Missing: Orange Squeaky

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Wordless Wednesday #26





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Catch Up: New Year's Eve

As mentioned before, this post will help you play catch-up with our comings and goings during the past few months! Next week, you'll start to see more recent content! Yay!


My boyfriend left shortly after Christmas to visit his family in Indiana. I was spending yet another New Year's Eve alone. I had been spending a lot of time with Janis and Lindsay (as evidenced in the last couple of posts), and we had bought a Groupon deal together to go on a tour of Pike Place Market. It was the first time we had spent any time together without the dogs, but we still got along fabulously! So I decided to invite myself to their house for New Year's Eve. I casually asked Lindsay, "So what are you guys doing for New Year's?" They weren't doing much, so I subtly suggested it might be fun to do something together or something with the dogs. Somehow or another, I got myself invited to their house. (I know I thought I was super-slick, but I'm sure Janis and Lindsay knew what I was doing all along!)

I brought the boys over to Lindsay and Janis's house, and Janis made a delicious dinner of crab cakes and pear arugula salad. We all had a blast, drinking wine and watching the dogs play. I brought one of Swift's new extra small Kong tennis balls. He and Tag had "fun" trying to keep it away from each other.

First, Swift had it

Then Tag tried to keep it away from Swift

But Swift didn't give up

Swift eventually got distracted and began to play with "orange man." This did cause some problems, since orange man is one of Tag's favorite toys. Swift loves orange, so he apparently thought he owned orange man. I don't think Tag appreciated Swift trying to kill orange man.

Swift looks so vicious!!

Even though we had a couple of skirmishes, the dogs all started to bond.

Lindsay and I with all 4 dogs playing a puzzle game

Tag and Kool bonding over rawhide

Kool and Tag, best buddies

Soon it became contest time - who could be the cutest?

Tag went first. Amber barked her approval for her brother.

Not to be outdone, Swift showed off his skills in front of Tag

We called it a tie. Just look at those four adorable faces.
How can you choose just one?!

Swift is such a little lover. Lindsay is his new best friend. Every time we see her now, he runs over and wants to give her love. But on this night, he refused to give any kisses.

"Nope. No kisses for you!"

The dogs got a special treat for dessert. (So did we, but dogs can't have Black Forest cheesecake!)

Kool licking his doggie ice cream, unaware he has some on his nose!

Well, we pooped those pups out! Swift and Kool were out like lights before the ball even began to drop!

Sleeping doxies are the sweetest!

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Swift Loves His Squeaky

Swift is totally and completely in love with his squeaky toy. He carries it around everywhere. Sometimes he can't decide between squeaky and dinner (but other times he gets so excited for dinner that he'll drop squeaky in his food dish). Lately, in the evenings, while I'm eating dinner or watching TV, Swift won't leave me alone. He squeak-squeak-squeaks his ball and wants me to throw it for him. It's a never-ending battle. And, although he doesn't do it often, he will become so attached to orange squeaky that he insists on bringing it outside on potty breaks.
Any little squeak gets Swift's immediate attention. Even if it's in my coat pocket at the park and he's forgotten about it, his ears immediately hear any subtle squeezing, and he go berserk, wanting me to throw it. If it's the middle of night and he has brought orange squeaky to bed, I must be careful not to roll over it or else Swift thinks it's playtime.
One Saturday, we had a big day. Swift and Kool and I went to two meetups - first we went to The Bellevue Dogs Under 35 lb Meetup Group. Then we proceeded to our regular dachshund meetup. The boys were pretty exhausted (as was I), and later I caught Swift napping on the pillow I brought out to the couch. What did I find? Swift sleeping with orange squeaky.

Swift does not like to share squeaky. Here he is, with a protective arm on it. Last summer, we took his ball to the park, and a French bulldog decided it was his ball. He stole it from Swift and wouldn't give it up. Swift wasn't quite brave enough to try to take it back, but I could tell he was devastated from the defeated look in his eyes.

"That's right. This is my ball."

He's also on constant alert, as I mentioned earlier. Swift likes to get his picture taken and is pretty good at posing. However, once I took the video and squeaky came out of hiding, Swift was ready for action. Here he is looking at me, ready to go at a moment's notice.

"Is it playtime?"

It was pretty late, and I was definitely not in the mood for squeaky playtime. I tried to ignore him as best I could (which is hard because he's so darn cute!), and he finally gave up. I think he was too tired anyway.

"Ah, forget it. I'm tired."

