Dachshund shuffle

This is a new dance that we have created in the last couple of weeks. It seems that we have several females that have came into heat. So we have been shuffling females in and out of kennels rearrange kennels to get the right mix of male/female. So far we have Tabby, Muffin, Daisy, Foxy, Bunni that have came into heat and a couple of more any day now. By June/July we hopefully will have puppies to sale.

The great wall of Seymour

For about 6 months now we have been discussing how can we get more room for our puppies. If you have ever seen our back yard, it really is not a yard but a big driveway. It has gravel all on it. You could probably put four cars side by side that is how wide our driveway is. Well we decided to put up an area that would block off more area for the dogs/puppies. Ben worked very hard on the design of this. I would say it is a great design. He knows that I am very particular in the fact that I do not want for people to come up and all they see is a big fence. For over a week now we have been working on this area. We put up fence post and then lattice. This goes from one corner of the back of the house to the other corner of the house. To put this into more of a prospective. It has taken 16 pcs of lattice work to make this fence. Or as I jokingly refer to it as the great wall of Seymour. We have it up right now to the point that the inside dogs can go outside and run. The rottie really loves it. Unfortunately, mother nature is not cooperating with us and we have not been able to extend the kennels yet. There is also not a gate. So to access the house from the back right now, we have put up the swimming pool ladder to climb over the fence. Now can we say redneck.

Now hopefully after the time changes and the weather will break we can get the kennels expanded and let the other ones out. We are also decided on how to expand the kennels in the inside. We are wanting to divide them into the point that we have 8 kennels. That way we can have just a couple of dogs in one area. It seems that we have a couple of girls going into heat and things are a little snippy in their areas. Can we say cat fight???

So here is to the great wall of Seymour. Hopefully we can get it completed so that the dogs/puppies can run and play.

The name game

When we have puppies, we do not call them by any particular name. We feel that the new family should be the one that picks out the name. They will call us and we will start calling them by that name. This set of puppies, we had an Ellie, Sydney, Baxter, Jake and a Dozier. Now that all of the puppies who had families have went home, we have some left. We have a boy and two girls. So this weekend, we pay the name game. This is where we look at them and find the name that we fits them. We do not want them going any longer without a name. So we have Beau, Sissy and Lacy. Hopefully they will ony have to go by these names for just a few days until their new family arrives.

Go home weekend

We try to schedule go homes on weekends. That way the family and the puppy have time to bond before the family goes back to work/school and leaves the puppy alone. This weekend was go home time for two of our puppies. There are several times in the life of a puppy with us that I enjoy. Them being born, them opening their eyes, them trying to walk and them going home. I do not know who is more nervous, the puppy or the family. It is a big time in the life of the puppy. They are trying to learn to adjust with out mom but with the help of their brothers/sisters. The next step in their life is to learn how to adjust without them but with the help of their new family. We work very hard to find the perfect family for our puppies. Every puppy that leaves our home is told good bye and are given and hug and a kiss from us. We beg our familes to send us updated pictures of the puppies as they grown. If we get a pic from the family I try to put them on the site. This weekend Baxter and Ellie went home to be with their families. I had their stuff packed up and ready for them to go. The smiles on the face of the new family means so much. You know they are loved.

So this weekend was a wonderful weekend for Collins Doxies. We hope that we will have more to come. Sydney will be going home soon. He has a little bit to travel he is going from Tn to PA. But he is going home to Bella. She came from one of our litters last year. The family keeps us updated on her and we were very excited that they decided to add another one of our puppies to their family.

Peanut the Princess

Peanut is our very first dachshund. You could say she started the this whole chapter in our lives. A chapter that we hope have many many many pages in it. She is the one who taught us how loving a dachshund is.

Peanut had one litter (Vienna, Spike and Frankie) after that she got a very bad infection and we decided that we did not want her to have any more puppies. So we decided to have her fix. She became an inside pet that is a total diva. Among the many hats that she has, she is a mom. When the puppies and their mom's are seperated, in comes Peanut. She helps them learn the rules and regulations of being in the house. If she sees a puppy doing something wrong she will either give a bark or go over there and get their attention. This lets them know that they are doing something that is not right. The reason that I am telling you this part is that in Jan 08 we had to make the hard decision to put our Rottie Tasha down. Around August of 08 we found the "perfect" Rottie to add to our family Raider. Well Peanut has taken him under her "wings" and is currently teaching him the rules and regulations of the house. It is funny to see a 12 pound Doxie put a 50 pound Rottie in his place but she does. I forgot to add that the rules and regulations are ones that she has came up on her self. It is very funny thing to watch.

Peanut is also our bed warmer. She sleeps with us and keeps the bed nice and warm. She loves to go bye bye in the car. She will go with us to pick up our oldest son from ball practice. In the cold weather, she will put on her coat with the "Pearls and fur" to diva it up.

But most important hat she has is the one that lets you know that you are the most important person in the whole world when you walk in the door at night. She lets you know how much you are loved. EVERY NIGHT AND EVERY DAY. In today's time we get too busy doing things for ourselves and forget to let the other people in our lives know how much they are loved and cared for. A dog does that every single time they see you.

I will be introducing you from time to time to all of our family members.

Today is Peanut's turn.

Vienna's litter

Vienna's litter are a week old. They are doing great. We do have a little bitty guy that is really surprising us. You can see them by going to COLLINSDOXIES.COM click on puppy click on nursery2.

Tootsie's litter

Well Tootsie's puppies are 2 wks old. We went away for the weekend and came back to eyes looking back at us. It is very exciting when they open up their eyes. They are growing very fast. To see pictures of them go to COLLINSDOXIES.COM click on Puppy then click on Nursery1.