Papa is a ridiculously cute dog who has all the classic personality traits of his breed. He LOVES his family. He is capable of doing a lot of tricks. He loves food and treats.
Like his breed, he also has some traits that can be difficult to handle. I want to make it very clear: I am rehoming him because I am a PhD student living in a tiny apartment that I think is unfair to him. I am NOT rehoming him because of his behavior. I have had him since he was a puppy but we always had a big yard and moving to LA has been an adjustment and living on a grad student salary, even more so.
With that said, I want to be crystal clear about the things I have done to attend to his needs especially since moving here. I believe it is only fair and practical that he be welcomed into a home that is realistic about his care.
Papa’s vaccines just expired last month while we were in Texas for the summer. I will get him vaccinated ASAP!
Like other dachshunds, he has separation anxiety. For this, he takes 50mg trazodone every morning as prescribed by his vet. The cost of his medication is only $15 a month.
He has wonky front legs, but they don’t seem to cause him any problems at all.
He has hurt his back in the past and it has caused mild incontinence. He also gets super excited when I get home from work. He wears diapers to prevent mistakes, and sometimes we go stretches of weeks or months without diapers. Otherwise, he is a healthy dog whose back should be carefully attended to as one would with any dachshund.
He will destroy soft toys. I only buy him rubber or other “indestructible” toys now so he doesn’t ingest fibers. I haven’t seen him eat stuffies, but I’m sure if they’re left on the floor he will read them as a toy and treat them accordingly.
He doesn’t like young children. He likes cats but can overwhelm them sometimes. He has lived with three other dogs roughly his size or smaller before and he was somewhere between neutral and submissive, but I couldn’t tell you how he would react to a larger dog. He has never displayed aggression toward another animal.
He can be boarded with vets but failed a doggy daycare test because a worker reached into the kennel and he snapped at her. With training, he may be capable of going to a doggy daycare in the future. He has not been blacklisted from any daycare, the one he failed at just told us he would have to come in with a training certificate.
He barks at and jumps on strangers who come into the house. I find that either going on a walk with him and that person before bringing them into the home, or distracting him with treats while they come in, helps a ton.
He will get into trash and eat things he shouldn’t. He can also reach stuff approximately 3″ away from the edge of a counter. I keep food and whatnot away from the edge of the counter and I have a nice metal trashcan that he can’t knock over.
He is crate trained and sleeps there nightly. You can tell him to “go to bed!” and he will put himself to bed and wait for you to bring him a treat 🙂 He also likes having a schedule. He generally eats at 9 am and 6 pm, and goes to bed at 10 pm.
He doesn’t like being stuck outside alone. He absolutely LOVES playing fetch <3 he also loves playing with cat feather toys.
That's all I can think of right now. I really want to stress that he's a pretty good dachshund. For all of his flaws, he has twice as much love, cuddles, and humor to make up for it. He cares about every person in the house. Experienced owners know exactly what I'm talking about. I love him so much and I really need him to go to a home that understands who he is and what he needs. He can understand a lot of phrases and a few hand signs and I can give a deeper run down on that sometime.
Please let me know if you think you would have room in your heart and home for my sweet critter.
