For The Love of Our Pets
When you are a pet owner or even just an animal lover, you know the special bond that is created with your fur friend. I grew up in the country on a small farm where we had chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigs and a cow. These animals were not pets, but I treated them that way. When they met with their intended fate, my dad just wouldn’t tell me about it and made sure I wasn’t home. Obviously I knew, but living in denial worked for me. We also had dogs, but they wereImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. “outside” dogs…which was a concept I thought was nuts. I vowed that I would always have pets in my home when I got older and they would be a part of the family and live in the house.
I saw my first dachshund when I was in kindergarten. I fell in love with this funny looking little dog. I told my mom that I was going to have a “wiener” dog when I grew up. Sure enough, for my 19th birthday, my high school boyfriend bought me one…I thought I was getting a bike, but this was so much better! She was so small; she fit into the palm in my hand. She was incredibly timid and sweet. I fell in love with her instantly and named her Ginger. Ginger fit into my purse and went everywhere with me…this was in 1992; before Paris Hilton and other celebrities made purse dogs fashionable.
At the beginning of 2002, Ginger and I moved in with my now husband; JR. That Fall I went grocery shopping and made the mistake of going into a pet store…this was before I knew where most pet stores got their dogs from. They had Dorgi puppies (mix of dachshund & corgi). Again I fell in love with this little ball of fur and called JR to tell him of my find! I did the adult thing and went home without her, but within the hour had dragged my poor husband back to the store with me. This time we did not leave empty handed…we had our little Coco. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Ginger played with Coco without issue till the light bulb went on and she figured out that Coco was here to stay. Once she got over not being the only princess…I am pretty sure she promoted herself to Queen, they became best friends. Coco was super friendly and the neighbourhood kids would ask if she could come out and play! Unfortunately Coco only lived to be four years old. After an atrociously expensive ($4000, ouch) surgery for bladder stones, she developed severe paralysis. We consulted with two different vets and they both said she was not a very good candidate for back surgery as the chances of there being much success was slim to none. We made the unbearably difficult decision to put her down. It was one of the worst moments of our life. We were all very sad and a bit depressed.
Ginger who was 14 was starting to age really quickly without Coco around, so inside of a month, we made the decision to get another dog. We sought out a dachshund breeder and found one a few hours away that had two male pups left from a recent litter. I thought we would just get one of the males, but my husband thought we should get both as Ginger was pretty old and we would need a companion for the other dog soon enough. We named them Ace & CJ but mostly referred to them as “the boys” or “Thing 1 & Thing 2″. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Man, we didn’t know what a challenge litter mates were. They had a closer bond with each other than they did with us humans. They liked Ginger but with her being so much older, they rarely paid her much attention. When Ginger finally passed away at the young age of 18, the boys didn’t even notice she was gone.
Ace & CJ liked to bark, especially when we left them alone. We became ultra paranoid about this and wouldn’t let them bark even once without getting in trouble. We would close all the windows tight, put them in the basement with the door closed and left the radio or TV on. We invested in dog trainers and gobbled up Cesar Milan’s teachings. Despite our efforts, we still got served with a by-law warning letter stating that a neighbour complained about the dogs barking in the back yard at 4:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday. I was livid. After a lot of unladylike language, I informed my husband it was time to find a home in the country where we could live without being paranoid and let our dogs have a life. And that is exactly what we did that following spring.
During our first year in our new home, CJ at the age of four became ill with seizures. He was very unsteady on his feet and was rapidly declining in health. The day before we were going to take him back to the vet, CJ was found in our pool. It was another extremely sad moment in our lives, although this outcome probably saved us from spending another small fortune on tests and medications or even having to make the decision of putting him down. Ace spent a lot of time looking for him and was a bit depressed. He probably would have been a lot worse off if we hadn’t recently brought a little rescued dachshund into our lives. We got Bella from the dachshund rescue association. We don’t know much about her past other than that she was a puppy mill mom who had never experienced anything but the inside of a cage for the first two years of her life. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Seeing her discover grass, yummy food and toys for the first time was a real hoot. She is a natural clown and keeps her companion Ace entertained 24/7. We will never buy a pet again, we will always rescue from now on. Despite some of the quirks and undesirable traits they may have, rescuing a little life is incredibly rewarding.
Taking on a pet is not an inexpensive endeavour in both time and money. All baby animals are cute, but the cuteness diminishes quickly the first time they chew your leather sofa. Pets are not disposable so make sure you are real about your decision to get one and don’t make an impulsive choice. If I was to add up all the money we have spent over the years on our fur babies, I am sure our house would be fully paid for and them some.
Pet expenses are part of my household budget. I include the regular expenses for food, treats and yearly vet check ups in my budget, but I also budget for those unexpected pet expenses so that we don’t have the added stress of debt when trying to deal with a sick or injured pet. Fur friends will always be a big part of our lives and maybe someday we will have one that is not a dachshund…JR’s request!
If you have a pet story, share it with us.
Stay tuned for the launch of our new blog site called Pets Dig It, coming soon!