Yes,
our beloved doxie Duke is seven years old today. These years with him
have been a roller coaster ride of laughs, fun, love, and joy. He came
to us as a scared little eight-week-old puppy, but
that didn't last long. In a few days, he felt right at home and his antics have given us many laughs.
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| Super Dawg |
I had told my hubby: "I want a dog with
personality," and boy, did we get it! Yes, he's a tad stubborn, but
that's a noted doxie trait. If we tell him to get up on the couch and
lie down, he makes a beeline for the blue chair across the room in front
of a window! But he does lie down in the blue chair, so I suppose
that's obedience--well, partial obedience, anyway.
He
loves tug-of-war, too. For only an eighteen-pound dawg, he's very
strong, so the game exercises any human arm that plays it with him.
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| "What? I thought you said TREAT" |
After my recent surgeries, he made it his priority to
stay by my side and take care of me. I had trouble getting up from my
recliner when I first came home from the hospital, so Clark would take
my hands and pull me up. Of course, my knee hurt, so I probably groaned
and had a pained expression. Duke promptly got between Clark and me,
whining and barking at him--Duke thought Clark was hurting me, when it
was only the process of getting up that hurt me. We reassured him that I
was okay, so he's never intervened again when Clark has helped me up.
His
vocabulary is large, too. By "vocabulary" I mean the words that he
understands: food, hungry,eat, breakfast, lunch, dinner, cheese, eggs
and bacon, treat, toy,
ball,
bone, squeak toy, sock, lie down, bath, go out, car, ride, mailman,
cat, kitty, squirrel, geese, Mama, Daddy, and all the names of everyone
else in the family, especially those of the grandchildren. Notice a
pattern of all the food-related words?
Of course, as
most dogs do, he is overjoyed when we come home from anywhere. Lately,
it's been to my physical therapy sessions, which last about two hours.
Clark drives me because my recent knee replacement was on my right
leg--not up to driving yet. Duke wags his tail and smiles, giving us
doggie kisses and being thrilled to see us.
He made his
debut in THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES series in Book 2, I AM DACHSHUND.
Sarge takes Duke under his wing (or paw, to be exact) to teach Duke how
dachshunds should act, as well as some of his own time-tested methods
for obtaining human food.
All in all, I can't imagine
how boring our lives were before he came. Our children were married and
lived out of town (well, one of them is only an hour away now), so the
house was very quiet. Duke has livened it up considerably, still
wanting to chase his ball after we throw it down the hall for him.
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| "Why should I get off your bed??" |
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In fact, we've talked about his remarkable talent for
remaining puppy-like in middle age (in dog years, that is). He has a
gray hair here and there now, too. But his fun-loving and comical
personality from puppyhood is still intact. He makes us laugh every
day, and he gives us that unconditional love that only a dog can
give--down here, anyway.
Dachshunds . . . you gotta
love 'em. And in our case, we love Duke for the handsome, sweet,
stubborn, intelligent, comical, loyal, and yes--the downright
human--dawg he is!
