Our beautiful frosty faced Dachshund Luke occasionally needs reminding to stop sniffing for a moment and pee!

Sometimes he asks to go outside and then gets distracted – Ok, I admit I am easily distracted too

We are very grateful that he has not started peeing in our house, however I have been getting a few emails from Dachshund owners who are not so lucky.

Some have recently adopted a senior Dachshund only to find out the possible reason for them being in a shelter in the first place – they were not fully housebroken.

Others have dachshunds that have just started to pee in the house after years of being fully potty trained!

Both are frustrating to deal with but I really want Dachshund owners who are having these problems with their little bundles of joy to actively learn how to stop this behaviour and break the circle of dachshunds ending up in shelters.

Read my newest article Older Dachshunds Can Be Potty Trained.

This week I found out from one of my friends about little Dachshund Cocoa.

 Her owner recently died and she is looking after little Cocoa because the owners family wanted to put her to sleep.

Her vet has found a lump and they are not sure yet if it is cancer.

Dachshund Cocoa’s foster mum has just started a blog that will follow her care and operation.

She is hoping that Cocoa will then be adopted and the new owners can carry on the blog.

Cocoa’s operation will cost a lot of money so she has put a donation button on the page for anyone who has a spare dollar or two. All of the money will go to help Cocoa get better and well enough to go to a forever home.

Michelle (the foster mum) plans to add videos of Cocoa at the vet and document her treatments and recovery.

Dachshund lovers please support the new website and pop in from time to time to see how Cocoa is doing by visiting: www.dachshundcocoa.wordpress.com

We had found a long lump on the side of his body – we were still in Spain at the time and the local vet informed us it was fatty tissue.

When we returned to USA we took Luke to his vet to get his local rabies certificate and of course mentioned the “fatty tissue”. This led to strange looks from the vet, mentions of an unlikely place to have fatty tissue and then and x-ray. We soon realised that this was not going to be a quick visit to get his certificates up to date but did not comprehend how sick Luke was.

After looking at the x-ray the vet showed us the lump – it took up most of his little body cavity! We were told that his spleen was very enlarged and that there were two lumps attached, one the size of a baseball! I can not explain how shocked we were by this news and how scared we were when the vet said that he wanted to operate of Luke ASAP and that we were to prepare ourselves for the worst. He said that there is a good chance that this is cancer and may have already spread into the rest of his body, he might have to call us during surgery so that we could decide if we want him to continue or put him to sleep.

He sent us home to decide if we wanted to go ahead with the operation in the morning or wait a few days to spend time with him. I cried and cried thinking about losing him and of course blamed ourselves for not bringing him back from Spain sooner.

My husband and I talked all while Dachshund Luke played with a ball. We decided to take him in for the operation in the morning. After spending a few hours searching the internet for more information we had to stop – most sites gave a low survival chance.

Well, I have to tell all our Dachshund friends that he survived the operation (better than us!) and the biopsy showed that he did not have cancer. We are so happy to be able to spend more time with little Dachshund Luke and to see him so healthy.

Dachshund Luke sunbathing his shaved belly

I have been repeatedly asked to publish a book on how to potty train a Dachshund and never seemed to have time. Well, at last I managed to gather all the information into an ebook. I am so excited and wanted to let you all know why.

How To Potty Train A Dachshund is full of tips just for Dachshunds and is based on the information that I passed onto the wonderful people who adopted the Dachshunds that we were fostering. Written just for Dachshunds – we all know they are special

So why am I so excited about my How To Potty Train A Dachshund ebook?

• We will be returning to Florida soon and as soon as we are settled will be back to fostering Dachshunds. The rescue groups are in desperate need for foster homes so that they can keep the little ones out of shelters.

• I will continue to give this ebook to the people who adopt from us but it will now be easier for them to read. In the past it had been a mix of my verbal excitement and hand written instructions!

Why am I charging for my How To Potty Train A Dachshund ebook

Yep, it would be great if I could just give it away to all Dachshund owners and indeed to have lots of free information on my site, but…..

• I donate money to Dachshund Rescue for each ebook sold

• The money earned helps me keep the website going, therefore providing free information on Dachshunds.

• I can also put the money towards the foster Dachshunds so I will not need to get money from the Dachshund Rescue groups.

