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commentary on coat 

2/4/2014

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I have added an article reflecting my thoughts on dachshund coat types, primarily longhaired coats, with regard to suitability for field work.
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what is wrong with white on a dachshund?

1/27/2014

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In the aftermath of the proposed (and rescinded) revision to our breed Standard this month, I have finished an article expressing my thoughts about piebald. It was important for me to do it. Some things need to be said.
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a click on the photo will take you to the article
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louisiana sportsman article features tasha and alleah

12/19/2013

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I have posted both a link and a PDF download of the article on a separate web page.

Congratulations to Cliff Shrader and Tasha, Andre Guerin and Alleah!
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"physician heal thyself"

11/12/2013

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There is a very good, pro-breeder article by Susi on the DogKnobit blog. This is how it begins.
Not long ago, I had a conversation with a couple of women at a pet blogging convention where the majority of attendees tilted in favor of shelter and rescue dogs. Many had come with their own reclaimed dogs, and of them I thought, “Good for you!”  In my estimation, the majority of shelter and rescue workers do God’s work, and the people who take in these dogs are angels. But I've also learned that with the exception of people affiliated with breed clubs, most in the shelter and rescue world are woefully misinformed, if not ignorant about the world of the purebred dog owner and breeder.
This article is not new but it is well written and insightful. Have a look.
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gratitude - sent by janice stett

5/10/2013

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The following was posted on BuzzFeed by Summer Anne Burton. Many thanks to Janice for sending the link. I like the photo very much!
Eva, who works as a foster mom for Badass Brooklyn Foster Dog, rescued this one-eyed dachshund mix from a high-kill shelter in Alabama. She fell in love, bringing him back to her farm in Pennsylvania and naming him Captain Morgan.

Captain was eventually adopted by an awesome couple a few months ago, and it’s been happy-ever-after since. The couple brought Captain to a Badass Brooklyn block party where he was reunited with the woman who saved his life.

As soon as he saw Eva, he jumped into her arms to say “thank you.”


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three ohio bucks locked together

4/4/2013

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Beagler and dachshund field trial judge Bill Dyer shared this story on Facebook last night. Bill lives in Meigs County in southern Ohio where this incredible incident took place last fall.

I googled for more information and found this link to the story on Outdoors International, with many photos.

Wow!
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"Ban metal jumps now!" by Steve Schwarz

4/2/2013

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There is no reason to use these dangerous jumps anymore! Period. There are just too many opportunities for injury.
Steve Schwarz, self-proclaimed "Agility Nerd" has a blog post regarding the danger of metal jumps. Is anyone still using them??
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Owl waits for the timer and the signal to go at his (and my) very first agility trial, September 2009
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Nexus is DCA Cover dog

4/1/2013

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[Nexus is ABS6 DC Nexus v Dorndorf L CD TD JE RN NA VC Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned by Patricia Nance]

What a nice honor that Nexus is on the cover of the Spring 2013 Dachshund Club of American magazine. This is the quarterly publication of the national breed club. Nexus made the cover by virtue of having earned titles in seven AKC venues: Field, Tracking, Earthdog, Rally, Show, Obedience, and Agility. He is the first male longhair and second longhair of either sex to do it.

I am especially gratified by the presentation of the three-page article on Nexus inside the magazine. In fact, I was so very pleased with the graphics that I called the editor to express my appreciation. KUDOS AND THANK YOUS to Lynne Dahlen, Siren, Wisconsin, for her considerable effort, not only on my behalf in this issue but for all of DCA - month after month and year after year.

The national club published the photo and article gratis and I very much appreciate that, too.

I also sent a full page ad "Goodbye to a Godsend" about Nexus' mother Marta. Lynne placed this page at the end of the article on Nexus. And I received several extra copies of the magazine. THANK YOU, Lynne, for everything!
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While I was enjoying the magazine and on the phone with Lynne, Nexus' 10 month-old great-niece Taya got hold of the box that the magazines came in. Maybe Taya, too, is saying, "Great job, Lynne! You TORE it up!"
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(Thankfully, that is only newspaper in there!)
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harvest moon article by shawn Nies

1/24/2013

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In yesterday's post, I mentioned the Dachshund Club of America magazine. It is a quarterly publication of the national breed club. Lynne Dahlen of Wisconsin is the talented editor.

