Anneliese

Therapy

I put Hubby to work today. Yesterday he mentioned that he’d like me to make him a Splenda (sugar free) Apple Pie. I was too tired to make it last night, but this afternoon I had him up and peeling apples for the pie. I think he enjoyed using his New England Apple peeling, coring and slicing machine. It certainly was good therapy, with a tasty payoff!

Once he filled the bowl with sliced apples, I mixed up the Splenda and spices and put them into a pie shell and baked it. We’ll have it for dessert tonight after dinner.

During the day today the pups played and were enjoying their usual good life, when the phone rang and it was Mr. UPS Man. He was at the top of our driveway and had a box of goodies for the doggies. I drove the Jeep up and picked up the box, then came back and let each of the dogs have a fresh, yummy basted bone!

As you can see, Anneliese really enjoyed hers! lol!!!

I noticed as I was getting the picture of Anneliese that I was being watched. I turned around slowly and then backed up just a little.

I mean, how cute is this? Mr. Arnie tends to be my model. He is sort of a ham that way, and has been since he was just a little guy.

It was a nice day, a quiet day and I was happy about that. Later this week things will get busy with doctor’s appointments and the possibility of more snow, so it was nice to have a day of rest.

Each dog that I have owned has had their own very unique personality. Anneliese is no exception. In fact, if anything, she has one of the most interesting personalities.

Anneliese can be fierce. She can be shy. She can be silly as anything and then the next moment quite loving. She is smart, athletic and determined. All of this and yet she still has such a good nature that makes her a wonderful member of our doggy family.

Now here is the little thing that she, and only she does, that makes her even more precious!

When Hubby is sitting having his breakfast in the morning, or his dinner at night, Anneliese sits in front of his table and as you can see, she rests her nose on the table rung and waits and watches, in hopes that he will see her adorable face and find a smidgen of food for her!

It is just the cutest thing I have ever seen and each time I see it, it makes me quite happy that we kept this little girl!

Anneliese is a little love!

Snow Baby

Friday night we had a big snow storm. I think when all was said and done we had about 12 inches of snow! Hubby dragged out the ancient (and currently not working well) snow blower, and unhappily cleared the driveway, twice! Arnie took two steps out the door and pooped and then turned around and came back in, and Greta took three steps, did her thing and came in looking quite indignant!

But we had one family member who was dancing with delight.

Anneliese!

She raced out the door, jumping from one pile of snow to the next. She tunneled,

she ran like a wild girl,

licking the snowflakes, the mounds of snow and almost laughing at the winter weather.

The other dogs stood, gazing at her with shocked eyes. How could she possibly be enjoying this cold wet stuff? But she did. I swear at one point she actually stopped, looked back at them and grinned.

She has been going in and out all day and staying until her little doggy lips turned blue (what do you mean dog’s lips don’t turn blue?), before returning to the warmth of the house.

Saturday night I thought for sure she would be exhausted. However, she isn’t and I think if I opened that door one more time she would be out and running around in the snow again.

I may not be thrilled with the snow, but for Anneliese, this is a dream come true!

Happy Birthday Puppies!!!

Yes, today is the 2nd birthday of the two pups, Arnie and Anneliese!!! Can you believe it! They are now full fledged doggies! All grown up!

Arnie as a baby.

Arnie, all grown up.

And my sweet little Anneliese!

And here she is a full grown lady!

It seems like just yesterday that they were born, and now here we are. They are all grown up. I’m planning Anneliese’s first litter of pups, and Arnie is ready for a girl-friend anytime someone wants to…….

Best of all is that they are really nice, really sweet dogs and I am proud of the job that Greta and I did raising them!

Happy Birthday!

Puppy Dog Eyes & Cell Phones

You may be wondering what these two things have to do with each other. Today my puppy dog’s eyes actually enabled me to get a new cell phone. Here’s how it went!!!

Hubby and I drove down to Portsmouth, New Hampshire today to get both Arnie and Anneliese’s eyes examined and certified. Dr. C. is the son of a former co-worker of Hubby’s, back when they were both pilots in Hong Kong. Hubby can clearly recall this Veterinarian as a very small baby, and now he is a Certified Canine Ophthalmologist.

The two dogs are both fabulous, as are their corneas and their retinas! Now both Arnie and Anneliese can be bred, just not to each other.

After we finished up with that we hit the stores. I got a new cell phone! Yay!!! It’s the super cool full keyboard LG enV²® in Maroon.

I am a happy girl! Now once we got that we went grocery shopping and I was walking through the produce section of the store and I heard this nice cool whistling music and I thought, oh that’s nice and then I wondered where the music was coming from because they were playing Christmas Carols on the store speakers. Then it dawned on me! It was my new cell phone.

Duh!!!

Tonight I plan to learn a little more about my new phone so I can talk to people without cutting them off (sorry Mel!) and actually answer my phone when it rings (sorry Hubby) and send a text message with correct punctuation (sorry Em!).

