Hi, my name is Lokie and I am a miniature red dachshund.  About 3 years ago, I was in a bad place in my life.  I try not to remember what happened because it makes me cry but I somehow found myself as a homeless dachshund living on the streets of Indiana.

Look how pretty I am.  How could anyone throw me away?  I was just a puppy then so it was really scary.  I had to grab food wherever I could find it and I learned to hide in small places.

And then, a nice lady picked me up and helped get me into a dachshund rescue.  I was so happy not to be alone anymore.  The rescue that helped me is Dachshund Rescue of North America.  I got to live in a house with other dachshunds and big dogs too.  I loved my foster mom, Elisabeth.  I would follow her everywhere and when she picked me up, I would give her the Intense Love Stare to let her know how happy I was not to be living on the streets anymore.

One day, Elisabeth told me I had been adopted and would be going to New York.  I didn’t want to leave but she told me this would be my forever home and they would love me very much.  So I packed my big pink bone stuffie, and got on what I call the Dachshund Underground Railroad.  Basically, a whole bunch of really nice people each drove a leg and transported me from Indiana to New York.

When I got to my new home, I found out I have a dachshund sister named Pinot!  Here we are meeting for the first time.

Pinot and I had a great time that first day.  We played and ran around and I even got to sleep in the big bed that night with Pinot and my new Humans.  But when we woke up the next day, Pinot was not happy to see me.  See, she thought I was just there for a play date.  She had been an Only Dog for 5 years and did not appreciate another dog (especially one as cute as me) coming into her home.

She pouted.  She glared.  She gave me the Stink Eye.  She refused to talk to me.

I tried to make friends and got into her bed with her.  Pinot was not amused.  Here she is telling me to get out of her bed.

Then she felt bad and said I could stay in her bed.

Then she went over and sniffed the bed that was supposed to be mine.  But I had peed in it by accident (that’s why I wanted to go into Pinot’s bed with her).  So we ended up just sharing the same bed.

I love Pinot.  It took her almost 6 months before she loved me back.  But that’s okay.  I’m patient.  I knew she would love me one day.

I love my Humans too.  They treat me so well and make me feel safe.  They give me really good food and lots of hugs and kisses.  I love snuggling with Jim because he is so warm.  I don’t actually know what the Female Human’s name is.  I asked Pinot and she didn’t know either.  Pinot said she’s always just called her Person.  Here we are as a happy family – me, Pinot, Jim and Person.

About 2 months after I got to my new home, Person started noticing little drops of blood around the house.  At first she thought she had cut herself but then she realized they were coming from me.  The rescue had thought I was spayed (whatever that means) but apparently I wasn’t.  She tried to put a diaper on me!

I told her – dachshunds do not wear diapers and promptly took it off myself.  For the next 3 weeks, Person chased me around the house always trying to put a towel under me.  Humans can be very strange.

But then one day, she took me to this big building and left me there.  The people were very nice, but I didn’t want to be there.  I knew something BAD was going to happen.  Next thing I know, I was waking up with a cone around my head.  Was I happy to see Person!  But I wasn’t feeling so good and threw up in the cone so Person took it off me.  Thank goodness.  I was so happy to be home and on my blankie on the couch.

I have such a great life now.  It’s so nice to belong and not be by myself wandering the streets.  I had picked up some bad manners as a Street Dog so Person and I enrolled in a Training Class.  Personally, I think the class was to train Humans how to understand dogs better, but somehow I was the one wearing the graduation hat on graduation day.

We moved to a house by a lake and Jim and Person bought us life jackets in case we fell in the lake.

They took us on the lake in a boat.  At first I thought that was so cool but Pinot started screaming at the top of her lungs because she was scared.  So I joined her in screaming cause I’ve got to stick with my doxie sister (but I wasn’t scared at all, really!).  We screamed so loud that people at the beach started pointing to our boat and Jim and Person rowed as fast as they could to get us back on shore.  I think they were embarrassed.

That was the last time they took us out on the boat.  But I’m fine with that.  We have a big yard to play in and hunt for squirrels and do zoomies.  We have 3 decks to run around on and sun ourselves.  We have gardens to sniff.  Although one time I snuck into the garden then got my head stuck and couldn’t get out.  Person had to get my head out of the fence.

When I am tired, I just lie down in the grass.

I am thankful for rescues that help homeless dogs like me find their forever homes.  I hope I have inspired you to rescue an animal and give them a loving home too.  I know they will love you forever and ever and ever.  Or if you can’t adopt, maybe you’ll think of driving transports like the one that got me to my forever home?  If you want more info on that, just leave us a comment and I’ll have Person send it to you.

Love,

Lokie

PS – Person wanted to add something to my post so here she is…

… Person here.  Recently, my friend Heather brought her dog Emmy up to visit us, along with our friend Lisa.  Emmy is a city dog who loves grass and loves visiting us in the country.  We had such a great day together of old friendships and happy puppies.

Emmy recently passed away.  She just didn’t wake up one morning.  When something unexpected happens like this, it jolts me and makes me realize I need to hold on to what I do have now, instead of dwelling on what I don’t have.  It makes me bring Pinot and Lokie closer to me and be thankful for every moment I have with them.  And it makes me realize what an impact animals have in our lives and what a big hole they leave in our hearts when they are gone.

Emmy was Heather’s heart.  You could see the unbreakable bond of love between them.  Emmy was such a happy little dog.  We love you, Emmy and will miss you dearly.