The most recent issue, Winter 2012, has a very nice write-up by Shawn Nies about the Harvest Moon Classic field trials (eight trials) held in Roscoe, Illinois over 10 days this past October. Shawn listed all the states exhibitors came from (15 plus Canada) and all the beagle men who helped us. She mentioned weather conditions (extremely dry), extra-curricular tracking practice and certifications managed by Lois Ballard (Viljo and Taya were both certified by Lois during the week), the earthdog test, and the numbers of entries - 724 total for the week when all was said and done! Honorable mentions include the "wild thing" dinner, the bonfire, and the raffle which earned $1000 to be given to the Northern Illinois Beagle Club for grounds maintenance. And the report noted a huge, well-deserved thank you to Cheri Faust and Larry Gohlke. Cheri and Larry organized the 1st annual Harvest Moon Classic and worked very hard to make it all a great success.

Shawn's article included some new Field Champions, of which Viljo was one:
Jeff Boehne, who is one of several new people to field trial at this event, finished his red standard wire GCH DC Hundeleben Zis Und Zat of Brownwood SW (Ziggy), on Friday at the DCGL field trail and then Ziggy got NBQ at the MADC FT during his first time to run with "the big dogs." Patt Nance finished her red, standard long, FC Cadium Aurinkosoturi (Viljo) on Friday at the DCGL FT and he took first place in the FCD class at the MADC FT on Saturday! Sherry Ruggieri finished her 7 month old wild boar standard wire bitch, FC Tusoksori-Ugraszto Husniya (Niya) and she came back to earn a third place in the field champion bitch class. Pamala Hopkins finished her wild boar miniature smooth boy, FC Hoppledachs's Keokut ME CGC (Keo) and he came back in the field champion dog class with a fourth place. There are definitely some very competitive new dogs in the Field Champion classes and I will look forward to seeing more of them.
Shawn, I look forward to it, too!

Thank you for the excellent article and photos.
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The Immortal life of henrietta lacks

1/14/2013

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I read a lot.

I promise not to post frequently about books I have read, but The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a true story, is especially worth mentioning. Superbly written by Rebecca Skloot and published February 2010, it is a page turner. I had never heard of the book or of Henrietta Lacks. A coworker loaned the book to me and I am glad to say that I am now familiar with both. Thank you, Nancy!
Amazon.com Editorial Review by Tom Nissley:
From a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations in modern science possible. And from that same life, and those cells, Rebecca Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?
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sniff mechanics - by peter reuell

1/1/2013

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Research explores how odors are published in the brain.

Published Thursday, December 20, 2012 in the Harvard Gazette.

Link forwarded today by Walter Obrien; there is a copy icon for this article.

Harvard scientists are shedding light on a neural feedback mechanism that may play a key role in how the olfactory system works in the brain. The mechanism was first identified more than a century ago, but little was understood about its workings till now.

As described in a Dec. 19 paper in Neuron by Venkatesh Murthy, a professor of molecular and cellular biology, researchers have, for the first time, described how that feedback mechanism works by identifying where the signals go, and which type of neurons receive them. Three scientists from the Murthy lab were involved in the work: Foivos Markopoulos, Dan Rokni, and David Gire.

“The image of the brain as a linear processor is a convenient one, but almost all brains, and certainly mammalian brains, do not rely on that kind of pure feed-forward system,” Murthy said. “On the contrary, it now appears that the higher regions of the brain, which are responsible for interpreting olfactory information, are communicating with lower parts of the brain on a near-constant basis.”

The mechanism’s precise workings remained a mystery in part because the technological tools needed to activate individual neurons and individual pathways simply weren’t available.

“One of the challenges with this type of research is that these feedback neurons are not the only neurons that come back to the olfactory bulb,” Murthy explained. “The challenge has always been that there’s no easy way to pick out just one type of neuron to activate.”

To do it, Murthy and his team turned to a technique called optogenetics.

Using a virus that has been genetically modified to produce a light-sensitive protein, Murthy and his team marked specific neurons, which become active when hit with laser light. Researchers were then able to trace the feedback mechanism from the brain’s processing centers back to the olfactory bulb.

Reaching that level of precision was critical, Murthy explained, because while the olfactory bulb contains many “principal” neurons that are responsible for sending signals to other the parts of the brain, it is also packed with interneurons, which appear to play a role in formatting olfactory information as it comes into the brain.

Without that formatting process, Murthy said, the brain would likely have trouble interpreting the wide range of signals — from very weak to very strong — it encounters.

