Creating a garden to share with your dachshund

Ordinarily, combining a dachshund with a garden is a terrible idea. As a breed, dachshunds like to dig, and bark constantly, so when I got Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, thirteen years ago, most people thought that I was crazy to introduce that type of dog to my Tropical Paradise.

And yes, I'm crazy. I'm crazy about my dachshund, and I'm a believer that with attention and love, it was possible for us to share the garden. I can't recommend that you do this, but I did, and as of this writing I'm preparing to bring another doxie into my life.

I have a wonderful garden, which I love sharing with my wiener dog. This past year I looked up to realize that she's been with me for thirteen years, and while I can expect many more years from her, I will outlive her, and I'll be getting a little sister for her, another dachshund.

Of course, like the garden, I made it all up as I went along, and what I've got now, which looks like a success, is just the stuff that worked. I have a poor memory for failures, which is nice to have! So I'll focus on why this is a wonderful garden for a dachshund.

First of all, there's access to the walls. I created a path to allow me to get back and trim the plants, but it's mostly the "Wiener Dog Highway". My doxie patrols it regularly, getting all of the exercise she needs, and constantly inspecting to see if she can find her friends, the lizards (which we call geckos, although mostly they aren't - they're just common western wall lizards). She is thrilled to go out hunting, and while she doesn't catch much (she does have two-inch legs, you know!), I can tell that she just loves it.

Like all dogs, dachshunds are anxious to please. But they have to know what you want, and explaining it to them patiently is just "blah blah blah". I did, unfortunately, have to catch her digging at first, and make a fuss at that exact moment, often with the squirt bottle, but she learned quickly. I don't yell at her, and the slight sound I make expressing disapproval she knows, and rarely hears.

So Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, does not dig in the garden. She weaves around the plants with ease, and spends most of her times near the wall looking for her gecko friends. And like all dachshunds, she has a very loud bark, but I don't let her sit around barking her fool head off here in the peace and tranquility of the Tropical Paradise. Again, the same thing, I would firmly command her to stop barking. I encourage her to bark in the house, just to keep her little barker healthy.

I make a point to keep the Wiener Dog Highway clear, and I have chosen mostly flat rocks that have settled in nice and sturdy for convenient travel. She is free to roam all over the yard, and there are no places that would allow any animal to get in, or out of the yard. Except cats, of course, who usually visit at night, on the top of the walls, and are told in no uncertain terms to "stay out!"