• It is nice to make a little money every now and then

Well, my Dachshund friends if you have a Dachshund that you are having trouble potty training please take a look at my ebook. It is written just for Dachshunds – Yes they can!

Ok, here is the link so that you can see what I am rambling on about. Will warn you that there is no professional in your face sales page – I am not good at that. I am just a Dachshund Lover that likes to spread the word about how wonderful this breed is.

Thats Dachshund Luke on the cover

Whoops, nearly forgot the link –>>   How To Potty Train A Dachshund

Hi all it is Dachshund Luke here.

Here is a funny video of me and the foster puppy. The puppy is a German Shephard and always wants to play with my toys. Everyone who knows me is very aware that I love my Dachshund toys and really do not see why I should be sharing them. 

Only problem I have is that my legs are so short. The puppy already has longer legs than me and apparently is stronger too!

I hope that you enjoyed this video

My human has been busy helping the local animals here in Spain. I keep telling her that she has been neglecting my blog so decided to pretend that the puppy was dragging me around to make a funny video. Then she had to post on my blog

Bye for now Dachshund lovers

Dachshund Luke xx

I have had a lot of questions from Dachshund owners about how much exercise they need. Many people think that due to their tiny legs that they can get all the exercise they need by running around the house.

Lets face it we love our Dachshund’s and they loved to be picked-up and sit on laps. Some little legs rarely hit the floor!

I also feel that there is more to it than chasing a ball. They need to go outside to prevent boredom, being overweight, socializing, over coming fears and for training.

Please read my free article Why You Should Walk And Exercise Your Dachshund  http://dachshundluke.com/why-you-should-walk-exercise-dachshunds/ 

Do you walk your Dachshunds?

Dachshund Luke loves going for a walk and we are very lucky to have lots of wonderful places to explore. He is always happier, and more content after a walk – except maybe on rainy days

So, how much exercise do your Dachshund’s get? – Dachshund Luke would love to know, just incase he is missing out on something!

Just letting you know that there is free shipping (ground) until March 22nd being offered on my book Dachshund Luke Goes To Spain.

Dachshund Luke…

By Karen Larson

Book Preview

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 Click on this link to preview and purchase http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/638901

We donate money to Dachshund Rescue for each book sold.

Would make a great gift for a Dachshund lover!

Oh, and it is full of pictures of me

Dachshund Luke xx

Dachshund Luke thinks it is just cold rain

We all know that Dachshunds hate the rain but I had heard that they love the snow.

I was so excited this morning to see our Spanish village covered in a layer of beautiful snow. When Dachshund Luke emerged from under the blankets (2 hours after us) I grabbed the camera and we headed out of the door.

Dachshund Luke had done his happy dance to my magic words “Do you want to go for a walk” but skidded to a halt in our doorway looking annoyed with this cold white stuff that had invaded his driveway. Ok, I just thought he was unsure of what to do with the snow so scooped him up and marched outside.

I gently lowered  him to the ground. He sniffed the snow, shivered and then lifted each foot as high as he could – which is only about 3 inches – then begged to be picked back up – by jumping at my leg leaving tiny wet cold patches on my jeans.

We tried this a few times but he was not amused.

He is now back inside and after wiggling on the sofa is happily snuggled back under the blankets in our bed.

Maybe I will try again later but I think Dachshund Luke is one of those Dachshunds that just thinks snow is cold rain.

Does your Dachshund like the snow?

Dachshund Luke rocking to Elvis

Hunting down the sun in the winter 

Dachshund owners know that their Dachshund is always somewhere close by. Therefore, it was an odd feeling when I stood up and realized I did not have a nine-pound Dachshund sleeping up my sweatshirt. Odd.  

He was not under the blankets in bed either. Even odder. We had not lit the fire yet, so he was not snuggled on his cushion… 

Umm, I knew he was not outside since it is too cold for him to spend any longer than necessary shivering in the garden. In a slight panic, I tried to remember the last time the front door had been opened. Is he wandering the streets of Spain, perhaps following a mule? 

No such excitement for Dachshund Luke, you see the clouds had parted enough to let a ray of warm sun hit our open back door. 

There he sat with Kitty Kat soaking up what little winter warm Spain could throw their way.  

Dachshund Luke will do anything to find a bit of warmth – even forgo my sweatshirt to enjoy the sunshine.