Here's what they're thinking...

I have this picture in the album that rotates for the desktop background on my work computer.  All the pictures either make me smile or remind me of a place I would like to be.  Today when I saw this picture it made me smile, but then I had to start laughing.  Now I know these fellas well enough that I know what they were thinking while I struggle to get this picture.

Blossom:  Am I in trouble?  Is this time out?
Sawyer:  Can I go now, I need to go chase those squirrels.
Baylee:  Am I going to get a treat because I look so cute?
Bentley: Hey, what's going on here.

Saturday at the park

I had planned to go to a guided nature walk at one of the parks this morning; however, it started at 8 a.m. and that was just a tad too early this morning!  So a while later I took Bentley and Sawyer over to the park for a walk. There was a lot of crying and carryin-on by the girls who were left behind, but they will get their turn soon.

I made a few pictures but learned a lesson.  If I want to make pictures of a dog there needs to be just one dog. And for best results the pictures need to be made in the late afternoon when the light is softer.  But just for the record here are a few from today:

There was a lot of stopping to sniff and smell.

Bentley paused briefly on top of this rock.

More sniffing and smelling.

After the walk (which was probably about a mile) I took them into the dog park.  They weren't too enthusiastic about being there.  They might have just been tired, but it occurred to me that the last time they were there they weren't overly excited either.  I think it is because they are a "pack" all the time and don't really feel the need to socialize with other dogs.  On previous trips they would run around and explore the area but today they just sat and looked at me like, "what are we doing in this place". I also noticed while we walked that some people would hold their dogs back but others would let their dog run up to meet Bentley and Sawyer.  I held the leads tight in that case, and most of the time they tolerated the other dog but I think they would just as soon not make friends.  Again, I think it is because they are part of a "pack".   I'll try the dog park again but I would just as soon walk the trails myself so we may just stick to that.

A dog's perspective

I had the sprinkler guys out  yesterday to get my sprinkler system up and running again since it is looking like the deluge we had last week may be our last rain for a while.  Here's is the repair from the dogs' perspective:

Bark, Bark, Bark, hey Mom, there's a truck pulling up in front of the house.
Bark, Bark, Bark, hey Mom, aren't you listening to us?  There is a truck in front of the house.
Bark, Bark, Bark, hey Mom, pay attention.  Now there are two guys getting out of the truck.  Whoa, they are coming up the driveway. 
Intruder alert, intruder alert, Bark, Bark, Bark.  Never fear, mother dear, your fearless pack of doxies will protect you.  Bark, Bark, Bark.
What do you mean, it's ok, stop barking. No, no, no, listen to us. Bark, Bark, Bark. Intruder Alert!
Wait Mom, don't go out there.  They are strangers, No, no don't go.  And stop telling us it's ok, it is not ok.
Bark, Bark, Bark.  Mom, what are you doing out there with these guys.  You're walking around all over the yard and pointing at the ground.  Please, listen to us. Bark, Bark, Bark.
Whew, that was close.  We are glad you are safely inside with us again.  But wait, those guys are still out there. Bark, Bark, Bark.  Mom, they are digging  holes in the yard. No, no, you can't let them do that.  You always fuss at us when we dig holes.  Bark, Bark, Bark.
Why are you closing the doors?  Now we can't see what is going on, but we know they are still out there.  Bark, Bark, Bark.  Hey Mom, one of the guys is at the front door and he's ringing the doorbell.  Be careful.
Bark, Bark, Bark.  What do you mean stay back and quit barking?  No, no, no don't go out there again.
Bark, Bark, Bark.  What did he say?  Did he just ask you if we were long haired dachshunds.  Whoa, and he just said that he loves dachshunds? 
Bark, Bark, Bark, this guy is ok.  If we had know that he loves dachshunds we would have felt better about having him dig up holes in the yard.
Bark, Bark, Bark.  Hey, where are they going?  We want to go out and dig holes with them, too.

Just being cute

Without even trying I caught a few cute pictures last week.  While I was making pictures of the small lakes in the back yard the pups posed themselves in a few pictures.  I found it much easier to take these pictures than the ones where I'm trying to get them to look cute!  Sawyer was a little camera shy; he was having too much fun in the water!

Three dogs enjoy a little sun, ignore the bricks and oak seedlings please.

