Amy's new bed

I came home from Target today to find that Amy had made herself a new bed -- in the food bin! One of naughty dachshunds had knocked it over and helped himself (there wasn't much food left), and Amy had crawled into the bin afterward to take a nap. Although we find her stuck in nooks all over the house and yard, this was the most interesting place so far!

Gretchen the huntress strikes again

Last night, around 2 am, we heard an ungodly racket from the backyard. Rushing out to see what was being killed, we found that Gretchen had cornered an opossum behind one of the plants and was screaming her head off at him. A giant, angry, hissing thing, the 'possum was not pleased. We pried Gretchen away and locked her in her crate, from whence she proceeded to scream for the next half hour. The 'possum, who had a suspiciously fresh bite on his tail, fell over, dead. Well, that's what Fake Daddy thought! After I reminded him about the saying "playing 'possom," he remembered that they play dead when threatened. We took the rest of the dogs back inside and let the poor guy recover from his trauma.

I bet that's the last time he'll visit Wiener Wonderland...

Gretchen is useful in the garden

Not too long ago, Gretchen helped Hank defeat a horrible monster...

Hank caught the evildoer, an enormous moth that produces the tomato worms that eat my tomato plants.

Revolting things, tomato worms can grow to the size of a man's finger -- and they hiss when you remove them from the vine. 


Do you see it?

After Hank caught the moth, Gretchen became very interested.

Yes, the moth was almost the size of her muzzle.

After they were done playing with it, Hank ate it.












And then Gretchen took a nap!

Mourning for Mommy -- NOT!

Louis gave me permission to write on his blog, but he doesn't know what I'm going to say...

If I ever needed proof of the dachshunds' fickle nature, I've seen it over the last couple of weeks. After Fake Mommy's visit and subsequent return to Kabul, I was really worried Louis would experience depression. Hah. Not only was he happy to be back, but he seems utterly unaffected by the trauma of Mommy leaving him again.

Gretchen, of course, doesn't care where she is or whom she's living with, as long as she has access to the squirrel-ridden, water-monster-lurking back yard and can bark at the old kitty at night.

And Amy ... well, Amy is the same, as always.

We all hope Mommy arrived safely in Afghanistan!

I am so ashamed of myself

Hi Mommy! Fake Mommy says I haven't written in a whole month, which has made you sad, dear Mommy. Well it's not my fault, of course (nothing is the King of France's fault), but I'll pologize anyway. Fake Mommy said she also wanted to wait until she got some better pictures.

I like this one because it is Artistic.

We have all been very busy in the yard. Fake Mommy is doing all sorts of weird stuff, like pouring this fishy-smelling stuff on the new plants, spraying the plant leaves with some gross fertilizer and pest controller she calls "worm pee" and digging in the dirt a whole lot.

I don't know why she's doing all these strange things, but the other dogs tell me there will be interesting things to eat in a couple of months.

Meanwhile, we're getting little carrots and big chard leaves. I don't care much about the leaves, but I like the thick, juicy stalks attached to the leaves. It's fun to carry one around before I chew on it. I like to make the other dogs jealous. Fake Mommy laughs and tells me there are enough yummy chard stalks for everyone to have a piece, but I don't care because mine is the best.

Gretchen is having a good ole time here. Fake Mommy has to put her in The Box when she waters because Gretchen is overly concerned with The Water Monster. She is also very determined to get into the herb garden because once there was a squirrel in there. She's very silly.

She's also kind of a hussy. Now that she knows everyone here, she hops into bed with any of the boy dogs. Here she is sitting with Brother.

Amy is doing fine. She's on a regular schedule now: wake up, go for a walk in the backyard, eat breakfast, take a long drink of water and fall asleep next to the water bowl. At about 6 pm, she repeats the whole thing.

Amy likes the backyard so much that she stays out there for hours. Now that the weather is warm, Fake Mommy has to bring her inside so she doesn't get too hot.

We mostly leave Amy alone now. We aren't rude to her at all. The other dogs will sniff her once in awhile, but mostly they just leave her in peace.

Okay Fake Mommy needs to go back to work. She promises not to let another month go by!

Fake Mommy Talks About Sexy Grandma

Since Louis is on vacation at Auntie Stephanie's house, he gave me permission to write an entry on his blog. He can't figure out how to use her keyboard.

I know I haven't talked much about Amy, Louis and Gretchen's ancient Lhasa Apso sister (we call her "Sexy Grandma"), but she's grown on me. I think she deserves her own blog entry.

