Happy Halloweenie

Well, we finally did it. After all these years, we have a hot dog Halloween costume for our dogs. To our credit, we didn't buy it. It was loaned to us. Let's take a look.

Those are not happy puppies. At least Couper decided, "This stinks, but I think I can kinda still play". Godiva was miserable. Frankie decided to use it as a cushion, I think.

Every so often there are videos shared to us on Facebook of dachshunds dressed up and running around. Usually they are from the great Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund. This is one we got often:

We love this one, because we love dachshunds (obviously) and the Minions. It is awesome. People should always share stuff like this with us. But the poster will say, "you should do this with your dogs". And then we get sad, because we know that in our wildest dreams there is no way that our dogs are going to act anything like the dogs on the video. They are going to fight getting the costume put on them and then sulk as if we took all their toys and yummies away. That first picture of Godiva could actually be a video. It took her three minutes to even move. Just stare at it for three minutes and pretend it's on YouTube.

So, once a year, at best, we spend 15 minutes dressing them up for a photo-op that we can use on the October page of our puppy calendar and call it a day. Halloween is the worst day of the year for puppies. Even Halloweenie puppies.

Teenage Ninja Dachshund - Happy 13th Birthday Couper!

Happy 13th birthday to our favorite Little Buddy, Couper!

Yes, we have another teenager. Like with most teens, he takes a few more naps than when he was a pre-teen, but as you can see, he is always ready to play the second he awakes.

He is now into some dog-year teen habits too.

He really likes to wake us up before our alarm goes off so that he can go potty and eat. He somehow knows how to pick *the* most annoying time to do so as well, like 15 minutes before the alarm, so that going back to sleep is impossible. He uses the time to his advantage as well. It isn't just barking or licking. Those are last resorts. He gets some playing in...and just happens to get his ball "stuck" so that he can whine and bark about it and maybe get a tired/annoyed ball throw or two from me out of it.

He is also getting his Big Buddy's hearing. We're not entirely sure if it is a hearing problem or a listening problem (or like me, both!). It is harder to get his attention these days and some sounds seem to sneak by him (they are quickly picked up by Godiva and properly barked at).

We also now have a vision issue. When he was really little, he was stung in the left eye by a bee. It was always amazing to us that he could see out of that eye at all. Now it is really cloudy. The vet says that there is no way he can see out of it. He said we could get eye drops, but that would really be for our benefit, not his. Or he could get lens replacement surgery, which is a case of the cure sounding worse than the ailment.

But it is Couper's birthday, so let's celebrate. He is happy. He plays after his naps (and early early in the morning). He eats. He drinks. He poops. And he still loves presents.

Happy 13th Little Buddy!!! (And yes, his birthday is October 1, but as always, Couper gets a birthday month).