Little Blossom, so cute!

Jaydon made this close up of Bentley, what sweet eyes he has!

Baylee's night out

The Botanical Gardens had "Fidos After Five" tonight.  That meant that furry, four legged friends were welcome!  There were so many dogs, all enjoying the garden!  The weather was perfect, no humidity, just right to walk and enjoy the garden in the early evening.  I only took Baylee, since she is so shy I don't always take her places.  But I figured that if she was by herself and got a little shy it would be okay because I could give her lots of attention.  But she really wasn't too shy with dogs or people.  I have to admit it was different to only have one quiet dog to walk with me!  

I was not surprised that so many people commented on how beautiful she is, almost everyone we passed by had a comment about how beautiful she looked!  I also had many people ask me what kind of dog she is!  There were several dachshunds strolling around but, not surprisingly, she was the only long haired dachshund in the garden tonight!

Wheeeee, let's play in the water!

Last week I had 6 inches of rain.  Between Monday night around 10 p.m. and Tuesday evening I had over 5 inches of rain; the rain gauge overflowed!  That makes a total of at least 11 inches, probably more, in just over a week.  So my back yard looked like a series of small lakes.  Normally the dogs do not like it when it rains; they do not like to get their paws wet.  But Tuesday afternoon Sawyer, lover of puddles and small streams, led the pack in to the water.

The water was about 2-3 inches deep in this spot.  Didn't stop these little girls from splashing around!

Sawyer, you're a mess!

A picture and a video ( that now works!)

I had this spur of the moment inspiration on Thursday afternoon to make a group shot of the dogs.  I used the point and shoot camera which makes great pictures but did not use the tripod, mistake #1.  The second mistake was that I was by myself and didn't have anyone to help work with the dogs (their understanding of stay is fuzzy sometimes, you know).  But I did get a shot or two.

See what I mean?  They are looking at me like, why do we have to sit here, have we been bad?  And Bentley looks huge but it is just the way the camera caught him.  I'll post some more pictures during the week, and I'll at least use the tripod next time.

This afternoon I made this video (see the other blog for details).  Bentley has a deeper, throatier bark than on the video.  What makes me laugh is how he keeps biting Jaydon's back!

Nap time

I'm still not sure why they did this but Sunday afternoon Baylee, Sawyer and Blossom all crawled into the big crate and started to nap.  Bentley, the dog who never sleeps, just laid down outside the crate like he was guarding them.  Silly puppies, you have had too much weekend!

Dachshund Lovers Everywhere

While we were camping we met up with some more dachshund lovers!  I had seen this suburban/tahoe type vehicle cruise by our campsite.  We left a few minutes later for one of our little walks.  The vehicle cruised by us while we were walking then turned around a little circle drive and came back up to us.  This time the passenger window rolled down and a friendly voice called out, " we had to stop to admire your puppies."  Well, of course, a conversation started right up.  

The man and lady ooohed and ahhhhed for a minute at the boys and then the man rolled down the back passenger window.  Out popped two of the most precious little dachshund faces I've ever seen.  One was a beautiful little long haired red and the other a smooth black and tan.  They were so sweet, wagging their tails and looking cute!  They had the whole back seat to themselves, a blanket was spread across the seat and they were having so much fun!  I mentioned something about that I needed a harness for my pups and guess what, that's exactly what they had!  The man showed it to me and stated that the dogs did not mind being harnessed at all, that they would just curl up and sleep while they traveled.  They were both females and about 8 years old.  The lady mentioned that they got the long haired dog from a breeder in Lockhart, silly me I forgot to ask who. Not surprisingly she had had dachshunds all her life!

We chatted for several minutes about dachshunds before we said goodbye.  I enjoyed meeting them, much more than the campers whose German Shepherd had gotten loose and was about to take out my dogs when their owner got the dog away from us.  That was scarey!

Tired Dogs

This was a busy weekend for all four dogs.  Sawyer & Bentley went camping; the girls went to the 'resort'.  All four were tired last night and even this morning they were still pretty much wiped out!  

The boys were on the go all day Friday and didn't nap any or even lay down.  We took several walks at the park and then a hike down one of the new trails.  When we went in the tent on Friday night Sawyer laid right down and went sound asleep.  I wondered if someone (or realistically something) came up around the tent if he would even wake up.  But, never  mind, Bentley was awake as usual.  I think he did sleep some but periodically he would get up, walk around, lick my face or my arm if exposed, and then lay back down.  If he did sleep, it was just like a catnap but I think that may be normal for him anyway.

