A spa visit

It's been a very busy week for us, and we've spent the last 4 days at the spa. The staff had to have some time off for some reason, and they dropped us at the spa. We got exercise, pedicures, whirlpool baths, new bandanas and some good, focused attention. At one point, a woman in a white coat poked at us a bit, but that was all the badness. We like the food and toy bin there, so it went very well.

We were glad to see the staff today when they picked us up. They were so happy to see us, they were very nearly wagging. It's time for a nap.

Of course it's good

The staff likes wine, and one of their fave stars of the wine world is Gary Vaynerchuk, Jets fan and online wine guy.
While we're used to good food that comes in bags and boxes, the staff is not. Generally, they've made fun of wine and liquor that comes packaged in boxes. Until now.

Recently, they bought a box of "Bandit" brand wine. They probably bought it because Staffer Mom can't resist anything that has anything to do with us or reminds her of us. (Or it could've been that the box had a whole liter in it and that's more than a regular bottle. Whatever.)
And, she really liked it.
As it turns out, Vaynerchuk likes it, too!
Here's a video to prove it, courtesy Aunt Jenn and Uncle Brad.

Bandit's quite proud a drinkable wine is named for him. Maggie expects equal treatment very soon.

Not just tough. Beagle tough.

Today we've found a new hero for our Fierce List: Sofia the Beagle.
Watch this video to see why. Hang with it and you'll understand, especially if you've followed any of our digging escapades over the years.



Some of our best friends are beagles,including our buddy Sidda who is quite an escape artist in her own right. We also remember with fondness Uncle Brad's old Girlfriend. She wasn't a date -- he had some dogs for dates, but not this one -- she was a great, brave beagle friend. Her stubbornness made her an honorary dachshund. Video star Sofia's tenacity makes us proud.

P.S. Thanks to Houck for passing along the video.

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Get plastic, then shop

We've been begging to go shopping lately, and the staff has been pretty noncommittal. We got tired of waiting and decided to get online and go for a stroll today.

We found this terrific web site, pupstyle.com. It looks like a snooty New York boutique, but we found a few things there to be just what we need to be the coolest wieners in Forsyth Park.

Go there when your staff isn't watching. You'll need to quietly pull the plastic card things out of your staffers' purses or wallets before shopping there. We forgot to do that, so now we have to wait to actually order something.

Snore and snore alike

We found an interesting question on Aunt Allison's blog today: Do pets snore?
Yep, we do. And our staff will verify that.
Her big-ass cat, Bisquick, has inspired a poll to ask people about their pets and snoring. You can vote here.

We know we snore, and we know we dream. No big deal, and we don't disrupt things. The big problem is the staff. Our staffers snore and it's a problem. We are tired of being kept awake and not being able to hear our favorite shows at night.

We totally didn't hear part of the Serena-Venus match the other night, and we also missed the final "auf" the other night on "Project Runway." They may not stay awake for these things, but it's really annoying for us since we can't reach the remote to turn up the sound sometimes. Now we have to wait until Staffer Mom decides to watch a rerun to figure out who won.

(We really hated that whiny guy who created that chicken thing last week, and then there's Stella. Her makeup gets a bit better each week, but that thing she created for last week was awful.)
Who survived? We have no idea, but the whole point here is the staff and their snores.

For once, we think Ernie has the right idea: When a staffer snores, just sit on his or her head so they'll get a mouthful of fur. Now, we have to figure out how to get up on the bed.

Follow us!

We've added something new to the left side of our blog -- actually, 2 things.
- A new blog to read. Friends Jayne and Keith are in London for a few months. They're immersed in the city, and their tales are fun. Catch up on their adventures by clicking in from our blogroll.
- And, you can now be counted among our followers by giving us virtual head and belly rubs. Just click on the "Follow this blog" link and we'll know!

Hanna who?

First of all: Maggie has a new photo. It's her "I really do use the computer" pose. Let us know what you think. Several readers have asked us if we use the computer, and while we were a bit insulted, we can understand how some would doubt us. Keep in mind, we never really said what we use it for.

