This is Sam, I grew up with him, he was my best buddy for 17 years. I was looking for some photos tonight and found this in an old album. As you can see he was very proud of his catch. (ulk!) He caught a mouse once and I could only see one foot and a tail hanging out of his mouth...I went over to make him drop it and you could see the big mouse lump going down his throat.
He was a neat color I never knew what it was until I took him with me to a dog show and a handler walked by and said "Oh! A wild boar recessive!" I was just a kid when we got him, my brothers and I would put him on the back of the sofa and sit behind it and encourage him to jump off. (Makes me feel faint to think of it now.) He never had a back problem and wasn't sick a day in his life and all we fed him for 17 years were those nasty old gainesburgers that looked like fake play dough patties. The good old days of being ignorant and no worries!
I might add that had he moved a foot screen right...he would have fallen a whole story to the concrete below.... :doah: I wouldn't even go out there holding Hallie, now!
Ahhh!!! Another pic of the things I used to do with Sam as a kid...see I wasn't born a worry wart, it is a learned behaviour LOL. I can't believe I put him on my Kasey's back! :crazyeyes:
Sam was handsome!!! Great pictures of him.
Ewwwwww at his catch !!! LOL !!! He IS an outstanding color !!! And I had to laugh at him on the horse - oh, so NOT our dd !!!
Yikes!!!
My goodness was he a handsome chap and brave with it. It does rather make the stomach churn nowadays, thinking of how you "played" with him and his diet - not to mention the mole.......love the tell-tale earth-dusting on his snout too and gorgeous shiny coat, he actually looks like he´s grinning (not so the mole).
Reminds me of my first dachshund, Rex, a very smooth miniature red, who died at 19 in his sleep when his old heart pegged out. My parents house then had 3 flights of carpeted stairs and he happliy went up and down them all his life; no back problems, no diet worries, nothing wrong with him, ever. He used to sleep along the 17th because that´s where the heating pipes ran.....he´d snore and dream, turn over and roll down a few...my old heart comes close to stopping if I even imagine Red or Islay doing that now!
As the song goes " those were the days, my friend. I thought they´d never end....."
I still shudder to look at these pics...I taught Sam so many tricks and one was I'd set up a mini horse jumping course and would send Sam around it with a doll strapped to his back, jumping every one of them over and over! Gads! I had no clue dachshunds (or any dogs) got back problems back then. We got Sam because my Mom had passed away a few months earlier and my Dad got me a smooth red dachshund puppy, Jody, to make me feel better. On my first birthday without my Mom (my 14th) I was at a pizza party with friends and my Dad had let Jody out to go potty, she snuck out to the horse field and when he called her, my horses came running and Kasey, my gelding here with Sam on his back, didn't see her in the tall grass and stepped on her and accidentally killed her...my poor Dad was devastated especially when I came home and ran into the house calling happily for Jody. I was a wreck too, but the next day Dad found a dachshund puppy ad in the paper and he made me go, I didnt' want another puppy, but we got Sam, I ignored him for about 2 days but he won me over and was my best friend for the next 17 years.
OMG I can see Rex rolling down the stairs! Those really were the good old days weren't they...no worries! Now we worry constantly if they even look at us sideways. Life has a way of beating lessons into us the hard way.
The picture of him with the mole...he had brought the mole up to show us but he didn't want anyone to get it from him and he didn't know what to do with it. So in this picture he is getting verrrrry tired of standing there, frozen, with this mole as he couldnt' make any decisions about what to do with it. LOL. I remember he was breathing hard the whole time and his eyes finally started to squint shut. Poor guy. He eventually had to spit it out and we were able to dispatch it but he stood there for ages.
Great piccy, and a nice trip down memory lane. It seems like our old friends now at the Bridge were some very memorable characters.
He was a beautiful dog. I love his coloring too. Looks like he was an excellent hunter.
Oh Dee Dee...Sam was beautiful :heart: :heart: Sounds like you two had a wonderful life together! My dachshund when I grew up was named Dino (after the Flintstone's dinosaur dog). We knew nothing about back problems either and Dino went up and down stairs, the whole bit. He lived to be 16. What wonderful memories you have of Sam....precious!!!
When i got Finnegan the breeder was telling me that one of the reasons Dashies get hurt backs is because people dont ever let them jump, and then when they do it strains their backs (makes sense, i'm always feeling it when i havent done anything and deside to get ambitious) So if the Dachshund is very active, there is less of a chance of them hurting their backs in the first place. They had a Mini that could jump onto the kitchen table!! I used to freak out when we first got Fin because he would superman launch himself off the couch and bed. But now his back muscles are HUGE and he can jump ONTO the bed and couch, which tower over him. I'm still wary and hate it when he does manage to surprise me but he seems to land quite well, and always hits the ground running. And he has beautiful posture (if i do say so myself :P)Apparently, his grandfather was the same. And never had a problem in his life!
I think thats why alot of dogs never had problems, because when your doing stuff that works them (because we didnt know any better), it lets those muscles build up and they can take more?
At least i HOPE that can be the case, because no matter how hard i try to stop him, my weiner dog thinks he can fly.
I agree David, each one brings a whole different set of memories, Sam was very different from Jessie and Hallie, Hallie would never dream of putting that thing in her mouth!
Thanks Sadiesmom I guess wild boar recessive is a smooth version of the wirehair wild boar...or maybe the handler didn't know what he was talking about! :wink: I'm not sure what his color said on his papers if I still have them it would be interesting to know my guess is they put him as a black and tan.
That's amazing Cheryl....weren't those the good old days before we knew about the things that could happen to them! I guess we were just lucky....Noel's Sparky is another that lived to a ripe old age. I love the name...Dino!
