My husband and I visited the SPCA of Western Quebec after seeing Slinky's photo online.  We didn't expect him to still be available, but much to our delight he was.  He was surrendered shortly after having been sold on Kijiji because he had fecal incontinence.  We felt we could house train him and give him a loving home.

Slinky is our first ever "little" dog.  I was a bit hesitant about taking him because he seemed to favour females - Slinky was destined to become a
companion to my husband who'd had a hemorrhagic stroke a year earlier.  However, Slinky took on his new role with great fervour.  He's a staunch defender of his man and loyal companion.

Slinky did seem to be house trained and other than not wanting to go outside in the cold (he had a frostbitten tail, so who could blame him!!!), he was a very clean dog.  But he has a little bit of a problem with separation anxiety.  This presents itself as fecal intolerance (and the occasional garbage pail raid if we don't secure things).  We tried crating him, but it worsened the problem, so soon we found ourselves toting Slinky along everywhere with us.  This has really helped him bond with us and we now leave him home for short periods without any problems.  Each time we return is another good experience and we're building off of that.

Our little badger dog has discovered many pleasures in life:  squirrels, birds, lush lawns with shady spots to lie on, a furry "rascally rabbit" to retrieve, a few heart-shaped squeaky toys that he adores (thank you to the little girl in Kingston's Petsmart who let him take the toy she was buying for another doxie when he spotted it and snapped it up), a teenage boy to call his own that is willing to toss those squeaky toys for him, raw turnip in lemon juice, hot dog training tidbits, the occasional timbit at Tim Horton's, and some running adventures with his new Mom.  By far his biggest possession is his new Dad.  He's discovered that Dad makes a great pillow and when he's not sound asleep on his lap, Slinky''s bounding along at his side ready for whatever adventure comes along.  Slinky's nights are spent happily burrowed in our blankets, usually on my husband's feet (which generally he doesn't notice because he has sensory loss).  It's a match made in heaven.  We love the way he waits for us both to get into bed before he jumps from the bottom of the bed to the top in a single bound, then starts burrowing under the covers.  :)

Slinky completed Good Manners training and now has some basic obedience under his belt.  He's also joined a local dachshund group.  We were a bit hesitant about taking him to his first event as we've noticed he can be protective of his humans, but he amazed us by being very polite, reserved and well-behaved.  He really enjoyed being around other dachshunds!

He's brought my family incredible joy.  He's enchanting and engaging (he loves playing "I'll drop it off the sofa for you to pick it up") and he's really blossoming now that he's got a forever home with us.  His coat has become soft and shiny with a good diet.  His ears are healed from sarcoptic mange and his little frostbitten tail has healed and bothers him very little now.  He's got a great vet and he's going in to get his teeth cleaned soon.

He's a homebody but he'll go outdoors in winter and on rainy days if he's warm and protected from the elements.  That sometimes means hugging the house looking for a spot that keeps him dry, or putting on a coat to keep him warm.  His wardrobe has expanded to include a raincoat and a sailor t-shirt.  I'm crocheting him a sweater for fall weather and I anticipate knitting and sewing other selections.

My husband always smiles when he sees Slinky.  Struggling with a speech disorder, he says with a smile that Slinky is perfect but he's about 4" too long and his legs are a bit short compared to what he's used to. :)  For his part, Slinky has taken to communicating with us in meaningful ways.  He has happy mewing sounds he makes when he's getting ready to go out with us, and he'll give us the pack greeting when we return from an outing.

I could write a book about him.  He's definitely stolen our hearts.

Update February ’11 …

I believed Slinky had had sarcoptic mange on his ear flaps and some frostbite damage on his tail, but it has turned out that these damaged skin areas are due to an auto-immune disorder, cutaneous vasculitis, confirmed through skin biopsy.  The disease process isn't clearly understood but there may be a connection to immunization or an undiagnosed allergy.  We're working with a canine skin specialist to keep Slinky comfortable while minimizing drug intake.

He's such a loveable pup and he brings us such delight each passing day.  He's a tricky dog to photograph.  He usually comes out looking like we caught him doing something, or we get a photo of him walking away.  We love the FIDO ad on TV.  The dachshund they use is the spitting image of Slinky, right down to the expression.

Slinky has completely adapted to our household and he lets us have the pack yips when we arrive home or do something he considers fun like going for a group walk.  We love him to pieces!

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