My first was Snickers. Funny story. My Mom taught him to jump up after clothes she was preparing to hang on the clothesline, till one day. My Father stomped in and held up a pair of his BVDs that stretched all the way to the ground. It seemed that Snickers didn't realize the "jumping up trying to grab the clothes game" didn't include clothes hanging on the clothesline, too. It was funny. Well, not to Dad.
My second Dachshund was Penny. She was teeny, and loved to play with a handball. Her small mouth could barely fit around the ball, but she carried it around proudly (once she worked for 2 minutes to get it in her mouth). Then, she learned the "You throw it Dad, and I'll go fetch it Dad," game. It was fun at first, and then the game became an obsession. I got exasperated, and finally hid the ball, and the "throw and catch" game turned into Penny running around looking and sniffing around for the ball, which was just about as annoying. Then, she learned that she could hide the ball, then run around and "act" like someone took it from her, and so she ended up training me to find the ball. Smart dog.
My third was Max. We got him from a shelter rescue, and I'll never forget him laying on the chair in the front room staring at the front door (I'm assuming that he thought he would be going 'home', after this layover at this strange person's house), and so I had to explain as best I could that she was home.
I was doing alot of traveling for work at that point, and Max was my wife's buddy, watchdog, and hide and go seek partner. That dog would really play hide and go seek with Colleen (my wife. Sorry if I didn't clear that up before). She would creep down the hall and hide, and call out for Max. He would run around and look for her, walking near her hiding place (On top of the bed, or hiding under a blanket on the floor, etc) numbers of times (We are convinced that he knew that playing dumb, and not "finding" her lengthened out the game.), until she would surprise him with "Aha!" as he walked by a fifth or so time. There are so many other stories I could tell, but we'll save those for later.
Max had back issues, as many Dachshunds do, and went to the great Hide and Go Seek playground in the sky. We still miss him, and talk about him often. I hung his collar on a coat hook by the front door. I shake it when I need to hear it, every once in awhile. It's sad that he is gone, but we thought we gave him 8 great months of fun before he passed away. It turns out he gave us 8 great months of fun, too. Wait, it was much more than that.
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