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!

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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.

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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.

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Arnie

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Anneliese

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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.

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New Toys

The new toys I had ordered for the puppies arrived today. I had gotten an assortment of stuffed animals, bones and balls. After their morning nap I introduced them to their new toys. They went crazy! And so did their mother, Greta.

It’s an amazing thing. Greta no longer looks at them as her kids. She treats them like best pals and she plays with them with wild abandon. It is so wonderful to see the three dogs running around like crazy just enjoying each other.

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Arnie
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Arnie & Anneliese
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Arnie in the front and Anneliese in the back

I had the dogs out a lot today and consequently Arnie began “performing” for me. I now have two good puppies who are getting house trained. I just wish spring would come and it would warm up. It is just a little less thrilling to jump up and drag the pups out when it is 19 degrees outside! Still I am grateful.

The pups, old and young are all asleep now, and I am curled up with a nice warm blanket. Simply a great way to end my day.

Life At The Dackel Princess House

Amazing things are happing at the Dackel Princess house. Old Uncle Fritz is warming up to Anneliese and Arnie and he is actually starting to gently “play” with them. In a rare moment I was able to reach the movie camera and capture this event this morning. Usually as soon as I pick up the video camera, Fritz jumps down, but today, he stayed and played!

I have been trying to increase my drinking of water. I believe in the past I have spoken of my general dislike for water. Yes, it is good to bathe in, and yes it is good to cook in and wash in, but to drink? Not so much. However, I discovered “flavored” water. I love the lemon and cherry and the tropical flavors! I have been known to down 4 or 5 bottles in a day.
Recently I discovered that I am not the only designer water lover.

Anneliese, Queen of Hearts

I took Anneliese with me when I went to the town office’s to register the dogs. Each year we must register them and pay a fee for having them in the town. Since I do not want any illegal alien dogs in this house I took all their documents down and paid the fee.

Anneliese is so good when I go in the car, that I decided to bring her. She sat in my lap, and when we got to the town offices, she quickly began to flirt with everyone in the office. Soon she was being passed from one person to the next.

I was worried that this would make her nervous, but I looked over, only to see her licking each and every person who picked her up and also seeing that magical tail of hers wag, wag, wag!

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Once we were done I went to get the mail and once again Anneliese was collecting admirer’s. I simply have to laugh at her because she is so sweet and really loves people, much like both Greta and Bernie.

We arrived home and I put her into the puppy room and she crawled into her little bed and fell asleep. This lasted for a couple of hours until she woke up and we went out for a walk, slogging through the mud!

61 degrees (F) and everything was in full melt down. I do love the snow, but wow, I hate it when it all melts and the world becomes a gigantic mud hole!!!

Happy/Sad

Today was a day filled with mixed emotions. Most of the day I was on an emotional high because Anneliese is really getting the entire house breaking thing. Even in the mud and wet she is out there doing her thing, making me the proudest Mom around! Arnie doesn’t really like the ankle deep puddles of wet grass and mud, but he does go out and he does walk around with us.

Today was also the day that the two of them decided that Puppy food isn’t nearly as tasty as Greta’s food. I fed them breakfast and they looked at it, turned up their little noses and walked away. I could see them looking at me wondering if I was worried and would run over and feed them a steak or something. Ha! I have had dogs long enough to know that if you just change the mixture a little it will become more appealing. So, I mixed two spoons of Greta’s food into the puppy food, and a few minutes later then bowl was empty!

The little puppers went for a gazillion walks, played outside in the sunshine with their balls, and raced around the family room with their toys. We only had one accident on the rug (Arnie is blushing), so the “Big Green Clean Machine Carpet Cleaner” came out and the spot in question was cleaned and deodorized.

I had physical therapy today and the therapist has decided that I need to go back to the doctor. Shoot. I’d hoped to be back to normal by now and not having the swelling or the discomfort. I came home and called for an appointment (With Hubby’s knee replacements, this doctor is sort of on retainer for our family). The good doctor’s secretary got me in the same day as Hubby is seeing the doctor for his one year check up.

The house is quiet and he pups are asleep and soon I will be going to bed as well. Tomorrow will be here before you know it, and we’ll have another day of house training to work on.

PS: Little Anneliese steals my heart more and more each day. Thank you Greta, for this little gift!

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