! I always imagined Willow to be some big yellow lab or golden retriever (don't know why-but that's just what I envisioned when I thought of Drew going for walks with her. We too have a mini daschund and she has had a few back injuries herself. We've done the whole steroid routine too! And I laughed when you said you were supposed to kennel her...yes, that what we are supposed to have done with Molly too...but it's so hard. They are so spoiled! Molly sleeps every night, snuggled in our bed, under the covers...every once in awhile crawling out to put her head on our pillow. Crazy! The one reason it is so hard to go on vacation...is Molly. We've never put her in a kennel-she is spoiled rotten and has to sleep with someone. But, we love her to death. We have gates all over the house to keep her from running up and down the stairs or jumping on the sofa (to help put off more back injuries). Our youngest son is almost done with Vet school at UC Davis. Thank heavens, because taking them to the Vet is expensive! :-) Thanks again for allowing all of us to take this journey with you both, and have a little peak into your life. I feel like we have gotten to know you both and are part of your extended family. Willow is adorable, maybe one of these days I'll send you a picture of Molly. Have a wonderful vacation in Hawaii (who is watching Willow??). We'll be anxious to see pictures of Hawaii posted!
Cathy Owens