One Heck of a Handful!

I know there are calm dachshunds but we surely didn’t get one. Oscar is the most fun dog I’ve ever had but he zaps my energy. Nothing with him is easy. We go out to walk and he wants to go 90 mph. That’s way past my walking speed! I keep the leash very short so he can’t run and then come to a sudden stop and by keeping him close, I’m able to have a bit more control.

He still loves to chase bugs. He has so much fun outside. I can’t wait til we can go out and play without the leash when the fence is installed (scheduled for August). A week or so go, every time we went out on the south side of the house, he would bark like crazy. No one was out. Their dog wasn’t out. There were no squirrels out there. I finally figured out they have some kind of big plant on our side of their house. Oscar’s entire life here, it’s been just a big, green plant. Last week, it suddenly had big white blooms and he was sure they were dangerous and scary.

His favorite food is still worm jerky. I guess it isn’t hurting him because, even though I think I’m watching him, he still manages to find them and grab them. I’ve dug more than a few out of his mouth.

Many of you suggested bitter apple spray. I resisted. I was going to be kind and not do mean things to him. <G> Now that he’s chewed up the 5th bed, I bought bitter apple spray. Within minutes of giving him a new bed, he started chewing on it so I sprayed the corner with the bitter apple spray. Y’all! That was two weeks ago and he has not chewed anywhere on that bed.

We have a gate in front of the stairs to keep him downstairs. Yesterday Vince had been outside and he came in and said “Did you know Oscar is upstairs?” No . . I didn’t know it. I went and got him, brought him downstairs and made sure the gate was secure and he didn’t escape again. This afternoon I went out to water and when I came back in, Oscar was sitting at the top of the stairs and the gate was open. I knew I had closed it securely so I brought him down, secured the gate and put something in front of it to block him from wiggling it enough to open it. I was sitting downstairs and heard Vince yelling for me from upstairs. I knew . . Oscar was upstairs. I went up there and he was having a blast. He can make a big circle around the stairs and he loves running. I have to basically sit and wait for him to get tired because there’s no way I can catch him when he’s having that much fun and going full speed. I finally grabbed his butt and brought him downstairs and I stuck a broom handle between the wall and the spindles in the gate and now he can’t move it at all . . by this afternoon, I’m confident he will have found a way around that broom handle door stop.

Vince and I often talk about older people who want a little dog and without knowing the dachshund personality, get one. Oh, my . . I’m so glad I knew what we were in for with him, even though I don’t think either of my previous two dachshunds had nearly as much energy or determination as does Oscar. Some people do have calm, snuggly dachshunds. Right now . . we do not!

I was telling Vince earlier this week that when I first get up in the mornings, Oscar is snuggly for a few minutes. He’ll let me hold him and pet him. Vince said he does the same thing with him when he first comes in from working outside so I guess Oscar is glad to see us first thing in the mornings. That gives me hope that he will continue to calm down.

He’s the neatest little dog! All puppies may be this way and my other dachshunds were too. He watches us and he learns what all our actions mean. I try to tell him “I’m going upstairs. I’ll be right back” or “We’re leaving, you have to go in the crate”. It’s probably my tone more than the actual words (Vince says the same thing!) but I think he understands what I’m saying. I’ve mentioned before that when I would pick up my purse, Speck would go get in his crate because he knew I was going to leave the house. Oscar looks to us for approval when he does good things. Every time he goes out and pees or poops, he looks at me with those puppy eyes and waits for me to say “Good Boy!!” and he gets so excited when I tell him he’s a good boy. We love him too much!!