Still today was good. Healthy eyes and a new phone! Yay!!!

The Dog Show

As many of you know, I was not exactly happy with the results of the dog show. I was, however, very happy with how Anneliese performed, and I felt very much at one with her as we walked the ring. She was a real pro and I have only good things to say about her.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Anneliese is a beauty. In my opinion she deserved better than she got, but then, politics has a lot to do with the actual scoring at many of these events. It was the first time this had happened to me and so it caught me off guard. I think I am still recovering. In fact I know I am. I feel slightly disillusioned and disappointed.

I’m grateful that I don’t have to show any more dogs. I will always be a dog owner. But I do not believe I will stay in the show ring. I simply cannot take the unfairness of the judging, or the politics behind it. A dog should be judged on their own merits.

Was Anneliese the best and most beautiful at the show? Probably not, but she did meet all the standards and should have been judged fairly.

It still hurts that she wasn’t.

Sehr Gut

Anneliese was the third dog presented on Saturday morning to the German Judge. She was a bit nervous, but I felt she was doing very well. My first indication that perhaps all was not well was when I heard words like, not correct, gaiting too close, and my heart began to sink.

However the judge also indicated that she was a beautiful, well proportioned female dog with excellent rough fur and a beautiful head. By all appearances she was an excellent dog.

But in the end it was the way she walked that gave her two demerits and brought her score from a perfect Excellent to a Very Good or in German Sehr Gut.

This means that she is in a good dog, eligible to breed, but not perfect.

Am I a little disappointed? Yes, a little. I’d hoped that she would score as an Excellent dog the way her mother, father and her brother had before her.

Then after the show I sat down with the judge and we had a long talk about Anneliese and he explained that she is special and should be bred. He said that she is beautiful, and her errors could more than likely be trained out of her. Was it that important? If it was, then I should work on it and try again next year. If not, then allow her to breed after her birthday in December and look for a male that can compliment her. He wanted me to know that she has a spark of beauty that should not be ignored.

I’m not sure what I will do, but for now I know that no matter what she will always be Excellent in my eyes!

Anneliese being judged.

Anneliese kissing up to the judge.

Time……

Okay, who stole the summer?

I was walking Emily back up to her house tonight and the air was cool and crisp and as the sun was setting, I noticed bright red leaves had fallen under my feet.

It’s Autumn. It’s really Autumn, and soon the winds will blow and the snow will fall and it will be WINTER!

When I was a little girl I remember thinking that each day was an eternity long. Each year, between birthdays seemed endless. I thought I would never grow up, never have a drivers license or get married and have children. I was going to be forever in first grade!

The time did pass and little by little these things all happened. I got my license, got married, had 2 beautiful children, and the days passed me by. Still, back in my twenties I felt that time was still going rather slowly.

Then one day I woke up and bam, I’m 49 years old! The year between 49 and 50 has flown by and soon it’s going to be winter and I’ll be 50!

So what happened? Does the world just start to spin faster the older you get?

Meanwhile, as I contemplate the time and space continuum, I remind you all once again that we leave tomorrow for the German Dog Show, also known as a Zuchtschau.

Anneliese is packed and ready to go. I’ll be writing on Saturday night to report in on how things went.

Primping & Preening For The Show

I decided today to work on Anneliese’s fur. She needs to be groomed and looking her finest for the show next week. All her little wispy hairs pulled and trimmed.

The thing is Anneliese is beautiful. He fur coat is nearly perfect and hardly needs any grooming at all. And I look at her precious beautiful face and I just melt. I mean does it really get any better than this?

I don’t think so. Of course I am terribly partial. I believe that my dogs are the most beautiful pups on the face of the earth!

We brought Greta back from Germany after an extensive search, and naturally the puppies that we got when we bred Greta and Bernie, are the most fabulous dogs ever.

Partial? Me? Noooooo! LOL!!!

So the show is next Saturday and remember, if you are in the Reading, PA area and wish to attend, send me an e-mail and I will provide you with directions to the show.

We usually have 45-60 dachshunds and it is a lot of fun. Each year I learn more and more about the breed I love so much.

And Anneliese loves to meet her friends. She is one great doggy!!!

Mr. Bunny Returns!!!

Mr. Bunny made his debut back out in the house today. I figured that Anneliese was over her false pregnancy, so what’s the worst that could happen?

If you guessed that she immediately grabbed it up in her teeth and began dragging it all over the house, then you win a hot fudge sundae!

She doesn’t appear to be as into this as she was before, but still it really is quite pathetic that she carries on so with this stuffed toy. We’re thinking that it probably would be a good idea to put Mr. Bunny away for a few months.

I mean, he seems to have such a hold on her, and most certainly it would seem to be a good idea.

Still, it’s been sort of cute watching her with Mr. Bunny. What a good mother she will be when the time comes.