Welcome to my World
The Life of Daisy

That's me!
All of eleven years!

Hallo and welcome to my web page describing my life. I was born on 13th August 2013, and came to my present home via the Kennel Club of the U.K.. I was born to a large family of six whelps and had the good fortune to be chosen by my present very caring owners.

I come from an illustrious family of Dachshunds. I am proud to say that both my grandmother and my mother achieved renown by appearing in the annual reference bible of the canine show world, "Our Dogs Annuals" no less, where the competition with other dog breeds for publicity is immense.

What has made Dachshunds so famous in history? Well, as the German name implies, my ancestors were bred for hunting badgers, my "sausage" build being ideal for entering badger setts. Badger fur is very soft, and so was prized for a number of applications, including, would you believe, shaving brushes to apply the shaving cream. This was before the electric and battery-powered offerings of Phillips, Braun, Remington and Panasonic, and probably quite a few more, began to the enter the market for today's busy and fast-moving world. Traditional shaving just took too long!

Daisy's TIP: My page is best viewed on a PC. This avoids distortion of font sizes!

When I was Young

These pictures will give you a reasonably good idea of what I looked like in my first few months on this earth. A bundle of "puppy fur"! However, I was destined to keep my elegant dark brown coat! And, I still like to tilt my head!

Although I was born to a litter of six, two of us were already chosen by my present owner.
I am at the right of the picture.
You notice that I have a slight light-brown band above my nose.
I was originally named Othello, although Shakespeare's Othello was a gentleman, not a lady!

My sister, in Shakespearian fashion, was originally called Portia, but is now Teazle,
and lives with a mother of one of my owner's friends.




This is me, only a few weeks old, but already starting to find my feet.
It's as if I had come out of the dark unknown into the light of day!
Even today, I like to tilt my head. It gives me an inquisitive look!




My lifelong colleague is Dolly, who at the time had already grown much taller than me.
She is, after all, one and a half years older than I am,
and we Dachshunds grow up very quickly!

Marriage and Beyond

Three years on, and I became the mother of a large family, also of about six whelps. Dachshunds and those of the canine kind, are known for their large families. One of my daughters, Effie, still lives with me and enjoys life. Like me, she is also not a chobby.

Our doggie community suddenly seemed to expand!

• Dolly. First, was Dolly, the oldest and longest serving in our community; she was here even before I was born. Dolly still manages to keep going with seven teeth, even though she has lost 31! She is also hard of hearing. However, she has an air of quiet dignity associated with her advanced years. She knows that she must set an example of good behaviour to her canine companions!
• Yours Truely. Then, it was I.
• Effie. Then came my daughter, Effie. She was originally named after the Shakespearian character Ophelia.
• Chester. Then Chester, a Labrador, came to add a strong presence; well, his bark was an audible force to be reckoned with, compared to our relatively modest doggie language. In the years to come, Chester, came to tower above everyone else. We sometimes call Chester "Chechache", which sounds Italian, but actually derives from "Cheerful Charlie Chester", a popular comedian, who was always cheerful. In fact, Chester was originally called Montague (Monty) after Lord Montague, father of Romeo in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".

To resolve any possible confusion, here is a table of "Who's Who" in my world. The table relates to 1st August 2024, a few days before my actual 11th birthday, and quite a way beyond the time of Effie's birth, but more or less the time when my web page came into being. You can also see when we were born (in UK date format: dd/mm/yyyy).

So Chechache is the youngest - and surrounded by all us ladies! By the way, you can calculate our actual ages with respect to today's date, by clicking on this link, (which uses USA date format, mm/dd/yyyy). Although Chechache is the youngest, I'll let you into a secret: Dolly, who is the oldest, still manages to snore more loudly than Chechache! (November 2024). Don't tell anyone!

Here you see three of us enjoying a nice snug get-together. A good omen for the harmony in our canine community!

Three of us "on a platter", taken almost three years after Effie's birth.
Yours Truly, Effie and the young and dashing Chechache.
Chechache is quiet for this photographic occasion, but otherwise is already
enjoying his bark! His mission in life is to be a guard dog!

Two Dachshunds and a Labrador, but not a bark!
For this, indeed, is no ordinary lark!
We are all in anticipation, of fame and celebration!
Why? We are having our picture taken!

Marriage was also the occasion when I became aware of my ancestory. Here you see four generations of my family, seen when I was about 4½, and Effie about 1½ and starting to learn about her world. My mother sadly died when she was 16, but that's a very good age for a Dachshund; I hope to enjoy longevity - at least Dachshund style! Of course, as you can see, my Grandmother was truely a grand lady, even if a tad hirsute!

From left to right you can see my daughter Effie (positioned shyly in the background),
my mother, my grandmother Livia, and Yours Truely.

Serious Times

Having the body length and shape that made my ancestors suitable for hunting Badgers, meant that, in comparison with other breeds, my backbone and legs were particularly prone to injury.

It so happened that when I was six, I came to grief after jumping down steps - jumping seemed to be a natural activity for dogs, but unfortunately not for me. There then followed a lengthy and costly operation to restore the three slipped disks of my backbone. Also, my feet and naturally short legs required medical attention. Thankfully, my owners were able to fund the tricky operation and medical procedures.

As a result, I have been living to enjoy more years of my life.