The week's been a real blur. The staff worked outside putting stuff away for a good part of the week. They continuously griped about hurricanes and someone named Hanna. We don't know much about Hanna, but they sure didn't even try to like her. Then, they told us it was going to rain all day Friday, but it didn't. The grass wasn't even wet on Saturday morning. They've been a real pill, and we want this hurricane thing to move on. Every time one comes near, they just go a little wonkers.

And then the network blamed Hanna for canceling today's USOpen women's final. What's with that? We did get to see Venus vs. Serena the other night. It ran a little late, but we enjoyed it. We couldn't hear anything much because Staffer Dad snored through it, but we saw a great matchup with 2 tough competitors. If they hit a ball at us, we think it would hurt. And we do admit to laughing Friday when Serena smacked that whiny player in pink in the head with a ball. Go Serena!

We were sorta right

Ok, no closets were cleaned out this weekend. We were right about that. But we did get to play outside a lot and watch the US Open. We did get a bath, but that was the only really bad thing that happened. Oh yeah. Maggie got in trouble for charging a springer spaniel on the nightly stroll. She maintains the street near the neighbor's house is her territory since she walks there every night. Staffer Dad disputed the claim. Nothing's been settled, but the spaniel knows who's boss now.

As for the tournament: We approve of this year's bright colors. And we approve of the return of tennis clothing that actually looks like tennis clothing. Maybe the whole cocktail-tennis dress era is over for a bit. Colors we like: Djokovic's green shirt and Serena's bright red dress are nice. She's just great in it! Lots of folks were wearing red though, so we suspect red is the new white -- for now. And we're very happy with Federer's orange shirt. It's just a nice break for all of them.

As for players who didn't win but played with style, let's hear it for Gael Monfils, the French guy who lost to Marty Fish. Poor guy. He lost on his birthday, but he gutted it out.

As for more tennis info: We just found out that tennis rackets used to be strung with catgut. Hear! Hear! (Except for Ernie...he's our friend.)

We're always right

OK. Remember what we said about how the staff would probably find reasons to blow the weekend. So far, we're right on.

They'd probably dispute that, but so far they spent Saturday WITH OTHER DACHSHUNDS at someone else's house talking about the plan for this year's Savannah Wiener Dawg Races. Then last night, they sat around laughing with some other folks from where we used to live and ate dinner and drank wine. Downside: We're a bit miffed about the minimal attention during all that. Upside: They dropped some decent stuff to eat in the kitchen.

Today, they managed to get a little done: Staffer Dad mowed the yard -- it's a lot easier to dig now. And, Staffer Mom fixed the toilet -- apparently a big deal since they refuse to pee outside. Have you ever wondered how much humans could save when they build a house if they'd just go outside for that stuff?
Then -- and we were right about this, too -- Staffer Dad and Buddy Gale watched the Cardinals lose to Houston. Staffer Mom's been focused on the internet and hurricane web sites. (We can understand that -- we don't like those storms either.)

They've promised us an evening watching the US Open. And that's what we've been waiting for. We're pulling for Andy Roddick and Venus -- she is a goddess!

3-day weekend!

The long holiday weekend is finally here, and that means more time with the staff. Every time one of these weekends comes along, they have some inane plan to get stuff done around the house. What that means for us is extra time in the yard, time in the pen and heavy-duty roles as distractions and mediators.
This time they really think they'll get a couple closets and a back room cleaned out. We're very dubious. First of all: They always come up with reasons not to do those chores, and they always end up at the beach for at least one morning. And, they never take us.
Our predictions: They'll blow off Saturday, try to make up for it on Sunday and fail -- we know the Cardinals game comes on at 2. That should finish off Staffer Dad. On Monday, they'll decide they should spend a few hours at the beach because it's a holiday.
On Monday night, we'll end up listening to them grouse because they didn't get much done over the weekend.
Let's hope they prove us wrong. But don't bet on that.

Listen when I meow

From Ernie (the cat): This is my new favorite movie.

