Animal And Company: Re: introduction and questions

Well, I'm guessing you've read all the people that say pee pads just make things ultimately harder. Read them. It makes sense. I'm convinced doxies can be trained. My was. She is 5 now and honestly can hold it for many, many hours if it's raining hard. She will go out if it gets too bad, and she really doesn't like the rain--but she will NOT potty in the house. We got her as a pup in May. I'm a teacher so by late June I was out of school and started working with her. At the time we had not fence, so I went out with her every single time she went out. She quickly learned that I loved it when she pottied outside. Use some consistent words so you can eventually give a command--Lady can definitely pee on command!

You've heard the answers about swimming. We took ours to a pool [completely against the rules--we did it in the off hours when no one was around. My son got in the pool and my husband got at the edge. She could definitely swim. She swam for the edge. I don't know that she could have gotten out, though. I wouldn't be afraid of natural water that goes deeper gradually, but I would fear for a pool until I was sure she knew what she was doing.

I agree with the back. I, too, knew of the back problems. When I had Lady spayed, they said when I brought her home, "keep her from running and jumping, etc." She was 6 months old--yeah, right! I said, how am I going to do that? She's like a crazy dog in the early evening. The laughed and agreed that a healthy little dog was hard to stop from doing those things and said just not to encourage her to do it. We did out best. With the spaying, she jumped up one time, it hurt, she didn't do it again until she had healed. Right now, she has had a very mild back issue, very mild. We are keeping her off the furniture [baby gate in front of couch, pillows in and in front of all chairs, ramps at the door she uses all the time [one that she cannot avoid and one that she usually gets half way down and then goes off the side!] We're doing the best we can. I'd put her in my lap, which she loves and would let me do, but she will jump down--I mean will jump 20 feet if she hears something or sees a squirrel or something, so no laps. I will sometimes sit on the floor and let her in my lap, but it's not as good to her. it helps some, though. Don't really think there's a good answer for this. Just don't encourage the jumping, and keep the weight down. That's highly important.

On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 5:25 PM, Susan Huffaker <susanhuffaker@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Hello,
I'm new to this list. I have a little miniature female named Penny.

Penny was abandoned at a public park in an old beat-up cat crate. She looked like a skeleton- she was starving. She was covered in urine and dehydrated. Her toenails were so long that they were curved around under her pads. She had no collar or food or water or blanket. Long story short- I found her, brought her home and have just fallen completely in love with her!! She is all healthy now (with our vet's help) although she could still stand to gain a few pounds which we are working on.

She is not house-broken at ALL so we are also working on that- we use pee pads. She's already learned how to sit for a treat.

We think she is about 1-2 years old. She is not fearful in any way. She seems to love all people and animals ( I have 2 other small dogs- a Yorkie and a smooth-coated Brussels Griffon. She gets along great with them.)

I have so many questions as I really don't know a lot about the breed. Here are a few:

1.      Can Dachshunds swim? We went to a lake this weekend and Penny just ran right in the water but didn't go over her head. But I felt like she would if I let her but I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to swim so I was very cautious.

2.      I've been reading that Doxies are prone to back trouble and not to let them go up/down stairs or jump off furniture. I'm trying to do this but she is VERY active and it's not easy. Sometimes she just jumps vertically up in the air when she's excited! If you have an advice about this it would be most welcome.

3.      I have my Yorkie in Rally obedience and agility. But there are jumps in Rally and agility so maybe it's not wise to let Doxies take part in these things? What about flyball?

4.      It looks like she has a bit of hair loss on the tips of her ears. The vet did not seem concerned about it. Any advice on this is welcome.

Is there anything else I should know or be watching for? She is really a delight and does some silly things that have us laughing.
And she is so cuddly. Anyway, I'm going on…

Thanks for any advice ( I will have many more questions I think!),
Susan and Penny