[plainsong]

I'm really excited about this, but as my own family (other than my husband of course!) is less than enthused, I have to talk excitedly about it somewhere.

It all started when I was searching long hair dachshund breeders to see who was breeding anytime soon. Our dog Pixie's breeder, who has sense become a great friend, advised me to watch out for the temperments on Finnish-bred long hair doxies. With that in mind, I ran into a kennel's site that had it's foundation stock sire from Italy, every dog had a list of titles a mile long, and they just looked very nice. I asked Rea, the breeder, and she said they were good friends and gave a big thumb's up.

But then she also mentioned that they had a smooth hair kaninchen female from a kennel in Russia that was looking for a home. I should mention that in the US there's only standard and miniature, but here there is standard, miniature, and rabbit-sized (kaninchen). Pixie's almost a kaninchen if she just laid off the treats a little bit.

The breeder keeping the dog, named Tamara (the dog), said she's still looking for a home. Here's what we know so far -

- She's very friendly with people, and with other dogs
- She's untested with kids
- She's a bit thin in the pics I've seen of her, but that could have been lighting. Not hugely underweight though.
- Apparently the Russian breeder Tamara originates from has a good reputation here, but when I went to her site - it was a huuuuge kennel, and very business-like even with its own discussion board.
- Tamara is registered in the Finnish Kennel Union's database, 87% of her pedigree is known, and it's only part of the 4th generation missing. From those that are missing, in theory, it could be filled in because all the dogs have their registration numbers attached to the names. It's a champion bloodline for what is known from it.
- She won best of breed last year in Kuopio.
- She passed an eye test and has a health certificate according to the kennel union database.

Here's what we don't know -

What happened that a best of breed champion bloodline dog is suddenly a rescue case, especially if she's so friendly? We have to know that in order to make the choice as to whether or not she will have a good home with us. We have all the patience in the world for mistakes and mishaps, but we can't put Pixie in danger.

Why was she so thin in the pictures?

And the biggest question - will two adult female doxies take to each other enough to become sisters? We'll find out next Wednesday.

 

[vcoheda]

That's so exciting!!! I love dogs. They're so great.

 

[flamerz]

Awesome. My aunt runs this pet saving service. She always runs late or leaves early (well, she comes late all the time anyway) to go to either try to find people to own the pets, or to retrieve the pets from their bad owners. I have no idea where she keeps the pets in the mean time. She used to own a wildlife reservation in Montana, but sold it due to its distance from here. It was a great, great place. Big house, 4 cabins, lake, and tons of amazing animals. Here's an article on it:

http://archive.seattlepressonline.com/article-8691.html

 

[fraseyboy]

Wheres that "This thread is useless without pics" smiley...

 

[plainsong]

To brag a bit more about her, I'll point out that to win best of breed with doxies is to win best of group, because here they are rightly their own group, FCI group 4. They're not lumped in with the hounds. The reason being is that there are so many coat and size varieties of doxy, and that their characteristics can be terrier or hound-like, that they should have their own group. It's kinda cool on show day, group 4 usually doesn't have to rotate locations like the other breeds. What does that mean? It means for the entire day, it's the doxy-only zone, and they know it.

Yeah, show culture here isn't as nearly as elitist as in the US.

But anyway, my husband is calling today to find out more about Tamara. Pixie's been friendly with females of equal size and age coming into the home, and Tamara is a little bit smaller and she's younger at almost 2 years old. They SHOULD get on fine. I would expect some bickering, but surprised at fighting.

It's really rare that dachshunds need rescuing around here. There's no official doxie rescue, but rather local breeders usually step up, as is the case here.

And here's Pixie -

 

[mobayrasta]

My mother and father recently had to put their mini Dach down and it was very very sad. Now they are proud parents of a standard wire hair Dach that they're "fostering" for a local Animal Welfare League. I put fostering in quotes because they have had him for about 5 months now and I don't ever see them letting him go. My dad was the same way as your husband and didn't think it was a great idea. Now him and "Sam" are best of buds.

I hope you take the plunge and get this dog and give it the loving home it deserves.

