TO A DOXIE, THE WORD "NO" MEANS NOTHING!

Ah, yes . . . that pesky word to both children and doxies. We all know that dachshunds are the most stubborn breed of dogs, but that trait has stood them in good stead for what they were bred for: going down into badger holes and killing them! Badgers are tough and vicious, so doxies have had to be a tad tougher and more vicious. That's why doxies are so stubborn and tenacious. Have you ever tried to play tug-of-war with your doxie? MmmmHmmm--they might be small, but boy, are they strong!

And that brings us to the word NO: make no mistake, these fur balls know exactly what it means--they just choose to ignore it. Case in point: our doxie Duke likes to lie on our couch and relax. One day he wanted one of us to play with him, but we were both busy doing other things. He kept whining and following one of us around, so my hubby finally told him to get on the couch. Duke stood there looking at Clark for a moment, looked at the couch, and then promptly crossed to the other side of our living room and jumped up in the blue armchair! He knew what COUCH meant, he knew what GET ON THE COUCH MEANT--he just chose to be disobedient. Oh, he did get in the chair, at least! See, our doxies are way too intelligent, and they know exactly what NO means.

If Duke is barking at a speck of dust floating around, I tell him no. Does he stop? Heavens, no! Barking at nothing (at least, in a doxie's mind) is far more important than anything a human family member says. In his mind, he's warning us of danger (a good trait), but a speck of dust?? I may have fears, but a speck of dust isn't one of them.

I've seen several doxie memes lately that have cropped up to address this very doxie tendency. Here you go:

  

So, you see? You are not alone in being ignored by your boss . . . er, doxie. They know what NO means, they simply have more important things to keep doing rather than do what we tell them. But we love all their other wonderful traits enough to offset their stubborn streak: loyalty, fun, loving, cute, sweet, warm, and NOSY.

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em, stubbornness and all.