HAPPY DOXIE BIRTHDAY TO DUKE!

Yes, our beloved doxie Duke is seven years old today.  These years with him have been a roller coaster ride of laughs, fun, love, and joy.  He came to us as a scared little eight-week-old puppy, but
that didn't last long.  In a few days, he felt right at home and his antics have given us many laughs.

Super Dawg

I had told my hubby:  "I want a dog with personality," and boy, did we get it!  Yes, he's a tad stubborn, but that's a noted doxie trait.  If we tell him to get up on the couch and lie down, he makes a beeline for the blue chair across the room in front of a window!  But he does lie down in the blue chair, so I suppose that's obedience--well, partial obedience, anyway.

He loves tug-of-war, too.  For only an eighteen-pound dawg, he's very strong, so the game exercises any human arm that plays it with him.

"What?  I thought you said TREAT"

After my recent surgeries, he made it his priority to stay by my side and take care of me.  I had trouble getting up from my recliner when I first came home from the hospital, so Clark would take my hands and pull me up.  Of course, my knee hurt, so I probably groaned and had a pained expression.  Duke promptly got between Clark and me, whining and barking at him--Duke thought Clark was hurting me, when it was only the process of getting up that hurt me.  We reassured him that I was okay, so he's never intervened again when Clark has helped me up.

His vocabulary is large, too.  By "vocabulary" I mean the words that he understands:  food, hungry, eat, breakfast, lunch, dinner, cheese, eggs and bacon, treat, toy,

ball, bone, squeak toy, sock, lie down, bath, go out, car, ride, mailman, cat, kitty, squirrel, geese, Mama, Daddy, and all the names of everyone else in the family, especially those of the grandchildren.  Notice a pattern of all the food-related words?

Of course, as most dogs do, he is overjoyed when we come home from anywhere.  Lately, it's been to my physical therapy sessions, which last about two hours.  Clark drives me because my recent knee replacement was on my right leg--not up to driving yet.  Duke wags his tail and smiles, giving us doggie kisses and being thrilled to see us.

He made his debut in THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES series in Book 2, I AM DACHSHUND.  Sarge takes Duke under his wing (or paw, to be exact) to teach Duke how dachshunds should act, as well as some of his own time-tested methods for obtaining human food.

All in all, I can't imagine how boring our lives were before he came.  Our children were married and lived out of town (well, one of them is only an hour away now), so the house was very quiet.  Duke has livened it up considerably, still wanting to chase his ball after we throw it down the hall for him. 

"Why should I get off your bed??"

In fact, we've talked about his remarkable talent for remaining puppy-like in middle age (in dog years, that is).  He has a gray hair here and there now, too.  But his fun-loving and comical personality from puppyhood is still intact.  He makes us laugh every day, and he gives us that unconditional love that only a dog can give--down here, anyway.

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em.  And in our case, we love Duke for the handsome, sweet, stubborn, intelligent, comical, loyal, and yes--the downright human--dawg he is!