Thursday Thoughts

How I Became Owned By A Wire-Haired Dachshund.

Many years ago, Hubby took me to Starnberg, Germany. This is just south of Munich, in Bavaria. He wanted to introduce me to his friends, Lucie and Otto. I was a new bride and nervous about meeting his longtime friends. As I sat in their living room in bounded a small vivacious pup named Shubi. Shubi was a Rauhhaardackel (or wire-haired dachshund in English). Shubi understood no English and I spoke no German, but it didn’t matter, it was love at first sight!

Shubi climbed into my lap and we cuddled and kissed and for the next week wherever I went, I was followed by this love struck little man. When we parted I cried and all I would say to Hubby is, “I want a little Shubi dog!”
We made four more trips to Munich over the next four years and each time it was always the same. Shubi would instantly become my little love and follow me everywhere.
Sadly, we received a letter in Christmas 1995 telling us that Otto had become sick with cancer and that Shubi had escaped from their yard and been hit by a car. We were devastated.
In February 1996 we went to see Lucie and Otto again. The house was oddly still with no little man running about. It just wasn’t the same home it had been when Shubi was alive. I said to Lucie one day at lunch, that we should find puppies and have them together.
Otto overheard us and while Lucie and I went out shopping, he found an ad for Rauhhaardackel Puppies that were in Landshut, which was about 35 km east of Munich.
The next day we drove out and as we entered the kitchen of The Lanzingers, there in a small basket on the floor were three small puppies.
I went over and peered into a little face. The pup stood and tried to jump up to me. I picked her up and that was it. She looked me over, decided that I would do and after kissing my face clean, settled into my arms and snuggled. Lucie selected a little boy.
As we traveled back to Starnberg, I was trying to think of a good name for my puppy. Hubby had been oddly silent finally said, “All I have heard for eight years is: ‘I want a Shubi dog! ‘ The dogs name is Shubi!”
And thus Shubi was named and she then adopted us and we became her responsibility in life. Her brother was named Toni.
I worried that bringing a puppy back with us would be difficult, but it wasn’t at all. She was three months old, had had all her shots and once we purchased a doggie passport and bought her a ticket we were all set. Shubi road in Business Class from Munich to New York. She was wonderful on the plane, and once we cleared customs Hubby rushed her outside and she did what all dogs do after a long trip.
We took Shubi back several times to Germany to visit her brother. The two would always act like they had not been separated for very long, and would play and play. Shubi would also remember the pathway to our room at our friends home.

Looking back now, these last ten years have been some of the happiest of my life.