But when he isn't tired, he runs with that squeaky in his mouth with all his might. Here he is, in action, with the wind blowing his ears and his tail straight up with happiness. I love this picture of Swift, and I think it shows his love for his orange squeaky.

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Top Ten

Top 10 Random Quirky Things My Dogs do:

1. Swift puts his ball in his food dish when he's hungry.

2. Kool sometimes refuses to eat unless his food has been soaked. Even then, he looks at me like, "Really? I have to eat this?"

3. Swift likes to show me he's eating by carrying one piece of food into the living room where I am, chewing it, going back to the kitchen and getting another piece of food. He repeats this process until I pay attention to him.

4. Sometimes Swift brings his ball to bed. If I happen to roll over it in the middle of the night or it falls off the bed (even with no squeak), apparently that means it's time to play fetch - even at 3 a.m.

5. Swift and Kool wait for me to get out of the shower. I guess I'm not allowed to have alone time.

6. Swift likes to walk along the back of the couch. Sometimes he's klutzy and stumbles. It's funny.

7. Kool always instigates play-time between himself and Swift by grabbing Swift's foot. Swift doesn't always appreciate it.

8. After coming in from a rainy walk, Kool loves to be dried off with the towel. Swift hates it.

9. The boys can sleep! I often have to wake them up (especially Kool) in the morning to go potty. This morning, I got up early and turned on the lamp, which woke them up. We had cuddle-time in bed.

10. Swift burrows under blankets, and sometimes I can't find him on my bed. He's a true badger-hound!

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New Dog

At the beginning of the year, I decided I wanted to do some volunteer work. I chose the Seattle Humane Society. Unfortunately, my schedule did not match up with any of the available shifts they had. They contacted me and asked if I would be interested in fostering a dog. I said, "Sure!" So they signed me up for orientation, and a few days later, I brought home Elsie!

Elsie

At first, Elsie was quite shy. She just lay on the floor, taking it all in. The first evening, I kept the boys separate so Elsie could settle in. The boys did not appreciate this large dog invading their house. They barked and whined. When I finally introduced them, they tried to lunge at her. I felt so bad for her. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Over the next fews days, Elsie opened up quite a bit. She loves to go outside, so I try to keep the patio door open for her so she can wander in and out. She discovered the stash of toys, and now every night, almost every single toy is out. Swift does not appreciate Elsie playing with his toys. So far, she's left orange squeaky alone, so hopefully, we won't have any fights. Elsie has tried to play tug-of-war with Swift and Kool, and she had Kool going for a few seconds.

Elsie is only two-years-old, so I think it's bit different for the boys. Swift is used to playing by himself because Kool is an old grumpy man (he's 6), and Elsie is just so playful. The boys are slowly getting used to her, though.

Swift actually joined Elsie on the couch

It's been really hot the past few days, so I let the boys and Elsie have free run of the house one night. I got up after a bit to get a glass of water, and all 3 of them were in Elsie's kennel. It was adorable. However, when I got up the next morning, Swift and Kool had kicked Elsie out and were sleeping in her kennel and she was sleeping on the couch! No fair, boys!

Elsie has a big kennel that the boys love

It's been a little difficult with the three of them, especially potty breaks. But it's worth it.

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The Boys on Vacation

I took a business trip to Denver a couple of weeks ago. I left the boys at my friend, Carme's house. She and her husband have owned dachshunds for years, and now they have one long-haired dachshund named Rocky and a cute little mutt named Chewy. Rocky is a bit older than my guys (probably around 8 or 9), and he is definitely the alpha dog at his house. It's quite interesting to see Swift (who is the alpha at our house) interact with Rocky. Of course, Swift brought his new orange squeaky. Well, Rocky loves squeakies, too, and since it was his house, he decided that orange squeaky must be his toy. I think Swift was a little taken aback that another dog would dare take his squeaky. Kool just lets Swift do whatever, so Swift is not used to having to share toys. But it all seemed to go all right. Swift stayed with Carme and Jerry a little over a year ago, and he and Rocky got into a little fight over the ball. Rocky got him good and ripped a little patch of hair off of his snout. Swift looked pretty funny for a while, but it grew back. This time there were no fights; I think Swift is learning to give in a bit, which is definitely good for him!

One of the nice things about Carme and Jerry's house is that it's a house! They have a huge fenced-in backyard so all 4 boys can run and play. It took Swift and Kool a little getting used to running free with no leashes. I felt bad when I had to bring them back to the apartment, and they were limited to leash-only walks. :( That's all right. Gives me more motivation to take them to Marymoor!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Swift has quite the crazy tail. It never stops moving! When I went to pick up the boys, of course, all the dogs had to come say hi to me...except Chewy. He stayed pretty far away. Jerry told me that apparently Chewy's face is the exact same height at Swift's tail, and poor Chewy kept getting hit in the face! He learned to keep his distance from Swift. Awww...poor Chewy!

