The Dackel Princess

Sleep!

I was awoken in the night by Greta. Yes, Greta enjoys tormenting me, by waking me up at 3 AM. I was so groggy and cold and I couldn’t find my robe. I did find a jacket that barely covered my bottom. So out I went into the frost in my underwear socks, slippers and jacket. Oh thank you dear Lord that there were no Paparazzi outside to capture that on film!

I came inside and Greta decided that she did not want to go back to bed. After an argument with her, I gave up and went back to bed. I pulled the warm blankets over my body and pulled Arnie closer…and “bark, bark, bark!”

So I got up and this time told Greta to get into the bedroom and stop all this silliness and go to sleep! I managed another couple of hours before it was time to start the day.

I put the puppies outside in their pen and spent half an hour washing up their room. I cleaned everything, washed the floor and fed them. All that before drinking my first cup of coffee!

Hubby had a meeting this morning and so I fed him and sent him off with Fritz for a working meeting in the woods. Meanwhile I stayed home alternately cleaning the puppy room, walking them and then cleaning the puppy room again!

Later in the day our friends came by for a puppy visit and then later on Makenna arrived to run the pups for us.

Tonight, the pups and I are all exhausted. I think we will all get a good night sleep. At least I hope so. I do know one thing. Greta will be walked two seconds before we go to sleep.

Tattoo You!

You’re still a part of everything I do
You’re on my heart just like a tattoo
Just like a tattoo, I’ll always have you

Today was tattoo day here at the Dackel Princess home. Our Breed Warden came up last night and this morning we gathered the little ones together and tattooed them. One by one their tiny ears were shaved, washed and then they were tattooed with their official numbers.

Here is Calvin.

Caspar (aka Fenway)

Claus (aka Wally)

Curt.

Hubby comforting Curt.

And our little Miss Christel (aka Schnapps)

It went very well and the puppies stayed out in their pen until the ink dried. Then they came in and took a 5 hour nap. Schnapps climbed into the crate and hid in the very back. I think that she didn’t like the whole tattoo experience.

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I heard tonight that I have been appointed to serve as a Library Trustee until the next elections. I’ve decided that this is something I would like to do, and so in 4 months I will run for the 3 year term.

When A Stitch In Time, Doesn’t Make A Bit Of Difference!

I don’t sew. In fact I don’t sew so much that Hubby brings his clothing to a local woman to hem and fix, because I am just hopeless. It’s not that I don’t want to sew, it’s more like the machine I own is possessed and everything I try to sew with it becomes suddenly destroyed!

This morning I got up to a true disaster in the puppy room. They had somehow managed to chew up their nice puppy bed, and started shredding the foam mattress. This was the last bed that I had for the puppies to abuse, so I suddenly wasn’t sure what to do.

If I put a blanket down, they would tear that apart. If I put Greta’s bed in there, they would just destroy that too, and even a mother needs a nice comfy bed!

Then the idea struck me. I could put a large crate in there with a remade cushion and then take their old bed, with the cover, and using my sewing machine, sew it permanently closed.

Now isn’t that quite the endeavor for someone like me who has no sewing capabilities at all? It is, but I decided to give it a try, as we have just one week to go with the “Fabulous Five”.

First I made a smaller mat/bed for the crate. I lined it with a plastic table cloth, and sewed it together. Yes my demon machine acted up, but I persevered and got the darn thing done.

Then, once the big cover was dry I put the cushion inside, and then sewed it up along the zipper line. Since the little devils had chewed the zipper, I could not fix that. So I just sewed it up.

Well the possessed machine started acting up then. The thread got all jumbled up in one spot and then broke! I would had to go through the eye blinding process of threading the needle! more times than I care to say, but eventually the sewing was done!

It’s not pretty, and my Home Economics Teacher would be truly scandalized by it. She actually liked me, but I think it was because I liked to cook. It definitely wasn’t because I was a great seamstress!

However the puppies did not notice and when I put them down for their afternoon nap they fell instantly asleep!

Sometimes good enough, is well, good enough!

The Last Few Days

The days are winding down and on Friday the first pup leaves us for his new home. Then Wally and Fenway leave and then little Schnapps. Today we spent this beautiful day outside, playing and running around, and of course taking pictures! I put together this slide show so you could see my beautiful babies!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I also wanted to thank you all for your kind wishes yesterday. I share my memories with you about Katie so that perhaps her beautiful spirit will not be forgotten.

Katie

Many of you know that besides Mandy, I had another daughter, Katie, who was killed at the age of 6 1/2 by an impaired driver. Most days I get along very well, however there are certain days that I find myself missing her and longing for her. Today is one of those days.

Today Katie would have celebrated her 31st birthday.

Kathleen Alynne was born at 5:29 AM on November 8th 1978. She was two weeks late and I had begun to feel as if I were part elephant. In the delivery room I remember asking the nurse to clean off her hair because the blood made it look red. She laughed at me (She also had red hair) and told me that this was it! My child was a redhead!

Katie was a neat kid and we all loved her. She had a wicked sense of humor, yet was also sensitive and empathetic, which was strange in one so young.

