Sweet Daisy
Meet my little doxy, Daisy.
She thinks she is a people.
We know it is a delusion but we humor her.
It makes her happy.
She was my mother’s day gift 2 years ago. My daughter found her on the internet at a Daschund rescue site. Someone had tossed her out of the window of a truck at 122 and May. She was bones covered with skin, had two scars near her eye, a broken tail and a deformed or broken ear. She was very remote at first and we were afraid she would never learn to trust humans.
Now she thinks she owns us and bosses us around. Let me in. Let me out. Give me food. Take me car ride. Or she lays on her back in all her cuteness and twists and turns waiving her paws in the air because she wants to play. I can always count on a late night, “Woof, Woof”, it’s time to go to bed. Of a morning my husband and I will wake up and she will be between us, under the covers, with her head on the pillow. (Isn’t that how people are suppose to sleep?)
When she comes inside, she checks the house till she knows where every member of the family is. If someone is missing she watches the front and garage doors until everyone is home. Now that Jenn is dating, it confuses her. If I go to bed before Jenn is home she fusses at me until I get her to settle down. She then lies on the end of the bed with her nose pointed in the direction of the front door until Jenn gets in. The family reports that she does the same when I’m gone. Sometimes she goes to the door and softly whines, obviously sad that she was left behind.
I enjoy watching how she interacts with everyone. I’ve never had a pet so full of love for her family. Having her with us has changed the family dynamic. All of us laugh often and focus on our struggles less and her more.
I guess there is nothing profound or interesting about this post, other than I love her and wanted to post that on the internet. The last time her photo was posted she had been thrown away and looked like a refugee from one of those starving villages in Africa.
posted by Betty S at 1/06/2006 10:18:00 AM
7 Comments:
She's lovely.
My cat does this. He checks doorways until everyone is home. When the bus pulls up with my daughter, he meows excitedly until she comes inside--just as he cries when she leaves in the morning. When we get home, he is always sitting just inside the garage door to greet us.
And he keeps us on our toes by running down the stairs to scare us or hiding under beds to attack toes.
Funny how much a part of family our pets become.
My girls are dying to have a pet. They'd take anything at this point. We used to have an English Bulldog years ago and he was the center of our world. Pets do tend to weave their way into our hearts... so easily!
And... the girls had a fit over your baby when they saw her picture!!
Consider a Doxy. They are a real family dog. Get along with kids. I had one growing up, Snooks. She was awesome. Was afraid of thunder and lightening and would climb up next to you during storms.
Storms don't appear to effect Daisy at all, but if I'm setting down she is laying on the chair right next to my leg. She follows me around the house and barks at the vaccuum cleaner.
We talk to her like she is a person and I swear she understands most of what you're saying. She's really smart.
The other nice thing from a practicle point of view is that they have very short hair and don't shed much. Because they are smaller they don't eat much but they aren't the small hyper "Yippie" kind of dog. When treated well they can be really sweet.
I'm not prejudiced. No. Not a bit.
Betty S
I love dachsunds! We always had one. Our last doxy, Millie Rose (AKA Moosie), was simply the best. We got her when I was 16 from a family moving to Oregon. They didn't want to take her with them. Go figure. She was a year old, and she'd obviously been abused by the father of the family - she was skittish around tall people, especially men.
We had her for 16 years. We had to euthanize her because she had cancer and skin problems so bad that her quality of life was nil. It broke my heart. I sobbed. I still do if I think about her too much. I miss her a lot.
Dachsunds are excellent dogs. Good, faithful, protective companions. Smart and full of personality. Wheneve Moosie was mad at us for leaving her home, she would pick out a certain shape of dog food in her bowl, and remove every single piece like that and place them around her bowl. Only a specific shape, though. And she loved hard candy. We had to keep it up high, because she would find a way to get it, remove the wrappers, and eat only the candy!
BTW, she was a miniature red. The most beautiful face I've ever seen on a doxie.
Daisy hates big men too.
Usually after a while she can adjust, except for my brother, Bill.
She really hates my brother.
Normally animals love him. He likes them. We've done everything we can think of to help her adjust but nothing has worked. She never takes her eyes off of him and the entire time he is in the house, there is this periodic low subtle growl. Not threatening just an, "I think it's time you left now." sort of thing. It reminds me of a human grumble. In her mind it is her house, after all.
We'd had Snooks for 18 years. She was mostly blind and had heart problems. She had a heart attack the night of by brother's high school graduation. We had to have her put to sleep the next day. The whole family almost died with her.
Daisy is really smart. She tries to communicate with us with something that is similar to charades. If she raises up like she is going to beg but not all the way, it means she wants you to get up. If you don't do it after several attempts she will nudge your leg with her nose and do it again. We’ve taught her to roll over instead of beg for food. If you are laying down where you can't see her roll, she will jump up and nudge your mouth. Laying on her back and wiggling is "rub my tummy and play with me". If she pokes at your feet when you're walking, she wants you to take turns chasing each other.
One of the funniest things is at dinner time; sometimes we'll tease her and say "What do you want?" So she'll poke at her dog food sack. If you hold the sack and just look at her, she will then point with her nose to her dog dish and wine at you. "Stupid human."
Lately, Jenn and I have started doing pilates on the floor in the backroom. Several times Daisy has come in and laid on her back next to us like she was joining us. I laughed so hard I couldn't do the exercises.
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