At first, it was a little difficult for me to bond with Amy. She's a very sweet lady, but she's not a dachshund (I know, it's not her fault.). Now that I know her, I like her quite a bit. Not only is she a very nice doggie, but she's very easy to have around. All she needs is a soft spot to sleep, a backyard to roam in and, of course, her beloved water bowl.

I think this new perspective began when I groomed her last week. Before that, she was a little raggedy little dustmop -- I don't think I'd ever seen her eyes before!

Real Mommy had warned me that Amy was extremely difficult to bathe, and I found that to be true. Fortunately, I've had a lot of experience grooming dachshunds who do NOT want to be bathed, so I was able to get the job done with a minimal amount of fuss. I would never attempt to clean her ears, cut her nails or trim her fur (except for mats), but I feel comfortable bathing and brushing her. What's odd is that she seems comfortable too.

One of the techniques I use for bathing aquaphobic dogs is Temple Grandin's Squeeze Machine. I don't know that it's something a trainer or groomer would use, but anxious dogs calm down right away when I hold them between my arm and torso; it worked beautifully for Amy. She let me work on her ears, paws and tail, all sensitive areas for her.

There's something intimate about bathing a dog: Your hands are on her body, examining her strength, looking for mats and owie places. Caring like that for anyone -- human or dog -- is a bonding experience.

Since bathing Sexy Grandma, she seems to have bonded with me a little, too. When I come home, she works her way over to wherever I land and wags her tail. She doesn't complain when I pick her up to take her in or out. She let's me scratch more of her body, not just the "sweet spot" along her spine. More often now she chooses to nap in my office instead of next to the water bowl. I think she likes me.

Now that she knows the layout and the rules, Amy seems quite content here, almost happy. She knows that she must go into the Annoying Box when it's time for her breakfast and dinner. Since she figured out how to use the dog door, she goes outside on her own; we hope she soon figures out how to use it to get back in the house. She's memorized the locations of all three water bowls, even the one in Carl's Man Area, right next to the lair of Scary Molly, Queen Bitch of the Universe, who yells at everyone who comes near Daddy's Special Water Bowl.

Amy spends hours exploring the backyard, checking out all her favorite spots to see if anything has changed. She loves to sniff around the edges of the the flower, veggie and herb gardens. She doesn't often nap outside, but when she does, it's on the grass in the sunshine. When she naps in the house, she often follows the sun around on the carpet, moving as the sun moves throughout the day.

I'll remind Louis that he needs to talk more about Amy when he blogs. Just because she's not a dachshund that doesn't mean that she's undeserving of air time.

It's been a busy month!

Fake Mommy says I should apologize for not writing in so long. She says to tell everyone that we've been very busy with work and gardening, and at the end of the night, Gretchen and me are pretty bushed.

Most afternoons we do this for a long time:

That's us digging holes and eating the grass roots and maybe some grubs sometimes. Fake Mommy says she doesn't care cuz the lawn is a waste of space and water. I dunno about that, though. I like to sit on it and sunbathe. Doesn't my silky hair look resplendent in the sunshine?















Gretchen has been enjoying her time in the garden, too, by protecting Fake Mommy from the water monster. She was real upset because she thought only the hose was the water monster, and then she found out that there a lot of other water monsters around the yard.

She was trying to eat it, but I guess she figured she'd bury it instead.

Amy is doing what she loves to do best: nap near the water bowl.

Okay, so Fake Mommy also wants me to show what was taking so much time. She and Fake Daddy make a new vegetable garden in the front of the house.


In the front box here will be tomatoes, carrots, thyme, marigolds, red and yellow sweet peppers and lots of basil. The middle box will have a big watermelon hill in the middle, with lettuce and thyme all around it.

Fake Mommy says that in a couple months there will be tomatoes, eggplant, basil, carrots, parsley, thyme and marigolds all growing right here.

The little box in front will have yellow squash, thyme and marigolds. Aren't those flowers on the ground pretty? Fake Mommy says they is nasturtiums and will be all around the tree soon.

















When they was making this garden -- Fake Daddy made the boxes! -- I was real mad because they was in the front yard and wouldn't take me out there with them. I yelled at them a lot for that when I was watching them out the front window. Gretchen didn't care and had a nap.

Okay, so that's it. Fake Mama has to stop typing and give me a belly rub now.

We love you Mommy!