A stylish event

If it's not enough for the US Open to be starting this week, we thought we should also remind you that it's Pet Fashion Week in New York. It's like Project Runway stuff except it's all about animals and style and animal charities. Check out the runway shows at this link. There are photos from last year's exhibitors and runway shows, and they'll be adding current ones as the shows occur.
Other than showcases for too few dachshunds and too many for poodles, we're especially thrilled about the design competitions for cool pet stuff, like better-looking food and water dishes.
It's about time!

Bye Olympics. Hello US Open

We've enjoyed the Olympics this year. We think there are some improvements to be made (add a water hazard and snarling pit bulls to rhythmic gymnastics, for instance), but all in all, it's fun.
Careful readers will know that we really like tennis, too. And, it's US Open time!
We'll be watching carefully for great serves and interesting fashion.
Anyone want to weigh in on who'll play the best and look the best?

Synchronized cool

From Maggie:
I think I've found my favorite Olympic sport. The staff left the TV on today, and we got to watch synchronized swimming.
Here's a video of the Russian gold medal swim performance. Wow. Pretty sure I could do that. Bandit says I'd be lousy because I wouldn't want to stay in synch with the other team members -- is that a requirement? I mean, can't they just follow me in my routine? And I would have to request a rule change about all that water. I'm certain that can be done in the backyard with tall grass. Seems like a waste of water. I could wear a shiny suit and be the one they throw up in the air!

From Bandit: She could just be the one to throw up. Seems like a waste of sequins.

It's 201

Yep, we just passed our 200th blog, so this is 201st! Yay!
Thanks for reading us.

We've been pretty busy this week, and here's an update on a few things.
- Aunt Jenn's doing OK. Her good knee was injured, but she's feeling fine. She didn't have the scoots after all.
- It's rained a lot. A lot. The staff blames it on something called "Fay." We don't really care except that it gets our feet wet in the mornings.
- Our buddy Amanda was here for a few days, and she's fun. She had to leave to do something called "City Chase." Apparently dogs weren't invited, because we're certain she'd have let us go, too.
- We ate all of Ernie's food one day and got a little "windy." But it was still worth it to get the good stuff.
- Last night, it was really noisy outside. The trees kept blowing and making things flash.
We're really glad it's Friday and the staff will be home for a few days. We need a break.

Feel better Aunt Jenn!

So yesterday we heard that Aunt Jenn got hit by a car while scooting around town. Now, it's bad enough that she got a case of the scoots (careful readers may remember Maggie's recent bout), but she must have been doing it in the street. We all fear cars, and we thought she knew better. Bumpers hurt.

....Oh wait....Staffer Mom says Aunt Jenn was hit while riding a red motorized scooter that takes her places like a limo. Oh. We only had one point of reference on that. Sorry.

Feel Better Aunt Jenn!

Ugh. Another old movie weekend

Remember when we told you the staff made us watch all 5 Planet of the Apes movies? Well, they are at it again. This weekend, between inane Olympic sports (badminton, handball?), they left us with John Hughes movies "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Sixteen Candles."
- "Bueller? Bueller?" We loved that part. It's like when the staffers stand in the yard and call us and we don't want to come.
The limo was cool, and we'd like to have ridden in it. Alas, it's junk now.
- We applaud the canine actor hired to chase Rooney. Lots of good teeth-baring and foaming at the mouth. We thought it was effective.
- As for "Sixteen Candles," there were some nice details, but at least one part left us doubting the validity of the entire plot line. We're pretty sure Molly Ringwald wouldn't have worn red-and-white polka dot underwear. That really didn't add up for us at all. And we're really sure she wouldn't have given it to a geek. Nice touch, but just not believable. We've nosed through enough laundry baskets to know what types of undies fit various folks, and that just doesn't add up.
Bueller?

Early alert! Games for us!

We've been waiting patiently since last October, and now it's coming!
Registration opens Aug. 30 for the annual Savannah Wiener Dawg Races!
This year it will be more fun than ever with more to do....It's a full schedule for the first weekend in October.

We've got the races on River Street, and then later there's entertainment and fun at Grayson Stadium, a masquerade ball for all wiener staffers, a Sunday morning Blessing of the Wieners and more. AND, there will be races for other small-dog breeds, too. So, we're inviting all our chihuahua friends to come visit.

