Those of you who’ve been listening to the podcast for a while know that my goal in the last four years (well, last 20, really) has been to get a miniature dachshund. Well, we finally got one! Meet D.W., the mountain dachshund (well, soon-to-be if Peter’s training plan works…)
He is bananas-cute, and so far, pup life has been going well. We’re definitely learning a lot though! It’s been a very, very tiny glimpse into what parents deal with when trying to balance training, work and family life, that’s for sure. I think it’s actually given us a much deeper understanding around when parents are trying to deal with juggling not just the actual time to train but the ability to leave the house to do so. Since he’s still getting used to us, we’re not really leaving DW in the house alone for long stretches, which has meant a shift in the way we both train and plan our training time. We’ve had to be a lot more deliberate and actually stick to when we plan to leave, so we don’t screw up the other’s plans later.
To answer the couple of questions we’ve gotten a lot, though, consider this our dachshund FAQ:
Why a mini-dachshund and not a trail dog? This is actually a simple answer. We both really value our training time and hold it pretty sacred, so having a dog that also needs a certain amount of active time each day would be hard to organize around. We also travel a fair bit, obviously, and size matters–a larger dog can’t fly under the seat in a plane, and won’t fit as well in our van. We love walking and it’s a huge part of our together-time each day, and if there’s one thing that’s good for a dachshund, it’s regular walks! Added to that, this is Molly’s dream dog.
What’s up with the name? 90s kids (aka millenials) may remember this amazing cartoon:
Both of us loved it as kids, and D.W. is Darkwing Duck’s nickname in the show. He kind of embodies what dachshunds are all about: They have this tendency for having too much self-confidence/thinking that they’re bigger and tougher than they are, while being generally goofy as hell. The name just … works.
What about travel? He’ll mostly come with us, he’s highly portable!
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