Tag: #nhv;

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Doxies!  “Doxies,” short for dachshunds, are those “short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dogs.” Dachs meaning badger, hund meaning dog.

Dachshunds originated in Germany and were developed to “scent, chase and flush out badger and other burrow-dwelling animals.”   Some people refer to them as the Hot Dog, or the Weiner Dog or even the Sausage Dog.  I just call them adorable (smile).

So whether I’m on a staycation in Connecticut or on a real vacation in the U.S. or Abroad, I am often on the look-out for what my girlfriends have come to know as a “Cute Doxie Surprise.”  These are the moments when I spot a Doxie in an unexpected place and go nuts – running after it, taking pictures of it, rolling down my car window to ask questions of the pet parent, etc.

Fun fact:  While Growing up Hollis in Groton, CT, a neighbor named Mrs. Brown  had a beautiful long-haired golden Doxie aptly named Goldie Von Bruen.  Goldie gave birth to a litter of full-bred Dachshund puppies.  I’m not sure when but at some point my late mother Jean did something kind for Mrs. Brown that caused her to offer my mother one of her prized and valued Doxies at no charge.  My mother happily picked out a male puppy.  We were so excited because this was our family’s very first canine pet.  My older brother Michael came up with the name.  He called him Rapper and it stuck (smile).   Rapper was a standard (or loooooooooong) red, smooth-haired dachshund with a good disposition.  Dogs were not pampered back in the day so Rapper was not “walked,” rather he ran from the house, sometimes disappearing for days at a time (smile).

This is the closest image I could find of what Rapper looked like back in the day as I could not find any of the Polaroid pictures we took of him!

Rapper mostly ate from our plates (often times eating what we didn’t want) despite the fresh, dry dog food sitting in his bowl on a daily basis…

And it was apparently clear who Rapper loved the most –  my mother Jean.  So much so that when she and my father Jonie B went out on a date, we Hollis girls would take turns putting on my mother’s coat, hat and shoes to trick Rapper into believing she was still home.  It worked like a charm (smile).

5 years ago I had two Doxies of my own…I was living at that time in New Haven, CT in a 90-year-old Colonial style house that I owned in the Edgewood neighborhood.

I named my 2 Doxies Coby and Crimson Hollis.  Coby was a black and tan smooth-haired, male miniature Doxie and Crimson, a red, smooth-haired female miniature Doxie …They were equally energetic, loveable and fun so lots of good memories were made in that house.

I adopted them both from the same breeder in Canterbury, CT.   Coby was just 3 months old when I adopted him and I had him until the ripe old age of 17 (in people years).   Unfortunately he died of kidney failure in May of 2012.  Coby was 8 years old when I adopted Crimson, a “breeder dog” who wasn’t producing many pups so the owner “fixed” her to sell her off.  On top of this Crimson had social interaction issues since in her world adults coming to “visit” were coming for the sole purpose of taking away what little puppies she had so I was able to get her at a much lower price than I did with Coby.  She was 4 1/2 when I adopted her and lived a happy and “normal” pet life to the age of 9 before she was struck (1 month after Coby passed!) by a hit and run driver on a busy residential street…Life was rough without my 2 Doxies and it took the passing of a very long time to heal my  broken heart…

Today I am an Insta girl who loves her Instagram pix and I’m happy to admit that the majority of my own collection of saved pix are from the Dachshunds of Instagram (smile).

Doxie Love – it’s no small wonder that the Dachshund, my fav breed, remains one of the top 10 breeds of dogs in the United States according to the American Kennel Association.

Sincerely,

TVFL