Tikva has many of the typical traits of a Dachshund even though even being half Doxie/Minpin, but having put up with her "No I am listening" and " No I do not understand" [like Hades she does not, she has the typical Doxie stubbornness - at she has finally decided that what I request of her is not so bad after all. She is now coming up to 19 months old and although still acts like a loony puppy, has learned, all by herself, that "what do you want" means that she either leaps onto the couch at the nearest end to the doorway, which means she wants her morning chew once she is up but before her breakfast. This is after she has been out for a p&p and read all her dog sniff mail. Once she sees the chew she sits and does her "please mommy" with her right front leg held up and across her chest. Lexi, my little one, did it instinctively, and Pereg, when she came home, copied Lexi. Tikva has had no-one to copy and it is not something I would normally try to teach. Especially with a loony half Doxie. But she now does it automatically without me saying anything, just if I have something in my hand. Yesterday evening, a wee bit early for her evening meal she came up to my chair, and sat with her right front leg in the "please mommy" position. Bless her. She has also learned that when I get ready to go out she will hop up on the couch and wait for me to go out and partially close the door - with the two tiny treats and two tiny biscuits [and I do mean tiny] waiting on the inside doormat. And she will not touch them until I am outside and the door closed and locked. Not growing bigger, not growing fatter, still very slim but with such rock-solid muscles and bones, and still a lunatic little puppy when she wants to be, playing with me, playing with her toys, and she is happy. And after all, is that not the most important thing?
Wow how time flies 19 months old doesn't seem that long ago that you rescued her from almost certainly death K9 says you forgotten to say Tikva is gorgeous too
Must take more photos, must take more photos, must take more photos. Must get new batteries for my camera. Tina - how on earth did I manage to bottle feed her, wean her on baby food, and then change that tiny shrimp of a 3 week old into such an adorable, albeit still stubborn, pup? So affectionate and I still love her even though she asked to go out for a poo at 5.30am - but she did do a pee at the same time and then came in to go in her night crate [wivva tiny bikki] so I could get another couple of hours sleep. How can I not love her?
I woz rong. If she was born on 15 May last year she is coming up to 18 months old - and she came to me on 5 June at just 3 weeks old. And yes, she is definitely gorgeous and says thank you to K9. Well she would but she has been out for her final pee and is now curled up on the folded soft blankie at the sleeping end of her crate. While I was at the macolet this afternoon I saw Sagit - the young woman who had taken me first to see the puppies on the Tuesday, and who then came on the Friday telling me that the people wanted me to go collect my puppy now. Anyhow, Sagit sees Tikki when she walks past with one of her little ones in a buggy and she said how incredible Tikki looked - so unlike Tik's very large and very obese dam. Obese with eight three-week-old puppies to feed? My girls, when I used to breed, always ended up so thin when nursing their pups even though I gave them everything I could to keep their weight up. How on earth did I cope with a 3 week old scrap who needed bottle feeding every two or three hours day and night? Then wean her? At my age and being a chair user? Best three things I ever did. Lexi, Pereg, and now Tikva. Well I should add Baby Ziva but...
Who is Ziva? Yes, raising tiny infants is not easy.... Look at the little ones that I have to hand feed ( if their parents toss them out )
No thanks Elana - hand-feeding very tiny puppies from birth when I used to breed Griffons was bad enough but at least I was AB at the time and they just took their bottles, got encouraged to eliminate, wiped down, and back in their heated box. At least at 3 weeks Tikva was able to pee and poo by herself without manual stimulation and she very quickly learned what puppy pads are for, so I had very few accidents. Baby Ziva was a very young puppy my neighbour brought in for me a couple of weeks after I had to have my beloved Pereg euthanised. She came from the MIL of a friend of my neighbour on a Moshav across the road from this one. But she was only with me for 11 days when I had an emergency hospital admission and the woman she came from agreed to look after her for a few days. Only Ziva "disappeared". The woman swore that one minute Ziva was there, the next she had vanished - the police think she just threw the poor little bubba into one of the agricultural fields, which they say tends to happen to all unwanted puppies. I do wish these people would get their bitches spayed because there are so many unwanted little mutts born that nobody wants. So I lost my beloved Pereg on 1 April last year, the last time I saw Baby Ziva was on the 1 May. Tikki was born on 15 May, Sagit took me to see her - or rather her dam and siblings on 2 June and came on 5 June because they wanted to get rid of the puppies and I must go collect mine pdq, with the unspoken "or else". Eight identical pups, 4 boys 4 girls but Tikki had a tiny white mark under her chin so I knew when I first saw them that she was going to be mine.
@Malka Poor little Ziva. The cruelty of people towards animals, never ceases to hurt me on some very deep level of my being. I simply don't understand it. Regarding people not spaying and neutering, and allowing their pets to breed indiscriminately..... We see a lot of it here on the Reservations. The dogs just wonder around, very often in packs (at times becoming a very real danger, especially to young children) who also tend to wonder around with little or no supervision. These dogs, get hit by vehicles (sometimes accidently), starved, shot at for fun, poisoned, and tormented and tortured in every conceivable way. Yet most of the people neglect, or downright refuse to have their animals fixed (god only knows why) even when the surgeries are offered free of charge. Go figure, shrug. Our Danny boy, came off one such reserve. By the time he arrived at the Humane Society (at around 4 months old), he'd been through hell, and was so weak, that they had to handfeed him to keep him alive . Here's Danny recently, and you couldn't ask for a sweeter more loving, inteligent companion. At over twelve, he still to this day carries some fears, but he enjoys his life, and I sincerely believe that he's grateful for having been offered a home and people who love him. Tell me about you Pereg... It sounds like she was a very special little friend for you. ~Elana~