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A New Squeaky Has Arrived

So I finally gave in. I bought a new orange squeaky. Swift went over the moon for it. I actually like this one much better. The squeaker must be broken or something, but it doesn't squeak nearly as much or as loud as the old one did. At first I thought it was just because it was new. But Swift has had it for a while now, and it does the same thing. Some nights, he just sits and squeaks it, but no noise comes out. I love it! I never have to take his ball away again.

This proves that Swift knows the difference between his toys. When old squeaky died, Swift would favor one toy every few days, but he always switched it up. Now that we have a new orange squeaky, he rarely ever plays with anything else.

I love watching Swift play with squeaky. You can just tell it is his absolute favorite thing in the world to do. He gets so intent, and his tail wags like crazy. He's such a cutie-pie. He reminds me of the hamster from the movie, Bolt. "Ball, ball, ball, ball, ball...." He cracks me up!

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Adventures at Marymoor

I absolutely love this picture of Swift. My friend, Cat, and I took the boys to Marymoor Park, the off-leash dog park in Redmond. Cat has a pretty cool camera, and she was able to capture Swift off the ground, running with his orange squeaky. (This was, of course, before squeaky died - rest in peace.) I think it's so cute how his tail is sticking straight up in the air and his ears are flapping behind him!

I've taken the boys to Marymoor several times. It's always the same story - Swift running ahead of me and Kool plodding along about 100 feet behind me. Swift is pretty good about not getting too far away, though. It's pretty funny when I turn around and see Kool all the way behind me. Since he's so little, he gets lost in the midst of big dogs. People will look at him and kinda of giggle and say, "Who do you belong to?" My doxies are usually the smallest dogs there. Sometimes we'll run into small dogs, and the boys love it - someone their size! They're pretty good with the big dogs, though - which is surprising to me. Whenever I walk them on their leash, they will bark and screech at any other dog they see. However, when we're at the park and they are off-leash, they're completely fine with the big dogs. Sometimes, though, a big dog will get a little hyper, and Swift yelps, jumps, and runs for me. It's funny because I know the other dog isn't hurting him at all - he's just frightened.

Marymoor is next to a river (not sure which one...maybe it's a lake), and there are several spots for dogs to go swimming. Swift and Kool do not like to swim. They know how to, though. I know this because I tossed them in the water! Not too deep, of course, and I was prepared to jump in after them if they went under. They immediately swam right back to land. They just do not like the water, although Kool seems a little braver than Swift. Interesting.... I'll just keep tossing them in until they like it! I should find a place where I can go in with them. I think they'd like that.

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Swift's Favorite Toy is Dead

Swift is obsessed with his squeaky toy. It's an orange football. He will just sit and squeak it all night long if you let him. At first, no one thinks it's that annoying. I tell them, "Just wait. Eventually you will want to throw the ball over the balcony." However, I am afraid that if I do, Swift will chase it and go plummeting down three stories - so I just grin and bear it. Every so often, I have to put the ball away in the doggie drawer. Swift always knows where it is, though. He will run right to that drawer. Sometimes squeaky goes into my nightstand drawer, but Swift remembers. He knows where that ball is.

One night I came home after work and gave Swift his ball. I left to run a quick errands and brought the boys with me. When we got home, apparently Swift forgot where he left his ball. He started freaking out. He ran all over the house looking for orange squeaky. He kept whining and jumping at the drawers where I normally hide it. I couldn't find it, either. I thought poor Swift was going to go crazy. All of a sudden, he remembered where he left it - it was hidden next to some moving boxes I had left in the dining room. All of that drama, just for an orange squeaky toy.

Well, poor squeaky is now dead. Swift was squeaking/chewing on it, and he punctured a hole in it. It stopped squeaking (yay!) He continued to chew on it for days, hoping to bring the squeak back. He finally ripped it in half, and I think at that point, he just gave up and ate it. Yes, he ate it. Not all of it, but pieces of it. I know this because I saw orange pieces of rubber in his...well, you know. I looked and looked for another one. I had seen them previously at the pet store, but passed up that opportunity to buy them. Of course, now that I actually need one, they don't carry them anymore. I finally found one online, but I don't know if I want to spend the shipping costs just for a dog toy. Ha. I probably will! I can't wait to see Swift's face when I bring home a brand-new orange squeaky.

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