Happy Times

My medical care yielded good results, with happy years to follow! Here you see some of the activities of me and my companions. Often, as you see, our mission is mischief!

Indeed, we are a happy canine community with a large lawn on which to relax and stretch our paws. Early mornings and late at night, Chechache is also taken for extended walks in the unknown (to us little-uns) wider world outside.

Of course, there are still the occasional check up visits to the vet, but that is all for the good. Indeed, at the time of writing (September 2024) I'm due for a visit to the vet, to have my teeth seen to! However, some things can be seen to at home. For example, to keep our paws and claws in peak condition, we three little-uns also have pedicure every few weeks. Humans speak in terms of manicure and pedicure, but our front paws are also our front feet! Sometimes, dual purpose!

Life indoors can be full of fun. There are plenty of opportunities to rest and play. In winter, we can warm our paws indoors after a busy day outside.

Hey Effie! What are you up to?
I'm not quite that tasty!




These young-uns get tired so quickly nowadays.
I can't take Effie anywhere!

However, our garden is an important part of our world, especially in warmer and drier weather. A nice lawn on which to roll and gambol ... and get up to mischief.

I'm in charge in this garden!




I've been through a hedge backwards, and all I could pick up was this little leaf!




Humans should not stick their tongues out at other people.
But in the doggie world we use our tongues to keep cool!
And, was it hot today!




Ah! Visitors are here. I wonder what they are eating!

Of course, I should not forget everyone else, and here you have a picture in which I do not appear! Yes, such pictures exist! The next picture shows Dolly and Effie. Despite their age difference of 4½ human years (or almost 20 Dachshund years), they appear to have formed a special kinship and are often seen together.

Two of my companions.
Dolly (age 12½) on the left, with one front paw raised.
Effie - my daughter (age 8) - on the right.

Of interest, is that Dolly only has seven teeth left! However, with naturally hardened gums, she is still able to enjoy her daily food with her remaining teeth. Age eventually catches up with most of us canines, but Dolly, of course, is aging gracefully! Talking about teeth, we four are a sociable group. Even when younger, we certainly eschewed the mythical reputations of the Hound of the Baskervilles or even Beano's Gnasher with his awe-inspiring array of teeth! However, one of my heros from the broadcasting world is Dennis the Dachshund in Toytown, in which he has a wonderfully amiable - albeit mischievous - presence!

As you can see from the above pictures, my medical care yielded good results, with five relatively happy years to follow! And hopefully many more! If you would like to see my life with greater numerical precision, here is your opportunity. Just look at the "timescales" below!

It's MY webpage, so I am in dark red!!
By the way, ages are to the nearest year,
so, Dolly looks a tad younger then she actually is!
And, I'm sure you know who DO, DA, EF, CH are!
Of course, all the usual suspects!

My Eleventh Birthday!

This August I celebrated my eleventh birthday. As you saw when you first met me online at the top of my page, I was actually born on 13th August 2013, but it was thought to be a nice idea to bring my birthday celebrations forward to the first of the month. Eleven is indeed a respectable age for a canine! In human years, this would be SIXTY, so "The Dachshund Age Calculator" tells us!

Happy Birthday dear Daisy!

What does one give a dog that has reached the mature age of eleven? Dog bikkies deluxe of course! Oh, and a lovely meaty bone!

More Visits to my Vet

It looks as if it is never possible to avoid the vet completely. My teeth needed attention. Luckily my vet first diagnosed Lungworm just in time. A few weeks later came the 5th November. This year, the day was memorable, not only for the sometimes noisy annual Guy Fawkes celebration, but also for the US presidential election. And this was the very day for my teeth. I had 42 teeth, lost 34 teeth and now I had 8 teeth. It took some getting used to losing the dining accessories to which I had become accustomed over my lifetime. Still, better than Dolly, who started with 38 teeth, lost 31 teeth and was left with 7 teeth. However, both of us are almost toothless wonders.

Since Dolly and I are both Dachshunds, it is interesting to note that I originally had 42 teeth and Dolly 38. According to UK Dachshund, a Dachshund normally has 20 upper and 22 lower teeth to give a total of 42 teeth. Was poor Dolly originally dentally shortchanged? Still, that's a question for a rainy day!

My first meal after tooth extraction was a lovely meal of scrambled egg, plain pasta and crab (we canines don't need as much "five-a day" as humans). It was delicious, even with a reduced number of teeth!

I was then ready to proceed on "gum power", but, as a precaution, for the following week, my food was soaked with water in order to soften it. So far, indeed, it all worked out well, despite the understandable "pre-op" concerns. Triumph in adversity!

I think that after the operation on my backbone, my friends might almost be inclined to call me the world's first toothless bionic dog! Well, almost toothless!

My Future

My Frame is Silvern.
My Future Looks Golden!

To finish off my epistle, here is a little bit of self-praise. Why not? It dates to my 11th birthday, but will continue to ring as true as ever!

It's been eleven years
with quite a few tears,
but let us declare,
with hardly a grey hair,
Dazzling Daisy
still drives her fans crazy!

ATTRIBUTIONS

All the Pictures were taken by my owner; however there was some subsequent scaling, cropping and framing.
The Daisy (part of the section headers) was derived from Clip Art accompanying previous versions of MS® Office®