 

[plainsong]

I hope it works out as well. I really ment it when I said we have all the patience in the world for all kinds of mistakes, and if we have to be correct and tell them what the pecking order is, then we can do that too. But when someone comes to the family, it's for good, so we have to make sure we can be a good home for her. I'm glad that the breeder who has her sees it the same way and wants to see how Tamara does here in our home. I'd be wary if she didn't want to test them out.

To demonstrate how kind Pixie is with those kind eyes, I could take that bone away, and she would completely trust me, and hop off the couch, wag her tail, and be poised and ready as if to say "Go long!", and so I do and she runs for her bone excitedly and comes right back with it.... unless she didn't want to play that, in which case she takes herself and her bone elsewhere.

Oh, Pixie looks bald in that pic because she mostly is. Her coat was just completely stripped, which is a part of doxy-life that smooth hairs will never have to face.

 

[ken36]

[size=x-large]Yes, this is great.[/size]

 

[laxx]

It's a hotdog!

 

[Old Pa]

[size=xx-large]Let the games begin![/size]

I always have told my girls when they were little that someday I would get them a little companion to give them just as much hell as they were now giving their older sisters.

But they always get along. Sometimes it takes a while and they all have different ways of doing it, but they always bring something into each other's lives that they just can't get from their "people". And with two (or three

), the chances of ganging up on the old man are just that much better. Have I mentioned the spaniel triangle of focussed doggie telepathy? You can boil water in it.

Besides, another doggie is much better than a new tat.

 

[plainsong]

Oh, we're still getting the tats.

But now I feel anxious and crushed. Why? Because, as smooth-hairs are rare here, and because she's currently co-owned, that this may not be a sale, but rather a breeder's agreement. What that means is, you sign a paper that you look after the dog, but that the breeder still owns it, and as such, you're at the beck and call of the breeder, to go to whichever shows whenever she chooses, all over the world if she wants. You have no say about your dog's future, and this continues through two, maybe three liters of puppies before the dog is yours. A lot of the serious show breeders do this, and Tamara was brought from Russia for this purpose, and has produced results.

But the shady thing is that we've talked to the lady who runs the kennel, and she said that Tamara needs a home because the woman she's currently with has two dobermans, and Tamara is getting stepped on and pushed over and can't even keep up on walks, and that the breeder, the co-owner, can't take her because she has 4 dogs with a litter on the way already.

So, is this one of those agreements, or is this an outright sale? She didn't say, and that's what strikes Rea as strange.

It strikes us as strange as well. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to enter into one of these agreements with someone I don't know, and put the well-being of my dog in their hands, to have her produce three litters at least when I would stop at two or one.

So all may not be as it seems, and we're really crushed about that, but we have to now wait around until she comes back from Sweden on Sunday. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Rea calls herself to ask what gives?

I think Pixie would like to have a little sister, but we can't live in constant fear that she's going to be taken away.

 

[keanej6]

omg i love wiener dogs. i want one.

 

[craiglester]

When I lived In England We called them sausage dogs, which I find amusing. I'm easily pleased aparrently.

 

[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, we're still getting the tats.

I knew that.

Quote:

I think Pixie would like to have a little sister, but we can't live in constant fear that she's going to be taken away.

That would be entirely unsatisfactory.

 

[plainsong]

The weird thing is, we haven't even met the dog, but already, because of the emotional preparation for bringing another little fellow into the family, we have this emotional stake in it, and we are actually worried and anxious and stressed, and if it falls through we'll miss her almost as if we'd met her already.

What else worries me is that a dog in a situation like that isn't loved like a family would love her. I mean sure they love her, she's cute, she's well cared for, but she's an investment, something she would never be with us. So in a way, rescue or not...it's really a rescue.

I'm just glad we have the good advice of another breeder as well, who's just as surprised as we are that none of this is mentioned, even though we emailed and called. It's all about her personality and what kind of home we have, rather than "Oh by the way, she won't really be yours." According to Rea, to leave out these details is uncharacteristic of this breeder. I said to Rea, "Maybe she and her friend bought Tamara, thinking they'd have time to show her and start a smooth hair breeding program that turns out will just take too much time and energy?" Rea replied sarcastically, "Ohh, she ALWAYS has time to show a nice dachshund. None of this makes any sense."

Poor thing, Tamara should come home with us.