Arnie – Page 14 – The Dackel Princess

18 Weeks (or 4 months old)

Can you believe it? The puppies are 18 weeks old! They’ve grown so much and are becoming proper doggies.

Anneliese is 10 1/2 pounds now and she is 95% house trained. I refuse to say she is 100% house trained because that would simply jinx the entire production! Anneliese is a cuddler. She will climb on top of whomever is my lap, and settle in. She took her first nap with me today and I found out that she was a fantastic little sleeper.

Two week old Anneliese with her head on her brother Arnie.

Anneliese today

Arnie is 13 1/2 pounds and he is probably 65% house trained. I can’t even tell you how much better he is doing (I have stopped calling him a dumb bunny!) but there are times he runs in and uses the news paper in the puppy room before I can scoot him outside. He is gentle and sweet and loves to be cuddled right up next to me in the chair. Each and every day I am thankful that Arnie ended up staying with us.

Arnie at two weeks.

Arnie today

It has gone so quickly and I can’t believe how very much “in love” I am with these two, nor can I believe how different they are in personality.

Today we also had our first family nap. I have a touch of the stomach flu and have not been feeling too well. I lay down on the sofa and one by one I was joined by the dachshund group.

I found that the sofa is a little small for all these bodies, perhaps it’s time to buy a sectional sofa or perhaps one of those extra wide chaise lounges! I have a feeling that this was the first of many naps that we all will enjoy together.

Playtime In Dackel Princess Land

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Puppy Pediatrician Day

It was baby day at the Puppy Pediatrician’s today. The puppies went to the Vets for their booster shots and check ups. Arnie weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds and Anneliese was 9 1/2 pounds. She is the petite one.

The puppies were examined by Dr. Chris, who was the Vet who delivered them back in December. For a variety of reasons, we haven’t seen him since then. We usually see his wife, Dr. Julie or their associate, Dr. Rich. He was really happy to see these two and enjoyed the play time during their examinations. Both came through with flying colors, and were given their shots. They got their flea and tick medications for the season and they got their heart worm medications as well, and then we were out of there.

I had to go and get the mail before we came home and naturally I brought the puppies into the Post Office with me. They are mini celebrities in my little home town. It was a light mail day and then I came home. I walked the pups, and when I came in they both went over to their room and wanted to go in. I put them inside and the next thing I knew, they were both sound asleep.

Anneliese

Arnie

The exhaustion lasted about 2 hours and now they are back to their usual puppy selves. It’s great to see them running around having a good time.

PS: Shhhhhh. Don’t tell Arnie, but he actually made my day today when he pooped outside for the first time. I’m so proud!

Rainy Days And Mondays

Rain.

Do you know how tough it is to house train puppies when it is raining? Especially when those very same puppies do not like being wet!

Monday it rained almost all day. I kept taking Anneliese and Arnie out with hopes of great things, and with Anneliese I got pretty good results, but with Arnie, well, not so much. He looks at me with those big raisin eyes, that question me, as if he is saying, “Now what do you want from me?” I try to be patient, I walk around and around, but no luck. I bring him in, put him on the newspaper and immediately he goes. I’m starting to think he enjoys reading while he poops!

I believe Anneliese will be trained long before my boy Arnie. Oh well, he is a sweet boy even if he is a little bit of a dumb bunny! Will someone pass the comic section of the newspaper….

We bought the dachshunds a new bed. The circular one we had before is on it’s last legs. I recently washed the cover and noticed that it was just about thread bare. The puppies aren’t quite sure what to do with the new bed. They dive into it with wild abandon and roll around against the plush cover. Even Greta likes the new bed and currently we are leaving the bed out in the family room for her. After all, being a mother earns her a certain place on the doggy totem pole.

Speaking of Mommy Greta, someone asked me if I intended to show Greta now that she has been a Mommy. I had to laugh and remind them, that although there are many beautiful Mommies out there, after they have had 5 big babies you usually don’t want to enter them in a beauty contest with a swimsuit competition! LOL

Life In A Kennel

Hubby pointed out the other day that now that we are a four dog family, things have become much like life in a kennel. Our days are falling into a pattern of up with the birds (or should I say puppies), and to sleep at dusk.

The puppies are learning how to act and they are getting more and more potty trained each day. They play almost all day and naps are going by the wayside. Shucks. I need my sleep!

Mr. Fritzi is getting used to the babies and I think he actually likes them. He will sit in front of my chair and looks quite at peace. And when they lean down and kiss his nose I think he actually likes it.

Anneliese, Arnie and Mr Fritz.

I think Hubby is enjoying them too. He will sit over on the sofa with all the dogs and talk to them, teach the smaller ones to look out the window and laugh at their antics.

Me? Well, I feel like a new mother. I’m a bit sleep deprived, I am on my feet most of the day and I am trying desperately to keep up with two toddler puppies. Wish I could diaper them, it would save me the carpet cleaning and the rushed trips out to the back yard.

But I am happy. Happy with my little dog family and Hubby. I know once the puppies are house trained, life will become so much easier. In the meantime, I will enjoy the beautiful faces and loving looks.

My Sweet Anneliese

The End Of The Day

Thursday was one of those incredibly busy days. Both Hubby and I had appointments with his knee surgeon. I wanted to have him look over my knee as well as the MRI and get his opinion.

His opinion was that he sees a tear in the meniscus. The MRI was not clear enough to tell how big of a tear, and right now he wants to give it a few more weeks so that the Medial Collateral Ligament has a chance to completely heal. Then we will assess how the meniscus is.

Hubby is the real star patient of our family. Two knee replacements and he is back to skiing and walking everywhere and basically, he is the Poster Child for knee replacement surgery.