Her loss is bothering me a bit more this year probably due to the fact that I have been feeling angry that we were robbed of so much of her life.

Here is a montage of some of the pictures that I like the best. She was a real joker in front of the camera, almost always had a smile on her little face.

I know one day Katie and I will be together again, and that we will share an eternity, but for today I miss her something fierce!

10 Weeks Old!

It was a cool day here in New Hampshire and the winds were blowing hard. The puppies wanted to be outside so much, but they would get cold fast and stand by the door to come in. About 3 o’clock I asked Hubby to go outside with me so that we could run the pups. This is a great thing to do at the end of the day because they settle down about 6 and sleep all night long.

I definitely need his help when they are all out, as they all seem to run in different directions now and they are so very fast! Fritz was a help, but after a while he got bored and went over to the little stream and escaped from their attention.

But first, we had Schnapps running around.

And of course she was running with Fritz at first and her brother Calvin ran along as well.

Here is Calvin in mid-jump.

Fenway and Wally were playing under our patio table.

Here is Wally

And Fenway.

Curt seemed to be moving along quite a bit. I had trouble getting his picture because he was following me.

So the pups are ten weeks old now. Their AKC Registration papers came today. They are all set. Next Friday our first puppy leaves for his new home. Then on Saturday 3 more. Curt will be with us a little longer. Amazing, isn’t it?

Happy Saturday!

Oh, How They Have Grown

I was thinking today, as I looked at the puppies, how much they have changed in the last few weeks. They came into this world totally helpless little creatures and slowly day by day they grow, and they begin to change.

I wanted to share this in a very meaningful way with you, by going back and finding their baby pictures and putting them side by side with a picture from this week.

First, here is Curt.

Then there is Wally. Now here is a great frontal shot of his head at birth, and then today.

And Fenway

Schnapps

And Calvin

On Monday the Breed Warden from my dachshund club will be coming to inspect the litter and to tattoo their right ears. They are tattooed with my kennel number and then their pup number. Here is a picture of Anneliese’s daughter, Baerbel getting her tattoo.

It is quick and a permanent marking that is required but our parent club in Germany.

Tonight I went into the puppy room and sat down and they climbed on me, curled up around me and I snuggled each one. They are all such sweet dogs and although I will not miss the work, I will miss them.

Puppy Pictures & A Movie

Today we had the pups out again. The day was a beauty. Sunny, but cool, so after a while they started to get cold and we had to retreat back into the house, but they got a good run around, and so did we! (lol) I snapped a few pictures and got a short video as well, because I know I’ve been slacking off recently and it is not fair for all of you to have to suffer because I get camera lazy!

Here is Curt rolling down the hill.

He came to a stop and righted himself!

Here is Calvin running.

And Schnapps.

And here is the movie with Fritz. He just loves those little guys and I think he will be lonely for them after they leave.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Learning

The puppies are pretty much grown now and ready to go. Often buyers ask me why I keep them until they are 11-12 weeks old, especially when it means a lot of work for me?

Take today. The puppies were in rare form. They spent quite a bit of time outside running around, before I brought them in. Usually they have their dinner and go to sleep. Not tonight. Tonight we had the shredding of newspaper, the chewing of sibling ears and toes, and general madness and mayhem! Even Greta wanted nothing to do with them.

I thought I might go mad as well, with the swirling newspaper and yelps. However, this is why I keep them. Yes, there is a reason.

You see the puppies learn about proper dog behavior from me and from each other. They learn how much they can bite their sibling before it hurts and they learn about what is a toy and what isn’t. I took the newspaper from their little mouths and put mini rawhide bones in there for them to gnaw on. Eventually I got them settled, and could put up my feet, but it was a challenge.

However, I really am pleased with this group of pups. They are sweet dogs and so friendly with everyone. They have learned so much in their short 9 ½ weeks on this earth.

I found out today that they will get their tattoo’s on Monday, and then the following weekend we bid adieu to most of the pups! I cannot believe how quickly this litter went by.

The Crazy Old Dackel Lady On The Hill

I have been joking with people for years that when I am old I will be The Crazy Old Dackel Lady that lives on the hill. I will surround myself with a dozen or so dackels and instead of furniture for people I will just have dackel beds all over the house. I’ll have a kiddie pool with water in it for them to all drink from, and will cook roasts for them every night. We’ll have a large screen TV where we will watch Animal Planet and TLC. And I will have a big recliner to get comfy on.

Well, that’s always been the dream until Daylight Savings Time ended. Now the dogs want to get up in the middle of the night, they want to be fed early and quite frankly my four have been just a little cranky with the disturbance in their sleep habits.

And so have I.

Take last night. I stayed up until 10 o’clock. I walked the older dogs (the sweet puppies were asleep) and we climbed into bed. I fell asleep quickly and slept well, until about 4 when Greta started in. She paced back and forth, up and down the bed, stepping on my head, pulling my hair, until I grabbed her and put her under the blankets near my stomach. I eeked out another 2 hours of sleep before the dogs forced me to get up!

Anyway, all of this sleep deprivation has caused me to rethink my goals of becoming The Crazy Old Dackel Lady on the hill.

Shoot, now I have to think up something new to aspire to!