Saturday morning they both woke me up; when I checked the time it was around 5:30 a.m. which is the time my alarm goes off during the week.  Their alarm clocks were working!  I pulled up a blanket because I was chilly and they settled back in until almost 7 a.m.  Then we were off on another full day and no naps.  Bedtime that night was the same routine.  Sawyer passed out and Bentley catnapped.  Sunday morning they slept in until almost 6 a.m.!

I will have to say that the trails we hiked were not always easy.  This area is very hilly, so we were up and down and around a lot.  Also these were new trails and in some cases not the easiest to navigate.  The dogs are used to the easy trails of the city parks that are paved or firmly packed crushed gravel.  In addition, we took several walks each day just around the area where we were camped. 

Jaydon and the dogs on the trail

When we got home yesterday they were more than content to just lay around.   The girls were tired, too; I don't think there is much sleeping at the 'resort'!  Last night they were all very tired little pups, no wild playing or chasing cats.  This morning when I offered them the opportunity to go out for a second time they all just looked at me like, "no thanks, I'll pass".  Sawyer and Bentley were on the sofa, Baylee was curled up in a little dog bed on the living floor and Blossom had retreated to the small wire crate.  I know what they did today while I earned their kibble!

Camping at Bastrop

Sawyer and Bentley went camping this weekend at Bastrop State Park.  The park had been devastated by a wild fire over Labor Day Weekend last year (I'll do a post about the park on the other blog) but that didn't stop us from having a great weekend.  The weather was perfect, with a nice breeze and relatively cool temperatures.  Sawyer is a pro at camping since this was his second trip.  Bentley, well I'm not so sure about him.  He had a confused look on  his face a lot, but went along for the ride, so to speak.  He did bark way too much and, typical of him, wanted to lick our faces throughout the night.  He may have to stick to dog shows and leave the camping to Sawyer!

Can we go home now?

Dos Amigos

Sawyer, ready for the next hike!

There hasn't been much rain lately so the creek we hiked by on Saturday morning was dry, except for this small pool.  Of course, Sawyer went right in.  That's my boy!

The purpose of this shot is to show what Sawyer looked like after his puddle jump!

Bentley jumped in this chair on Sunday morning.  I had to laugh because it was a very appropriate place for him to be.  He was a good sport about the hiking and being outdoors but he really prefers the good life - inside and on the furniture!

Our campsite

Bentley and Sawyer, Bastrop State Park, April 2012

Dog Park/What Was I Thinking

Saturday morning I headed over to one of the dog parks with all four dogs.  Yes, what was I thinking...no I think it was that I wasn't thinking.  We got there and headed down the trail to the small dog park, so far so good.  There were several dogs already there and they came running up to greet us.  That was they beginning of the trouble.  My dogs felt threatened, just didn't realize that the other dogs were welcoming them. I got them all calmed down before letting them off the lead. 

First problem child was Blossom.  She had never been before, and just couldn't deal with the dogs.  She was growling and tried to snap at one dog. I picked her up and held her but she was just barking her head off no matter what I told her.  Not good.

The other dogs were starting to run around a little and have fun.  But Bentley decided it would be fun to chase the other dogs and bark wildly.  He was just playing, wagging his tail the whole time.  I apologized to the other dog owners who each casually replied, "oh it's ok, he's a dachshund." but that did not make me feel any better.  I think it was just the male dog in him really, not the dachshund.  He's been before and always been good, but this time he was on a tear.

After about 10 minutes of this I was ready to go.  So we hitched back up and walked down the trails.  This was exactly what we all needed.  We took a loop that was 1.2 miles and then took a little detour off the loop to the scenic overlook (scenic? well maybe, maybe not).  It was a cool morning and we had just a wonderful walk.  Several people stopped to talk about the dogs and admire them.  The morning was salvaged, hooray!  I made a promise to take them to walk the trails more often.  

I took the camera but only got one picture before the battery died.  This is a little doggie playhouse in the small dog park;  I had the idea it would be cute to get all four up there and make a picture..what was I thinking?