by Nancy Houser

Created on: August 07, 2007

Miss Holly Higgins, The Love of My Life

Dachshunds are one of the few breeds that I never had a desire to own. In fact, it was a breed that I had never considered as being lovable and sweet, due to it belonging to the hound family. They have a reputation for being hunters, barkers, diggers, and always on the go. Why would I want that for a gentle pet?

I run a rescue center for dogs in Central Nebraska with my partner, and run across many breeds. Breeds that I had never been around or knew anything about. What I found out was that all breeds have good and bad sides, like the dachshunds. It would take approximately anywhere from three months to a year to socialize and train an abused dog to the point they would allow you to come near them, pet them, recognize their name, learn to do simple commands like "sit" or "come." And some would never get over being head shy due to physical or verbal abuse, or would never get over not having enough water or food-hoarding their bowls like their lives depended on it, and which sometimes it had in the past.

One of my little rescues was a pregnant female dachshund that I had rescued from an overly large kennel who had been told to cut down in numbers by the State Inspector and USDA. As I told you, dachshunds are not my thing, but I could not say no to this little dog. She was in bad shape and need of a good home. Otherwise, she would have continued on with the breeding cycle of puppy mills. So I took her home, eventually finding a home for her to become a pet.

When I had her, we put her on a high-protein diet and did routine worming so the puppies would not get them, and she eventually whelped out six puppies. All were in good shape except for one little short-haired black and tan female, whom she kept nosing away from her and the litter. I have learned over the years that a mother dog will recognize some defect in a puppy and move them gently to the side or behind her. No matter how many times you put them back, the mother dog will move them away-time after time. And that was what was happening to my little Miss Holly Higgins.

I took a liking to this little girl, and would stand there with her, allowing her to suck for short periods of time on the mother as I held her. After that, I would tube-feed her every four hours under a heat lamp in the kitchen. Day after day, hour after hour, I never left her side. We became a team, little Holly and I. She developed one situation after another: stomach issues, bowel problems, food allergies-whatever

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