“If you make a system that is very good at detecting weak signals, it becomes saturated as the signal gets stronger, and eventually it’s impossible to differentiate between strong signals,” Murthy said. “To avoid that problem, brain circuits use a process called gain control. By inhibiting certain neurons, it ensures that you stay within the detection range, so you don’t miss the weak things, but you don’t miss the very strong things either.”

Earlier studies had hinted that the interneurons in the olfactory bulb are the primary target of the feedback signals, but Murthy’s study is the first to prove it, and to show that those feedback signals effectively inhibit the activity of the principal neurons.

“When the cortical area decides to send these signals back to the olfactory bulb, it’s effectively turning down the activity of these principal neurons,” Murthy said. “Why does the brain do this? Our theory is that the feedback is a way for the cortex to say, ‘I heard you.’ As the olfactory information is sent to higher regions of the brain, these signals come back and turn down the volume on the input.”

While similar systems have been identified in other parts of the brain, the extent of the olfactory feedback was surprising. Murthy’s research showed that the system doesn’t simply send signals back to the olfactory bulb, but sends them to its very first layer of neurons.

“That feedback is coming back to the very first synapse, if you will,” he said.

Even more surprising, Murthy said, was evidence that the olfactory bulb’s principal neurons were also receiving feedback signals — albeit weak ones — that appeared to prime them for incoming signals.

“These weak connections help the principal neuron get over the top when it’s listening to weak inputs,” Murthy said. “If there’s a weak smell coming in, but it’s not able to drive the principal neuron over the threshold to signal the rest of the brain, but say you’re in an environment where you’re primed to smell that weak smell — we believe this feedback from this higher area of the brain is sort of tickling these principal neurons, so when there’s a weak input you’re able to smell it.

“For most animals, smell is a very, very important thing,” Murthy added. “If they are in an environment where there’s one overwhelming smell that’s irrelevant, they need to be able to detect a weak smell that may signal danger. We are hypothesizing that this mechanism, where the cortex is talking back to the olfactory bulb and suppressing neurons, through this feedback they may be able to detect that weak signal.”
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tasha's efforts - by cliff shrader

12/31/2012

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Received this report today from Cliff who has been super busy lately. Thank you, Cliff!
I took a track on Christmas Eve during the afternoon for my cousin's good friend. I called my brother in law Andre where he could get his new pup Aleah some OJT.

Hunter's Story
The shot was about 250 yards on a broadside buck standing. At the shot the buck hit the ground then jumped up and ran to the thickest stuff you can walk in. They had good blood that they tracked for 150 yards. Hunters also reported seeing some corn stuff in the blood.

What we found
The shot site was down a gravel/ grass road. We drove in our trucks followed the hunter to the shot site. When we got ready to go to the hit site, I looked down and saw, quite by accident, a drop of blood under my truck. Hunter said....Oh yea, After the deer was shot, fell down and jumped back up....it ran that way and then turned away and ran fifty yards before cutting into the woods. Tasha checked the hit site and found nothing. Tasha took us to the cutover which may be the worse briers that I have ever been in. Andre and Aleah were also working the blood trail we found here. The trail was lite drops of blood scattered along with a few small waist high smears on grass. There were two small areas about the size of saucers where the deer had stood and dripped blood. We only found blood for 60 yards when I checked the GPS.  Tasha took the track about two hundred yards but I never saw any indication other than a very deep track along this trail.  We never saw any corn or any other indication of gut shot. We started over, walked the perimeter and even tracked blindly down deer trails. They was no wind blowing but when we did get a breeze, Tasha raised her nose and sampled the air for 20 seconds or so. I made sure that we spent some time checking this area out thoroughly. After over two hours of thick thick cutover tracking, we were not able to advance the track.

Learnings for us:
- don't park in you hit site.
- do a complete interview of the hunter.....I didn't do a complete interview over the phone because I knew that I was taking this call regardless. I am still not sure if the hunter shot once or twice. This was a new bullet for his rifle that had not been sighted in prior to the hunt. I probably still don't have all the pieces of the puzzle.
- a good pair of brier pants, brier jacket and brier gloves are worth the investment.

Well, we didn't find the deer. I believe it was hit high because of the blood smears it left high on the grass and the fact that it dropped instantly but then jumped up and regained his composure. They will watch this area for buzzards. It is right by his house. I mailed him the GPS track analysis with areas of concern highlighted on it. They will let us know if they find out anything else. The hunter also shared some homemade pickled okra, homemade salsa and homemade hot pepper jelly with us. Another fun outing. Tasha and Aleah crashed all the way back home.
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canine imitation: dachsie see, dachsie do

12/1/2012

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On the phone a couple of days ago, I commented about something that I have been seeing with Taya and that is imitation.