Last year's gathering was wonderful and raised a lot of money for Dachshund Rescue. We hope to help lots of animal charities this year. If you aren't in the Savannah area, it's a great weekend to head this way.

Check out the Savannah Dachshund Club web site for new information and early details.
Click on the topic labels for our fun stories from last year and many, many photos!
And here's a video from last year's craziness.
Yay!!!

We're not sleepy; we're imitating the staff

So, we've been reading some new stuff over at Joey's and Maggie's blog, The Long and Short of It All.
Today we learned that yawns are contagious between dogs and humans. You have to read this.
Of course, there are a lot of human habits we'd rather not have any part of.

PS: check the cool Olympic mascot to the left. It's Waldi from Munich. Sure puts that stupid Izzy from Atlanta to shame. We live in Georgia, and we hated that thing.
Want to know more Waldi history? It's on their blog, too. Click here.

Sunday at home

Yep, we were stuck at home all day. The staff got up early and just took off. Hey! It's the weekend -- they're supposed to be home with us!
When they got home, they smelled like they'd been to the beach. We're going to find out where they've been, because this is just not right. And Saturday, they let us out to play and then Staffer Dad kept flinging old, wet pine needles at us from the roof. He said he didn't mean to hit us with them, he was just cleaning out the gutters. Right. Staffer Mom was laughing too hard for us to believe that.
We'll let you know what we find out. Payback could be interesting.

More wieners in science

Today it rained, so we spent a lot of time on the Net. We learned that, yet again, wieners are helping humans in the science research. They keep coming to us for help, and we're a little worried that we'll be seen as lab rats. Not good.
Anyway, in a weird Norwegian study done somewhere in New York, they figured out that if they put sunglasses on a wiener dog, they'll be able to learn about human blindness. OK, fine.
But we're not wearing sunglasses except on the beach. And that's that.

Finally, we're excited about the Olympics!

Thanks to our friends Joey and Maggie over at The Long and Short of It, we've learned about Fred the dachshund and his quest for the Beijing Olympics. His staff apparently made a short film to show us what he's been through to get to the tennis-ball diving championships. Watch it here.


Our staff says they'll leave the remote out if we want to watch for Fred on TV, and we also will be checking the Net since there's 2,200 hours of programming planned. Oddly, we can't seem to find a listing for that sport, but we figure this one is so special, they'll be showing it during prime time. Right?

New blog friends

We've heard from some new blog friends at Who's Your Dachshund -- lots of owners and great wiener buddies. Give it a read at this link. They talk about all sorts of fun things and there's good info about all things dachshund. And give our blogroll a look sometime....we've got lots of fun friends!

We're not lazy

Ernie's wrong; we've been busy. Yep, we've spent a lot of time online this week looking for new sites and ideas. We found a lot of sites you really need to check out. Most of them had substance and some had style.
This one's just fun. Try it, and then type in your own message, too!

Ernie takes over

The dogs have been lame this week. They've slept a lot and fought over food, so I'm going to blog.
Here's my entry.

We earn our keep and we're scary, too

Lately, when we irritate the staff by asking questions like "When do WE get a vacation?" or "Why do we have to eat in the laundry room?", it's been suggested that we might should consider getting jobs. As ludicrous as that notion may be, we know we'd be successful at many careers.
For instance, a cemetery owner in Fremont, Nebraska, uses a dachshund to clean moles out of the cemetery. You can read about it here.

We think that's absolutely something we could do. Heck, we do it now and we should ask the staff to pay us for that!

Also, Foster's and Henry's mom sent us a story recently suggesting dachshunds should be used more in comic books as the scary, threatening beasts instead of gorillas or dinosaurs. It's true. There's no way we wouldn't win those matches. No way.

