Old Speck just keeps on kicking! He’s now 16-1/2 years old. He’s so fragile but sometimes he gets excited and acts like a puppy and Vince and just look at each other and say “where did that come from?” He gets so excited about eating and he’ll jump and run around. Switching vets helped his nasal/breathing issues. He’s been over a month without antibiotics. He takes heart meds twice a day. I once asked our vet how long dachshunds live and he said “It all depends on well they’re cared for” and I said “Oh good . . he’ll live to be 100” but I wasn’t serious.
Speck
It’s so hard to get him to be still so I can get a picture. He was chomping on something and he was afraid I was going to try to get it he was almost still. He’s gotten so skinny. I feed him more than I ever have because we always struggled to keep him from being overweight.
It’s been months and months since he jumped on the furniture and I came in the house yesterday and he was in Vince’s chair. I looked at him and said “How did you get up there?” but, of course, he wasn’t talking.
He’s gotten so snippy recently. He bit me and I had to go to the doctor. He bit Vince and barely broke the skin. The other night I was taking him out and he was at the wrong side of the door (the side that doesn’t open) and I reached down to show him the right way and he snapped at me again.
Saturday we ran to town (Sunday too — you know Vince!). Vince went in Tractor Supply and I ran over to Big Lots for something. Vince came to meet me and he was so excited. A lady was in Tractor Supply with “the cutest dachshund” he had ever seen. For Vince to talk to a stranger, it must have been one special dog! She told him that she got her dog from her friend who lives in the next town from here and she will have more puppies some time in the spring. She gave Vince the lady’s number, we called and we’re on the list for a new puppy.
I think I said I’d never get another puppy. Rita about broke me from ever trying to house train a dog again. Speck has been the best dog about never having accidents in the house. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Rita would “hold it” if we weren’t here but now, she always tells us when she has to go out so we’ve come a very, very long way with her.
I told Vince last night . . if we get a new puppy in early summer and that one lives as long as Speck, you’ll be 80 when that dog is gone. Where has time gone? Speck is probably wondering the same thing.
Sherrill Pecere says
I had a ‘mutt’ years ago (looked a little like a wire-haired terrier and was not a good-looking dog–poor girl) that was always an outside dog and lived to be nearly 21!!! She had a stroke and DH took her to vet. He gave us some pills and said that would be the only thing that might help and it DID. She lived 6 yrs after that and even up to the last year or two would run around the yard like a pup. She was amazing. She had cancer and we had to have her put to sleep 🙁
TerriS says
We had to have our 12-year-old Shih-Tzu put down last spring and decided we wanted another dog. I looked at the shelters for a rescue dog that was and adult, but all they had were very old or very sick dogs, or large dogs, which we didn’t want. So we got a puggle puppy (a cross between a beagle and a pug). Let me tell you, she is kicking our butts!! She is 7 months old now, and she has way more energy than either of us do!! She has made my life a nightmare. I can’t crochet, I can’t sew, I can’t even sit in a chair and watch TV without her jumping all over me and leaving me feeling like I’ve been beat up after about an hour. She is very muscular and extremely strong and is difficult for me to handle. She is the most curious dog we’ve ever owned and has to have her nose in everything. We have to keep our shoes on the dining room table, our Kleenex boxes turned upside down, the toilet tissue on the vanity instead of on the roll and my end tables and coffee tables are bare now. When the grandkids come over, we have to keep her on a leash so she doesn’t jump on them and hurt them accidentally. She loves them to death, but is a little too exuberant for them to handle. She climbs over the gate we got to keep her in the kitchen when we leave the house, so she has to go in her kennel. We don’t want to leave her in there too long, so if we need to be gone for more than a couple of hours, we have to either take her with us, or get a dog sitter to stay with her. Every day, I’m sorry that we didn’t decide to go dogless!! But, we’ve come to love her with all her quirks. She’s a cute little thing, adores us, and I have hopes that she’ll calm down and be a nice dog eventually … if I live that long!! Just so you know what you’re getting yourselves into. It’s like living with a toddler in the throes of the terrible twos!!
dezertsuz says
I grew up with a long-haired Dachshund I loved so much. A red-gold one. He lived to a very old age, too. They are very smart dogs. I hope you have a wonderful experience with the puppy. So did you see this dog that was so cute?
Angie Kiker says
Did you see the dachshund puppy? What kind? Our daughter has a mini Dachshund. “Peanut”. She is so smart, but barky and always hungry. They have her on a perpetual diet. She is 10 now. Whenever they bring her over the first place she heads is to see what our Sassy has in her food dish. Our Sassy is 6 yrs. old, and we got her as a puppy. We did investigate adopting from one of the shelters, but they had no small breed dogs or puppies. Which is what we wanted. So we bought her from a family with a litter of 7 puppies, and we got to see the parents. The first year and half I we thought, what have we done! The potty training was the hardest. Thankfully it was Spring time. “Apple Bitter” saved us a lot of puppy damage. But, if I dropped even one strip of fabric in the sewing room, Sassy would grab it and run like the wind! There were many times I had to recut things. One day she got into my long arm pantographs and chewed the edges off many of them. She would jump in our tiered fountain and get soaking wet! Run wild through the house like she was possessed. She is only about 10 lbs. of yorkie, bischon, and chihuahua. But she can move! We had to spend a lot of time training her, and she is still stubborn about coming when called, but we wouldn’t trade her for anything —now. Back in the puppy stage, maybe. LOL! Summer is a good time to get a puppy for sure. We are old, and wonder what possessed us to get a puppy, but she keeps us young!
barbara says
if you do get a puppy, it would be good if you could acclimate it to kitty as well as rita. your life would be much easier if those three could be counted on to get along. you never know when they may have to – like vet visits. pups will usually accept a kitty because they don’t know any better (ha!) and they’re curious. cats will ignore a puppy if the cat can get out of the dog’s way unless a dog is aggressive. which yours wouldn’t be. so there’s a chance here for a good outcome in the future. let’s root for rita to co-operate.
Jill in Ohio says
Glad to hear that Speck is doing better with the nasal stuff! I had Max in for a sneezing with discharge issue (they asked me if I could tell which nostril the phlegm was coming from – uhhhh, how would that be possible??) and with some antibiotics, he is doing so much better! Maisy has lost a lot of weight in the last year – 23 lbs to 17 lbs at the summer check up. I can feel her vertebrae when I pet her back. They will be 15 in February. Max had me worried with his sneezing and sleeping so much, but he bounced back and I am so happy!
Vicki Gasorski says
I loved hearing an update on Speck. I had my previous mini longhair, Heidi, for almost 15 years. My current doxie, Chip, is a rescue and around 9. I’ve had him 5 years now. Enjoy Speck’s senior days – they are so precious. When Heidi passed, I couldn’t handle training a puppy which is why I went with a doxie rescue near me. Never a dull moment with Chip. Thanks for sharing!!
Amy (Waunaknit) says
Maybe we both will have puppies at the same time. We’re currently 80th on the list.