The habit in this house is that when the three adult dogs, Nexus, Owl, and Viljo, come in on lead, they sit nicely inside the door while I remove their collars and leads. They are all required to stay sitting until I tell them "okay." <Mad dash>

Sometimes the stay is for 10 seconds. Sometimes it is for 60 seconds. Sometimes I stay with them, other times I walk into another room, remove my jacket, take a water from the fridge, get a Kleenex...Then I walk back to them, tell them how good they are, and say "okay."  <Mad dash>

Taya has not been a part of this process. She is nearly always coming in without a lead because she nearly always doesn't need one. And in all of the many times that she has come in without a lead, she has just mozied around wherever she wants to go - until last week.

Last week, I saw Taya sit and stay with the boys when I left and went into the kitchen. She was still there when I walked back. She was looking at me intently but I didn't really think it was deliberate behavior on her part. A fluke. Yes, must be!

But the same thing has happened several times since then. And of course I am now aware that the behavior is deliberate. She sits with the boys. She waits with the boys for however long they wait. And when I say "okay" <Mad dash>.

The behavior is completely self-taught and she learned it by watching.

Then...today. Today, I gave Owl a bath. Afterward, I wrapped him in a towel and carried him outside. Taya was all happy that Owl had gotten a bath; she was jumping up and carrying on and she came outside with us. I rubbed Owl with the towel, then I removed it. As soon as I took the towel off Owl, he gave a vigorous shake. And you know what?  Taya, who had been bouncing around Owl being a nuisance and even vocalizing a bit, stopped right then and shook herself, too. haha! I believe the term for that action is "automatic imitation." I would love to have it on video!

That dogs can and do imitate the actions of other dogs is not a new concept to me. However, seeing such explicit demonstrations of imitation in one of my own - young - dogs is new.

This evening, I googled "canines imitating canines" and have read two interesting articles so far. The first, in the Washington Post, is titled What Were They Thinking? More Then We Knew. The other is Imitation #2 on Patricia McConnell's blog The Other End of the Leash. Some interesting stuff.
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Critical mass: size in dachshunds

11/27/2012

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Houston, we've had a problem here.

In fact, all across the United States, we've had a problem. A big problem.

There is no question that US exhibitors, breeders, and judges care about this breed.

The question that I find myself having to ask is - do US exhibitors, breeders, and judges KNOW this breed? Well, we are supposed to know! The information is available. And it is more easily accessible than ever before. Unfortunately, many statements being posted on the internet, and even published in magazines, is surprisingly misleading and simply not congruent with facts.

For all intents and purposes, two more questions underlie the one above.

1. Is the dachshund an earthdog? I really do not know anyone who would say no.

2. Is size important in the dachshund aka earthdog? Well now, here comes the dichotomy of all dichotomies. It is absolutely amazing how many LONG TIME exhibitors, breeders, and judges assert that it is not!

"A good dachshund is a good dachshund." Well, what makes a dachshund GOOD? In part, it is the ability to do the WORK of a dachshund. And not a thing about a dachshund's structure helps him "do the job" more than his size!

Why is it, pray tell, that so many of us talk and act like dachshund size is totally irrelevant, when it is COMPLETELY relevant! I tell you this thing, there is not a badger or fox hunter in the world who will say otherwise.
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This longhaired bitch is one of a mother/daughter pair of bitches that is regularly and successfully used to hunt the European badger (aka Eurasian badger) in Finland. Guess how big she is and hold that thought. We will come back to it.

Please see below each of 20 different earths, nearly all entrances. Entrances! If a picture is worth 1000 words, then maybe we can consider this little album a virtual encyclopedia on earthdog size. All photos were taken by me in an 11 hour badger hunt with three men, another woman, and three standard longhaired bitches in Finland on August 10, 2010. Earthwork photos are not unique. There are many like them on the internet. But, ahem, apparently American dachshund enthusiasts are not looking at them!

Note that with one exception I have not included photos with badgers or the evidence of the taking of badgers. The singular purpose of this post is to give the reader clarity, in pictures, on what seems to be a very muddied (ha!) concept of earthdog size. I sincerely hope that it helps do that. If not, well I tried. I really tried!