Here are some quotes from an essay she sent over:
- "While a ticked gorilla is still throwing leaves around and having an ostentatious hissy fit, the wily dachshund will have already tripped you, crushed your trachea, and, as you suffocate, be sitting on your chest chewing on your ribs while farting in your face. And wagging his tail."
- "How many gorillas do you know in real life interested in world domination? Zero. Again, gorillas pale as a threat when compared to dachshunds, all of which are bent on world domination. Charles Heston would've lasted about 3 seconds on the Planet of the Dachshunds...."

And we've been forced by the staff (and Uncle Brad and Aunt Jenn) to sit through all five Planet of the Apes movies in one day, so we know this is true. If we were in charge, ol' Charlton sure wouldn't be doing all those NRA commercials, and he'd never say this because we don't allow people to talk to us that way. He'd be a believer in dachshund justice and working for DRNA (Dachshund Rescue of North America).

So, the staff should pay us for our star potential, too. We'd compromise for getting to eat dinner in the kitchen...near the cat food bowl.
Especially if it's full.

Dog Days

Well, as you may have expected, we're back at home and the staffers have returned to their old routine: Get up, take us out, eat breakfast, make us watch Staffer Mom read the paper, send us to our playroom. That's a normal morning. Evenings have been better because it's been raining some and it's really hot outside, so the staff has to play with us inside. And when that happens, we get to watch lots of baseball with Staffer Dad. We also get to learn new words when the Cardinals blow a 7-run lead late in the game.
We realize it's not a glamorous life, but for us, it's fun. We guess the Dog Days of Summer were really meant for us.

Storms and other noises

It's been an interesting week for us. Lots of sun, sand and some storms. The best thing so far has been right near the house. Maggie discovered a dove's nest right under the deck, and we haven't had any luck digging through to it. We run out every chance we get to try, but we haven't been able to get to it. The staff says we should leave it alone, but we really think we could make friends with the dove family if we could just get to it.

Otherwise, we've had lots of fireworks around the house, and while the staff says they are no big deal and kinda pretty, we have our doubts. If they are harmless, why do they make all that noise? And then this morning, we had lightning and thunder and really loud rain. It woke us up early and we realized quickly the staffers weren't going to take us out to walk in all that.
While Maggie resorted to hurling her body at the door, Bandit decided to woof now and then. We really weren't sure what to do, and neither tactic worked well. Staffer Dad didn't even come to see us with the leashes until it quit raining. We thought we were going to burst. Later today, it stormed again -- and that was better than all that noise from jet planes flying over all week. Even those big things couldn't fight Mother Nature. They didn't fly at all today, but we're guessing a lot of other things did since the wind was really howling.
This video is something that happened on the beach nearby while the staff was away today. Our buddies from Alabama saw it happen!

Science appreciates us, too

Wow. In today's Science Daily, we found an article about a stubborn gene that may help stop invasive breast cancer. The gene's name: Dachshund or DACH1. We think that's terrific, and it's named appropriately. First of all, we are stubborn, and stopping breast cancer requires this gene to be on patrol. It also has the ability to herd other genes gone wild and make them behave normally. Obviously, science take our breed seriously, too. Maybe being aggressive about some things isn't so bad after all.

We're SO aggressive

We've had a chance to do a little extra reading this week, and we're a little perturbed at one of the recent stories we found. It says dachshunds are rated as "most aggressive" among dog breeds. We don't like to criticize science, especially since it brought us a lot of cool things like Kong toys, flea killer and Science Diet food. But, this research has to be wrong. Here's another look at the study and how it works. It's got more context, something Staffer Mom says is important. We just think it explains the findings a bit more fairly.
About the only thing we're aggressive about is digging holes and relaxation.

Walks, snacks and naps

We really enjoy vacations -- it means the staffers are with us all the time, and they generally do what we want. When we want out, we go out. When we want to nap, we can scramble up on the sofa and take one. When we want to eat, we can usually sniff around on the floor between meals and get some snacks. They invite lots of friends over and every one seems to drop crumbs and laugh a lot. Really, it's our job to make sure things are cleaned up, so this works out well.
We take walks regularly, and sometimes we see other dogs and sometimes we see people riding things with big wheels. We don't like those. But we do like the walks, so we'll deal with the bike things. Maggie thinks she can probably take one down with a well-placed fang in the back tire.