Category Archives: Dachshund Stories

Stories about Suzi Que and Sammi Jo

Christ in Her Eyes

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It’s said that critters have no souls – much less huge brain power. And, in my mind, that’s likely true. However, God has put them on this earth and in our lives for a reason. Occasionally, they serve a much larger purpose than one might expect.

Suzi grooved on greeting me immediately when I walk into the door. That particular day was no different…with one exception. She moved up toward me as I moved down toward her. (Dachshunds are pretty short, you know.) For lack of a better word, I “scrunched” her beautiful black and tan face and head between my hands (giving her lots of extra wrinkles) as she sniffed my face thoroughly. Our eyes met and I fell into their deep brown.

“I love you. I’ll defend you. I love you. I’d die for you. I love you. Walk with me. Talk to me. Touch me. I love you more than you can know. Spend time with me. I depend on you. You depend on me. I love you. I died for you…” The entire thing was pretty overwhelming!

Then it dawned on me that, in that split second, Christ had asked our sweet, loving pup to serve as His vessel…a medium of sorts. He had something to say and chose her through whom to speak.

The words had filled my head so quickly that I was stunned. Why those particular words and why then? Questions remain unanswered — for my own brain is far too small. But there was a purpose. There always is.

Now I’m prodded to ask a question. When God looks into my eyes…and my heart…what does He see? I think that a prayer that I said quite awhile back still applies: “Father, may the me that I am better reflect the You that You have always been. Amen.”

For the sake of some interaction, let me pose a question to you. (Yes…YOU!) What does God see when He looks into your eyes? Or, what do you want Him to see? Answer in the form of a comment. There’s no need to be shy for, after all, we do share the same Father. I look forward to your response.

That’s a very personal question so, an answer isn’t needed unless you feel comfortable. Instead, feel free to simply respond with a comment on what you think about what I’ve shared here. This was written before her passing before me and I’ve made slight changes here and there.

The Mystery of the Shyly Wagging Tail

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As she waddled toward me, I knew that something was very wrong. I’d just gotten home from a one-week trip to Maui and she greeted me with cool nose and an unusual shyly wagging tail. That spoke volumes as it traditionally pounds enthusiastically against the cabinets. Yup, she’d done something and it was my job to discover exactly what!

Suzi appeared to have gained weight (perhaps 5 lbs.) over a very short period of time. The man of the house swore that he’d only given her “the usual” food and supplements. So, knowing that she thinks that she is starving, literally, all the time, I suspected that she’d discovered an alternate food source!

My suspicions were confirmed when I took her outside to “do her business.” Upon seeing the specimen that she deposited, one of two things were made clear. Either Suzi had developed a plethora of unusually shaped parasites or she’d been eating birdseed from beneath the feeder! This had been done in spite of the little snap-together fence that we’ve had around it for a few months. She’d clearly grazed on seed for days!

It was obvious that Suz had valued volume over taste as the seeds were undamaged — leaving peanuts easy to identify! So, her size was less the result of weight gain and more the result of BLOATING! She was about to explode!

Wrong. She had already exploded…in my office area! It took me a while to discover the…shrapnel but even longer to repair the damage. Each of the no-less-than eight piles were brimming with seed!

Now, I knew that I couldn’t change the “quality” of my hubby’s “watching the girls” because retraining (at his age) is all but impossible. So, we now have a new, one-piece circular fence around the bird feeder area. Suzi will have to either dig…or fly in order to get to her recently discovered food source.

Sometimes Two Really Are Better Than One!

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Sometimes two really are better than one. As you can see, Sammi seems to share that philosophy (especially when it involves “bones”). At the time I snagged the photo, she’d carried the bones around the room a couple of times. It was as though she knew that her “cuteness” would call to me in a way that I simply couldn’t resist. She was right!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie…Even In The Middle of Class?

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It’s 27* this morning and Suzi and Sammie were in their traditional spot as I showered. Where is that? In front of the heater, of course. As I stood there, a memory washed over me as though straight from the shower head. It fell on me softly and took me to a place I hadn’t thought of for quite a while.

I drifted back to the time when Suzi was in obedience class over six years ago. We were surrounded by various dogs and owners at the time and were reviewing the exercise that we’d just completed. Now, you and I both know that the verbal chit chat was for the benefit of the owners. Suzi knew it, too. She’s no dummy!