20 reasons why dachshund size is important

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1st of 2 photos of the same den
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2nd of 2
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1st of 3 photos of the same hole
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2nd of 3
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3rd of 3
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1st of 3 pictures of the same entrance
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2nd of 3 - This is as narrow as it looks
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3rd of 3 - She gets in
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"Good girl" for a good day's work!
Size of the longhairs in the photos?
 
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Do you believe in magic

11/25/2012

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CH Von Schaafmeister's Do You Believe in Magic
May 13 2007 - November 25 2012

Written by his owner, Wendy McQuiston, Red Oak, TX
Reprinted with Wendy's permission and hope that it may save another newborn from being needlessly put down. Wendy, my condolences. I know there is a hole in your heart.
Timothy was born to DC VS Endless Summer Nights JE (Naughty) and DC VS Impossible Dreams (Magic).

His was a special litter (aren't they all?) because it was sired by my "heart dog Magic" when he was 10. There were 2 red boys and one B&T girl in the litter. Magic cloned himself with the two red boys and Naughty cloned herself with the one B&T girl.

When Timothy was born, my heart fell because before he was dry, I realized that his back legs were on........backwards. There's no other way to explain it except to say that the kneecaps faced the wrong way and it was so OBVIOUS that it was a serious birth defect. My heart fell. But I decided right away to let him live and to reassess the situation as he grew. If he was in pain as he grew, I could put him down later. In the wee hours, as I was awaiting the end of the litter being born, I emailed a few friends. I was very distraught over the limb deformity, needless to say. About 6 am, I received a phone call with a friend SCREAMING into the phone, "You didn't OFF that puppy did you?". "No, I didn't" was my response to her. Oddly enough, just the week prior, we'd been discussing the very awful but needful topic of WHAT to do in the wee hours of the morning if you do have a puppy born who needs to be put down. At that time of the morning, you're stuck with an emergency clinic and they're simply NOT going to know how to put down a new born puppy. So this friend told me what her vet had told her and how to do it. She was terrified after our discussion that I'd "offed" him. No, not for something that clearly wasn't causing him any distress......... as he had immediately scooted over to his Mom and started nursing. Anyway, the friend explained to me that she'd had 4 puppies born that way and that they all straightened out on their own. I tried to explain to her that these legs were BACKWARDS and surely wouldn't straighten on their own. But they did. Within 24 hours they were already better. Within 72 hours they looked completely normal. It is possible that Timothy's "mission" on earth was to save future puppy lives by my spreading the word about his "miracle" recovery. I've told Tim's story to numerous breeders and veterinarians. FEW have ever heard about it. Even worse were the ones who had a rather sick look on their face; I suspect they'd seen a puppy like this and put it down. Of course, his "deformity" is how he earned his name. My weird mind started calling him "Tiny Tim" early on. As he grew and became a wonderful, elegant dog, it became "Timothy".

Timothy finished his bench championship pretty quickly. He enjoyed showing but more than that, enjoyed the one on one "Mom time" and meeting new friends. He especially loved his "Aunt Cathy". In fact, he showed better if his "Aunt Cathy" was there. I think he even showed better for her than he did for me. They always had a special relationship.

Timothy had a rather "unusual" bark. He didn't fully open his mouth when he barked so his bark sounded "muffled". It was cute, unique and unfortunately for him, so distinct that it was always obvious when he was the one barking. No blending into the mob of barking fools for Tim.

Timothy's start in the field was a little slow but one run in Saint Louis was so memorable. It's one of the few runs I really remember. The one judge had already "blown Tim off" and wanted him picked up. The other judge (for whom I'll always hold a special spot in my heart) kept waving off the other judge and was watching Timothy. You could SEE the dog's mind racing as he tried to figure it out. You could see him sniff, get excited, go a little off track, realize that he'd lost it and come back to the line. He was moving very slowly but he was very methodically working it out. He worked his way half way down a "lane", made the turn to the left and was still working it out. He lost it when the rabbit jumped to the right, off the lane and into the brush. Timothy just couldn't figure it out but he wasn't willing to give up. I was SO excited to watch him figure it out. It doesn't matter that he didn't get a placement or a ribbon.........it was just exciting to watch him using his nose, doing what his ancestors from so long ago had done and GETTING IT. Timothy had gotten to the point where he was READY for field trial season and we were looking forward to it this winter.

