Since it’s National Backyard Day, I dedicate this day to my dachshund, Oscar. He’s the one who uses the backyard more than any of the occupants of this house.
We adopted Oscar five days before the pandemic lockdown took place. He was ten years old at the time. No one seemed to want him because of his age. We were casually looking for an older dachshund because I have had that kind of dog since I was sixteen years old. I figured a six- or eight-year old. But then, Oscar came along. He was originally in Alabama, but his owner couldn’t care for him anymore. He came to Albany with the Rottweiler Rescue group. Whenever anyone contacted them about Oscar, they immediately shied away because of his age.
Not us.
Our dachshunds usually live to sixteen or seventeen; he’s fourteen now. He doesn’t play with squeaky toys as much as he did when he first came, but he’s still active. He runs up and down the fenced-in backyard, making sure that everything is in order, from his short viewpoint.
He was a little taken aback when the backyard was dug up last fall when we installed geothermal heating/air conditioning. We had to remove two sections of fence, so we had to walk him in the neighborhood instead of just opening the door and letting him roam free. The backyard is still a mess from that project; we will be re-seeding the grass when we’re sure there won’t be any more frosts here in northeastern New York.
Oscar also loves to sunbathe on the deck.
And on Groundhog Day? Oscar was not to be outdone by any underground creature in Pennsylvania!
Hi, Wanda
Your dog is a cutie. He looks like the king of the house. I am so happy that you and your hubby gave him a home.
I hope that grass gets planted quickly so that Oscar can have his own backyard again. Have a lovely day.
Shalom shalom
Well, it’s snowing now, so it’s probably a good thing that we haven’t made plans to seed the yard yet! LOL You never know what’s going to happen, here in the great northeast!
Wanda, your captions to the pictures made me laugh out loud. Loved them. I’m unfamiliar with Geothermal air and heating. How does that work?
Hi John–Geothermal heating/airconditingl uses the heat from the earth instead of using fossil fuels. They dig a hole in the ground and then hook it up to a heat pump in the basement. When they installed it, they had to find the best place to find the heat from the earth, so they dug up a few spots in our yard. It runs on electricity. We already had solar panels, and that helps keep our electric bills down. Saving on paying for natural gas is really helping us. We still have one of those on-demand hot water heaters, so we do use some natural gas. I received a letter from the local utility company, saying that our natural gas usage was 94 percent less than our energy-efficient neighbors!
Lovely blog about Oscar. So good od you both to take in an older dog.Good to know that kind hearted people still exist. Loved the pictures.
We are soft-hearted, but then, we hit the jackpot with this dog. My father brought home a dachshund when I was sixteen, and it’s been dachshunds ever since. That was years ago, in a galaxy far, far away!
Hi, Wanda,
I love the captions with your photos, especially the one about Groundhog Day. Oscar is a handsome fellow and I’m sure he’s a delight to have around. We also adopted an older dog: an eleven-year-old Shitzu. He was deaf and his vision wasn’t so great, but we loved him. So did our precocious lovebird, Tweet, who ruled the house. She loved the hairs on his tail and lined her nest with them. He did NOT love her in return.
Blessings!
Patty
We had Kirby from 1997 until 2014. We also had my son’s dachshund, Willie, until 2017. When Kirby went blind, Willie was Kirby’s seeing-eye dog. He would walk next to Kirby and guide him down the hall to get in his dog bed for the night. It was the cutest thing.
Wanda, I have always like dachshunds. Your dog seems fairly small. In my last job, my boss had a HUGE dachshund. I think the little ones are much cuter and easier to handle. All the dogs I ever had were pretty small, and easier to deal with.
Hi Karl–My dog is small, but I once had a dachshund who weighed 32 pounds! He was what they call a “standard” size. Oscar is a “tweenie”–half way between a miniature and a standard. Oscar weighs 14 pounds. He’s about the normal size of the dogs we’ve had. My 32-pounder was really big. My husband called him “an overlap dog” instead of a lap dog.