As I sat there, listening intently, she was leaning back on my chest with her belly up to the rest of the world. Since, in order to train dogs to allow us to trim their nails with no trouble, I’d heard that handling each paw was a good thing. So, as I listened, I gently stroked one of her front paws. It must have felt really good, too, for she seemed very relaxed.

The instructor stopped in mid sentence and said, “Is Suzi actually sleeping during class?! I can’t believe it!” Yup! That’s exactly what she was doing. In defense of Suz…naturally, rudeness wasn’t intentional but just happened in the natural scheme of things. After all, shugs were and still are, for that matter, very important to her.

So the class ended on a less instructional note than planned and Suzi was able to snag a little nap so that she’d be refreshed for her next adventure.

He Speaks at the Strangest Times

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A couple of nights ago, I discovered some dry turds (for lack of a better term) in our “big room.” Poop in any part of our home isn’t a good thing but it was dry and hard…which made it easy to pick it up and drop into the closest toilet. Because of its overall “character,” I knew that the perpetrator had been Sammie (“Sam”) …again. Yes, tho she’d likely already forgotten about it, I scolded her anyway. She acted very guilty…confirming my suspicions. Yup! She was, in fact, the offending critter! Our Suzi would burst before she did that…unless she was fighting IBS.

A bit later in the day, however, after that was behind us, I walked outside with the girls encouraging them to do their “business.” When Sam finally assumed her classic pooper position, I knew what would come next. When she finished, however, rather than scolding her (as I’d done a couple of hours earlier), I walked over and told her what a “good girl” she was for making her “mess” outside…rather than in the house! Then I scrubbed her ears and spoke in loving tones as though she were starting over in her house training “class”. All was forgiven and I was giving her yet another chance to do things right. After all, she tends to do this kind of thing periodically. Though she’s middle-aged for a dog, she, like us all, is far from perfect.

What a blessing that God is much like that with us, His children! There I was. Standing out in the back yard supervising the girls’ “business” and out of that proverbial clear blue sky dropped this huge TRUTH! It seems that I spend my life making one “mess” after another and God simply covers me with his Grace without a second thought! I don’t deserve that! He should either punish me Himself or encourage someone else to do it. My nose should be rubbed in it and I should be rolled over on my back and spoken to in gruff, alpha-dog-type tones! I should be sentenced to die in…and because of my sin! Instead, though, He simply reaches over, scrubs my ears, speaks softly to my heart, and gives me yet another chance to do things right. Why am I treated with such love when I screw up so often? Because He’d sent Jesus to be punished…to die in my place. Wow! That’s quite a gift! And just think. All we have to do is believe in Him and accept His sacrifice in our behalf.

This just goes to show you that God should be considered the Master Opportunist. Sometimes He uses the most trivial things to get our attention! He very softly placed a huge concept in front of my mind while I stood in my own back yard tending to our dogs! And He did it in such a way that I could better understand something that I already knew…but needed to hear again. Yes! My God IS an awesome God indeed!

What-In-the-HECK?????

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The mystery was solved!

Here’s a bit of background. Our Suzi was never much into gnawing on things…until Sammi came into the picture nine or ten months later. Now, we’ve figuratively speaking, bought stock in Nylabone! What one has…the other wants. Or, at least that’s the way it often seems.

When hubby and/or I leave the house, we’ve learned that it’s best to restrict the girls to lounging in the kitchen and my office area. We’ve found that, when we’re away, they pass the time…reading? We have a magazine container on the floor by the couch. Once they discovered that Consumer Reports was such a great magazine, they dove into it! It was obvious that one of them had flipped through its pages leaving all of the top corners looking, dare I say…gnawed? Ah, yes. These girls love to read! Anyway…

Upon getting home from, I’m sure, one of my adventures, I noticed something unrecognizable on the carpet in my office. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was! It was at that time that I uttered the, “What-in-the-heck was THIS!?” As I padded through the house a bit later in the day, another white object caught my eye. Though it was in a totally different room, I made the connection.

I couldn’t help but chuckle when it dawned on me that, in a sense, I’d managed to share my Chap Stick with the girls!