Alas, life had other plans. In the spring of 2012, he had a lump come up on the side of his neck. The vet tried to take a needle biopsy but nothing came out. It wasn't sore, didn't bother him and we were on the fence about what to do. The vet and I thought it was a salivary gland. Of course, now we now it was a lymph gland and that we made the wrong call. In June, Timothy became very ill and stopped eating.






He lost 5 pounds in about 7 days. We were out of state at the time and I'd hope to make it back home to our vet but he became so sick, so fast that I had to go to a vet there. After blood work, she was fearful that he had liver cancer. We made it home and went immediately to a canine Oncologist. He narrowed it down to either Lymphosarcoma or histiocytic sarcoma. Neither diagnosis was good. In addition to the lump on his neck, he In addition to the lump on his neck, he was full of internal tumors. The histiocytic sarcoma was completely, totally NOT treatable. The Lymphosarcoma, in the vet's words was "treatable, not curable". I heard his words as if they were coming from a distance and it took quite some time for them to sink in. The bottom line was that with treatment, MAYBE a year of life after treatment, without it, weeks. It was as if I was paralyzed. I couldn't make a decision. Adding to the dilemma was the cost. It would cost at least five thousand dollars. I hate for cost to be a factor in a dog's care but that's quite a lot of money.........especially when it wasn't going to save him. He was terribly ill and needed to be put down if we weren't going to do the treatment. But neither my husband nor I could bring ourselves to get in the car and make that painful drive to the vet. The oncologist gave him the first injection, just to make him feel better and it was miraculous. Within 24 hours, he was feeling good and eating. Then I heard from a friend that she has a dog who is 5 years post treatment for Lymphosarcoma. With that hope and a dog who was acting and feeling normally, we began treatment. The oncologist told me that it was a miracle that my friend's dog was alive 5 years later and not to expect another miracle. Privately, I thought, "guess we'll show him". Within just a few treatments, the lump on his neck disappeared and the internal tumors all disappeared. The oncologist was surprised at the quick response.

For the most part, he sailed through his treatment. Even the treatment that was supposed to make him vomit and have diarrhea didn't do so. One drug would make him not eat for two days afterwards. But we kept him plumped up so that those few days didn't drag him down. He loved his extra food and got so fat that I had to cut him back some. Timothy LOVED going to the Oncologist's office. The staff there loved him. They were constantly telling me how much they loved Timothy. They decided that I should give him to them and that he could go home with one staff member per night and spend his days at the clinic being loved on. They told me that he got carried around and if he WAS in his cage that invariably, someone had their head in there, loving on him. On treatment days, he was bouncing at the front door, eager to go. I thought we had our Timothy back.

He was in week 19 of 25 weeks of treatment when he stopped eating, clearly didn't feel good and had white gums. I hoped that it was just a temporary set back. When the vet called me, he said that the cancer had come back with a vengeance. He was full of internal tumors again and the fact that they'd come back during the treatment was an even worse sign. The oncologist wanted to do some more testing to see if it was the Lymphosarcoma or the histiocytic sarcoma but I could not see the sense of that. We were treating as if it was the Lympho and the Histio wasn't treatable at all. So figuring out WHICH one made NO SENSE at all to me. He said we could go to Plan B which was a different drug, injected every 3 weeks but even at that, it was not going to save his life. Considering the fact that the tumors were all back, in the middle of treatment, Plan B just didn't seem sensible and we decided to stop treatment. I wish I had a magic bullet that would have saved his life but this particular cancer is deadly. My friend's dog is the ONLY dog I've heard of who has survived this particular cancer.

Sadly, we knew that Timothy's battle was over and that the cancer had won. We brought him home and tried to prepare ourselves to take him to the vet for that final trip. I've had many dogs in my life. Dachshunds seldom give up and die. The vast majority of them have to be put down. I've put down MANY old Dachshunds. While it's hard, it's a gift I can offer them when they are at the end of their life and it is time. This, however, was harder, impossible, really. While we were trying to find the courage to make the trip, our pet communicator told us that Timothy wasn't really ready to go yet. He knew that he was dying and wasn't afraid but wasn't ready yet. He wanted a couple of days to sleep in the sunshine. We offered him anything to eat that he wanted. He had things that we normally never give the dogs. Doughnuts and a blueberry muffin were particularly enjoyed as was bologna. About the only thing he'd eat reliably was baby food meat. But even that became unpalatable and we knew it was time to say goodbye. We ponder why it had to happen. We ponder the unfairness of it.

But mostly we grieve as we say good bye.
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