We returned to the house to find all the doggies happy to see us, and got them all outside for a nice play session, before bringing them in. And because so many of you asked, here are a few pictures of my beautiful babies.

Leaping Lizards it’s Arnie!

And his little sister Anneliese

And now as the day ends and I sit down to watch a little TV I thought you would enjoy seeing what my chair looks like a great deal of the time.

The One About The Bath

Today was “Bath Day For Dachshunds” here at the Dackel Princess house. Although Greta is a seasoned bath champ, this was the very first bath for Arnie and Anneliese. To say it was comical would be an understatement!

We have a walk in shower with a seat in our bath. I got all three dachshunds into the shower, closed the door and began my work. I turned on the shower gently and got the water nice and warm, all while Arnie cried. Here we had two girls and one boy and the boy was the one sobbing!

I started with Anneliese and got her wet, soaped her up with the nice oatmeal soap. Then held her close to my chest while I rinsed her off. Yes, I am a real hands on Mom who believes that if the baby gets a bath, so do you. Anneliese was a good girl and she never made a peep.

Next was Arnie. He cried the entire time, even though I tried to sooth him. I can see that I will have to work on this with him over some time. He is a real chicken and doesn’t like the water at all. He lathered up well, and rinsed and then I was onto Greta.

She is an old pro and stood majestically in front of the seat so I could sit down while I lathered her up. Then she walked under the shower stream and rinsed herself off, with very little effort from me.

After I finished my bit in the shower, I got out first and dried off, then got Greta, and lastly the puppies. I dried Arnie first (he was still crying) and then when I moved onto Anneliese he scurried off into the lavatory part of our bathroom, still crying.

I called to him several times after I opened the door to return to the family room, but all he did was cry. I finally went to investigate and found him trapped between the magazine rack and the toilet! I pried him out and then put the pups in their room while I dressed.

Naturally I was overcome with the “mother of all hot-flashes”, and it took me a few minutes to get back to check on them. What should I find when I did get back? One of them had dragged the newspapers to the gated entry and then pooped on it and both of them had been jumping in the poop!

So I picked up Arnie and went to the sink and washed his feet and tail (again) and then did the same with Anneliese.

We are currently sitting in my chair, both the puppies are asleep next to me after their horrible baths! LOL They do, however, smell wonderfully fresh and clean!

Feeling Loved

I want to know how Carol Brady did it? How did she have 6 children and have them all grow up happy and healthy and seemingly well adjusted? Here I am with 4 dogs and I’m working pretty hard to give each of them “quality time” each day.

I noticed that Greta was a little grumpy the other day and was doing all sorts of things to get my attention. So I spent time focusing just on her. So what happens? The two puppies revert back to wee-weeing in unwanted places! All I can say is Thank God for the “Big Green Clean Machine” carpet cleaner!

Fritz is the only one not demanding a lot of attention these days and so I feel guilt ridden about that and work hard to pat and speak lovingly to him.

Today I felt so outmatched that I thought perhaps my only recourse was to hire a puppy nanny. Someone to come in and take the dogs for walks, clean up there messes, while I sit here and eat bon-bons and pat my little friends.

But no. Where’s the fun in that? Why once I get the puppies house broken, I will have that accomplishment to revel in! I’ll be in the grocery store talking to the Deli man saying stuff like, “And I house trained two puppies, at the same time and it was still winter!” He, of course, will look at me and exclaim, “Wow! I’ve only read about people like you!”

So after I’d cleaned the carpet for the second time and walked the puppies for the 10th time today, in the rain, (don’t you feel bad for me?) I sat down with both little pups and Greta in my lap and Fritz by my feet, and I was actually grateful for these four furry wonders. I felt so loved.

I know. Just call me crazy!

The Puppies Are 15 Weeks!!!

I’d planned on a nice quiet Sunday, but that didn’t happen. I awoke to find that I didn’t have enough eggs for breakfast for two, and there for would need to take a trip to the grocery store. So Hubby and I walked the pooches, and then headed off to get food.

The best I can say about our shopping trip was that it was interesting to people watch while we pushed the cart through the store. There were families shopping. This proved to be amusing because some of the husband/wife combo’s made sense, while others simply were amusing. Like, “how the heck did they ever get together?”.

Our trip was a short one and we returned home to play with the pups. Since our back yard is a vast sea of wet and mud I didn’t want to keep the puppies out there too much. So in we came, toweled them dry and set about playing.

Arnie

Anneliese

Playing with one of Greta’s big bones.

We watched them in awe and laughed a lot. Fritz is becoming more and more comfortable and does well with them.

But one thing I hadn’t considered is Greta. My poor little girl is a little jealous of all the attention the puppies are getting. In the last few days I have tried to spend some quality time with her. Funny. Dogs are like kids in so many ways.

This And That Sunday

I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. I got the leashes and walked the pups, who were having so much fun in the snow that they didn’t want to think about why we were there. I finally got them to “concentrate”, and then we came in to play.

I now have my morning routine down. I set up the coffee maker the night before, so when I am on the way out the door with the puppies, I flip on the coffee maker. When I come back in the coffee is made. Ahhhhhh!

So back to today. I sat down, turned on my computer and let it boot up. Once I downloaded my email I realized that I hadn’t written anything for today’s entry! Oh no! How could that be? Call it exhaustion from my never ending cold. It is my only excuse. That, and now that I am the mother of two 15 week old puppies, I am busy from morning until night!

For those of you who have asked how “Uncle” Fritz is doing with the two babies, I thought I would end today’s post with three pictures of him playing with Arnie.