My animals and other family!

Having mentioned our dogs in several previous blogs (all of which can be seen at top right of this page) I though I would devote this blog to introducing you to my animals and other family.

I shall begin with our German Shepherd, Eva. We acquired her when I was going to work at Pamuzinda, and I wanted a dog that would be on the property with my family. When we got her, she was matted with dirt and absolutely crawling with fleas. The person selling the puppies recommended another puppy for us, but my wife chose Eva purely on the basis of her eyes. She had a sparkle and sense of fun which has come through more and more the longer we have her. Fiercely protective of my wife, she has turned into a really beautiful and intelligent dog. . . . . .

At the moment strangely enough as we are currently heading for winter, Eva is shedding hair at an alarming rate. I brushed her thoroughly yesterday, and today she needed brushing again. Quite a lot came off:

We then have 3 dachshunds. Of these, just one is a male - and his name is 'Blue'. A funny little dog, he varies from being extremely cuddly and soppy, to wanting to fight the entire neighbourhood through the bars of our gate! He is Eva's best mate, and they spend hours chasing each other around the garden. He is a dappled Daxxie - and has wonderful colouring:

A truly beautiful dog, Blue has been father to all the puppies we have had in the last couple of years.

Caramel is one of two female Daxxies that we have, and she has the nicest nature of any dog I have ever owned. She is a little portly - to the extent that the whole family calls her 'Fatty' (to her face) and she has a slipped disc in her back, which means she has to be helped up onto beds and chairs. A statement I used about 4 years ago still holds true - "Caramel is a fine specimen!".

Caramel has one weakness - food.

In common with most of her breed she is almost fixated with food, and she has a 'begging face' that is hard to resist. Her only problem is that while a lot of weight goes to her tummy, all excess food seems to be stored in her eyebrows!

Caramels sister Honey is our final Sausage Dog. Honey, derided by some family members as being a bit of a 'princess', is probably the most talkative dog I have ever owned. She  is high-maintenance, but a wonderful little dog. If she has a weakness, it is her love of, and addiction to, hunting lizards and rats - and once she is on the hunt, there is very little that gets in her way. This was the state she got herself into yesterday morning in pursuit of a lizard under an outside chair which was festooned with cobwebs . . . .

Not such a good quality photo, but it shows her character perfectly. She was also a little overweight yesterday morning.

So four dogs - Eva, Blue, Caramel and Honey.

In my time I have had many different pets; several cats, a chameleon, a mongoose and a brown house snake. There have been many dogs coming in and out of my life - probably the best-known being 'Blackie', a black Labrador with 3 legs who was a constant feature at La Rochelle for many years. But right now we have 4 dogs, 1 a German Shepherd and 3 Dachshunds.

At least that was the case until last night, when I was awake through most of the night, overseeing an almost instant increase in  the size of our family!

These are the new additions to our family, and the oldest puppy in the picture above is no more than 3 hours old.

Beeyootiful!

Have a great day!