PD survived his too close encounter with poisoning, and
continued to thrive. As he got older,
his attachment to me became stronger. We
had started leaving PD at the house, rather than taking him to work because he
was outgrowing the little pen we had made for him. PD started to demand my attention most of the
time that I was home. When I could no
longer walk across the room without PD grabbing my pants leg, I decided it was
time for PD to have a brother or sister.
Wife agreed that PD needed another dog in the house. We felt guilty about leaving him home alone
all day and thought another dog would keep him from becoming so needy. We also hoped that another dachshund might
help to teach PD the ways of doggy hood.
PD, by the way, is a short-haired red dachshund who was
supposed to be a “mini.” We believed he
was a mini, until we learned otherwise.
PD is actually a “tweenie.” He is
longer than most mini’s, and is too small to be considered to be a full – sized
dachshund. PD’s fur is exceptionally
smooth. It is softer than any other dog
we have owned. The down side of this is that
it is difficult to resist cuddling him.
PD was about seven months old when we started looking. Our first stop was the local animal
shelters. We found Jelly at the dog
shelter in Rockport. Jelly was a mottled
black and tan short haired dachshund. She
was about two years old. The pound named
her Jelly because of her coloring. Her
deep black fur looked almost purple. Her
shiny black coat contrasted with lighter black markings, making her look like
grape jelly. When we met at her at the
local shelter we could see that she something wrong with her skin. She wasn’t just mottled, she was also losing
some fur. The shelter assured us that
Jelly had been checked over by their vet and that the skin condition was no big
deal.
We decided to adopt Jelly.
They said we could take her home overnight without adopting her to be
sure. I was confident that there was
nothing that would prevent us from keeping her.
So, we paid the fees and took Jelly home. There was no real tension between Jelly and
PD that first night. Jelly slept in our
bed, but we kept the two dogs separated, until they got better acquainted.
The next day, we took Jelly to get checked out by our
vet. We found out that the minor skin
condition was mange. We started Jelly on
the ointments and pills and brought her back home. Then we changed the sheets, changed our
clothes, took baths, scrubbed PD, scrubbed everything Jelly might have laid
down on, and hoped for the best.
I don’t know if it was the added tension in the house
because we now knew that Jelly had mange, or if Jelly was feeling bad, if she
just had a possessive nature, or if she was reacting to PD’s possessiveness of
me. But the tension between PD and Jelly
grew. The honeymoon period was over by the
next afternoon. Jelly snapped at PD over
a toy and the two of them got into a growling, barking, snapping scuffle.
Wife and I decided the pairing just wasn’t going to
work. It was with much regret and some
sorrow that we made the decision to return Jelly to the shelter. We had really only given her three days. But, in the end we were worried about PD’s
safety. I took Jelly back, told them
they could keep the adoption fee as a donation, handed over her prescriptions
and instructed them on her treatment for mange.
I hope Jelly was cured of her mange.
And I hope she found a new forever home.
I am sorry that we were not the home we wanted to be for her.
And so the search for a sibling continued.
We found a dachshund breeder outside of Sinton, Texas. We drove out to the breeder’s home and saw a
herd of dachshunds running around behind a large fenced in enclosure.
This time, we brought PD with us, so he could help us in
making our decision.
After visiting for a while, the breeder told us about
Henry. Henry was three months old. He was a short-haired black and tan
dachshund. Henry had already been
adopted by a family with a ten year old boy.
The boy did not treat Henry well, so the family brought him back. He was getting old for a puppy and becoming
less adoptable. This sounded perfect to
us. Henry would already be well past the
early puppy stages and had been among other dachshunds long enough to know the
ways of the doggy world.
The breeder brought Henry out and put him on the enclosed
porch with us. We brought PD out, and
put him on the porch. We continued to
talk to the breeder while PD and Henry first got to know each other, and then
sort of ignored each other. Wife
decided that the two of them got along well.
We took Henry home.
Henry was a really sweet, respectful puppy. He was lovable and never met a human he didn’t
like. It took a bit of adjustment for
the two dogs to get to know each other, but there was no snapping or fighting. Whatever signals PD was sending out, Henry
seemed to be capable of reading and respecting.
After our encounter with Jelly, we were thrilled when days
passed and PD and Henry were still getting along.
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