Finnegan sounds like a real cutie!!!! Isn't it amazing where those short little legs can take them! Your breeder was right to an extent...if we keep our doxies in shape with moderate exercise like walks on a harness, etc, it will help keep their muscles strong to support their spine and also helps keep their weight down which is also important to protect their backs. But it is very dangerous to let your doxie jump or do any rough play that involves twisiting or pulling hard. IVDD (intervetebral disc disease) will hit about 1 in 4 of dachshunds, and it is thought to be genetic, there are studies going on to find a gene that causes it. IVDD typically happens between the ages of about 4-7 yrs old.
Instead of writing it out I was lazy and copied this from Dodgers List :thumb:
IVDD stands for Inter-Vertebral Disc Disease. Between the bones that make up the spinal column, called vertebrae, there are gel-like cushions called discs. Discs are made of a material that should have the consistency of a gel toothpaste. When a dog has IVDD, disc material hardens prematurely. When pressure is applied to the disc, like the pressure the spine receives from a jump, the hardened disc material can break through the weak disc wall, oozing or even shooting out with the force of a bullet. When the material escapes, it can enter into the space where the spinal cord is.
The spinal cord, is the main communication system between body parts (legs, bladder, etc) and the brain. So if the disc material presses on the spinal cord, the affected limbs or organs cannot send or receive information to and from the brain. That is why the dogs become paralyzed and commonly also lose bladder and bowel control. No information goes through from the site of the herniation towards the brain and vice versa.
If only a little disc material oozed out, the spinal cord may not be too damaged and the dog can fully recover. If the disc rupture is severe and hit the cord with enough force causing the spinal cord a lot of damage, the dog might need a lot of time to recover, perhaps surgery and therapy. Chances of recovery are slimmer with a severe disc rupture, but there are accounts of some dogs that have been paralyzed for up to 3 years, that have suddenly gotten up and started to walk again. Nerves are the slowest part of the body to heal and each dog has their own timeline as to when or if healing can happen.
And here are some of the things they recommend you do to try and prevent it.
Always select a reputable breeder. Many believe IVDD is hereditary and reputable breeders always study and know the dogs in a pedigree. It has been proven that reputable breeders have far less incidence of back problems.
Always keep your Dachshund trim.
Limit their jumping as much as possible. Purchasing ramps may help.
Feed a good nutritious diet.
Find a vet that knows the breed and discuss with them their treatment(s) for disc disease. A checklist of questions to ask the ER, general and specialist vets)
Use common sense and avoid circumstances that could cause injuries to a long-bodied dog. A lot of injuries occur because of slipping, sharp turns, running into things and twisting.
Get your Dachshund used to a crate as a puppy in case of any future circumstances which would require a pro-longed confinement.
Keep the nails cut short
A harness may prevent extra stress on the neck area.
Always pick up your Dachshund supporting the back.
Know the common IVDD drugs and their adverse reactions
If your dog is prone to it though, sometimes it happens anyway no matter what you do although maybe it isn't as severe as it would have been. I have been neurotically careful with my 2 and both have had back problems (go figure) although Hallie's was likely a different kind of back issue....they never found out for sure.
Hope that didn't depress you LOL!!! But it's good to know how this awful/stupid back thing works with them so we can take some precautions, as you said there isn't any way to keep an active puppy down and they need to live and enjoy life but try to avoid the big jumps and too much strain on their spines. There have been several lucky doxies on the forum here who lived to an old age with little or no back problems but a lot do get it to some degree or another so anything we can do within reason to prevent it is good. It's a good thing Finnegans relatives have been that active without problems, it could mean he has good genes and may not be as prone as some to having a problem but we can never tell for sure so it doesn't hurt to just be careful with them within reason.
When i first started talking to the breeder i got him from one of the first things we disscussed was how none of her puppies had ever suffered from back injuries. Which i felt was so important. I have read up a bit on Dacshund back problems, and yes, scares the heck out of me.. ha. Especially because Finnegan is so non-stop. He likes to launch himself at the cat with no warning, i have caught him midair a couple of times. I think he gets that he shouldn't do it, cuz when i am watching he will wait for me to put him down. I'm hope that when he gets a little older he will stop all together.
So thank you for all that information! I am so glad i found this website!
You guys are all so helpful and nice, it makes me proud to be apart of the dashie community!! :heart:
That's great you'd already done your homework, I was a little nervous about posting all that because I didn't want to sound preachy or tell you things you already knew, and I certainly don't know it all either. Because I had had such good luck with Sam, when I got my first doxie (the one before Hallie...Jessie a standard red longhaired girl) I didnt' know anything about the back problems and later wished I had. I was careful with her anyway but not as careful as I could have been at first and she got back problems at age 4. I was really careful after that but she kept having problems, I was beyond neurotic with Hallie from day 1 but she also got problems...although again hers may not be the typical IVDD, the neurologist was never 100% sure what was going on with her. Jessie was a well bred show dog with no back problems in her line (that I was told about anyway!!) and Hallie was dumped at an animal shelter during the night so we dont' know her history at all.
So I didn't mean to scare you further! :grin: Every breed has something to worry about...our biggie happens to be this darn back thing. You are doing the best for Finnegan, we do have to let them enjoy life and be dogs too. It really is very good that his relatives have been fine also!! My friend got a doxie from the same animal shelter Hallie came from and she just died at 16 and all her life had got up and launched herself off the kitchen table and never had a problem! It would be really nice if they could isolate a gene for this so we can predict those that are more likely to have a problem and also to help breeder in their breeding programs. The one study at UC Davis is working on a link between the gene for their short legs and for IVDD, it will be interesting to see if they come up with something.
Hugs to Finnegan.