Our first anniversary!
Yes, one year ago today, I added my sweet, cuddly, bull-headed rascal of a Dachshund to my life. I was at that time recovering from a different surgery (my re-excision, a sort of tag onto my lumpectomy to be sure that the cancer they had removed really wouldn't come back... which it didn't, but it did call a few of its friends to set up camp!). Poor little guy had been moved out of at least two other families, and so at first he wasn't quite sure what to make of me.
But soon enough, we had become friends.
And the kisses haven't stopped since.
Now I have been grateful through another diagnosis, two more major surgeries, a move to a new house, and two weddings to the love of my life, to have this little hot dog of love in my life, in OUR lives. The way he curls his long, slim body so tightly into a ball, the way he always has to be touching at least one human, if not two (and miraculously finds a way to do this even when I'm walking), they way he wedges himself into tight spots, the way his ears flap out like the flying nun when he's looking up at me, The way his lip gets stuck on his gums and he looks like Elvis, the way he seems a little proud when his ears are folded back, the way he way he puts his paws up on the shins of anyone he just meets as if to say, "Nice to meet you, now please start loving on me," the way he slowly (as if reluctantly) makes his way toward rolling on his side and then his back so a new person can delight in giving him a belly rub (he's such a hedonist)... He is an excellent caretaker, physically and emotionally, even if he is stubborn as an ox. I just love this dog so much.
Michael and I have been laughing lately at Klaus's bedtime routine. Even though we have told him time and again that being in the humans' bed is a privilege and not a right, he has as many times shown us that he and his 12 pounds will have the final say. If we don't put him in the bed right away, he whines and whines until we do. And the fact is, he is a really good cuddler, so we don't mind having him in bed, even though he believes that one third of the bed is for us, one third is for him, and one third is also for him. So when it comes time to put him in the bed (he can't get up himself), it becomes a race: Michael and I try to get comfortable and scootch into the middle of the bed as soon as possible, while Klaus uses his tiny legs to swim through the comforter and pillows and make it to the center of the bed with his own little head on the pillow between us. This, he believes, is his rightful position. Once it has been achieved, he lowers his center of gravity even more than it already is, crouching and becoming dead weight so he is difficult to move. He is also able to relocate quite swiftly in this position - we call this "rat mode." Occasionally he wins this first battle. When he doesn't, it is not yet a loss for him - he then burrows his way under the covers (not minding that he is sticking his cute little hairless Dachshund butt into our faces), and settles in, usually nestled into the bend behind my knee. His breed was built to burrow, and Dachshunds have the ability to dig themselves deeply into a hole for days at a time, so it is nothing for him to stay under the covers in the center of the bed all night long, until the alarm goes off. Then, with a shake of his giant ears, and a downward-facing dog stretch, he is ready for the day.
God, I love this dog.
Stay tuned, as Michael and I are working on a remake of Sir Mix-a-Lot's hit, "Baby Got Back" for Dachshunds. ("I like long backs and I cannot lie! You doggie owners can't deny... Doggie got BACK!")
And so on this Halloween and anniversary day, I will leave you with one more image of my little boy:
GET A-LONG LITTLE DOGGIE!
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