Right before this photo of me and Wotan was taken we had just arranged to buy him. We didn't notice when we saw him because of all the confusion amid all the dachshunds and the owners children that Wotan's rear legs were not shaped right. I don't know what the problem really is.....years of asking vets about it never got me an answer. All I know is his rear legs are very stiff in appearance and wide apart. He is not able to run. He walks fine, although from the rear you can see it's stiffly. Fast walking he's fine at, but when he wants to go faster instead of running he hops. He can hop very fast and for long distances. Almost daily for his whole life I/we have taken him on long walks or hikes of 3 to 10 miles a day. He's never had any problem with this and is in very good shape. Vets always comment on how muscular and sleek he is and what wonderful shape he's in. Wotan is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of dachshunds :)

Wotan says "what the @$%&*# is that thing?" Wotan has always been a great killer of balloons and soap bubbles. Other dachshund web pages of mine show more examples of Wotan "killing" balloons. This was the first balloon Wotan ever saw and it was a strangely shaped one. You know how people sometimes tie balloons to their mailbox to mark the driveway for a party? Well Wotan always wants to kill those too if we walk by some and it's difficult to get him to leave them unmolested!

Wotan with his very first toy. At the breeders house where we got him the dachsies didn't have any toys. The breeders told us Wotan and the others used to play with rocks outside. Hmmmmmm. That's not a proper toy for a noble dachshund! Perhaps it was Wotan's early imprinting with small rocks that got him to adore and obsesses with small rubber balls. When we got him this squeak toy he hadn't seen a ball yet though. He loved playing with this rubber hot dog and actually didn't destroy it for weeks. Later on any squeak toy given to him would be demolished in minutes.

Dachshund puppy meets human baby. The first encounter for both. As you can see both were puzzled and interested in each other (although the baby seemed more thrilled by the puppy than the other way around).

For almost 9 years we lived in Southern Oregon, so everyone who came to visit us wanted to see the famous Crater Lake National Park which was in the area. Wotan is shown here on his first visit to Crater Lake in the late Spring when snow was still on the ground...and then again in another shot at the lake in mid summer.

My favorite place in all of Oregon though is the magnificent coast. All 350+ miles of the coast is public property and you can hike on all beaches and clifftops freely. Here's a photo of Wotan's first visit to the ocean. Bandon beach has never seen a more commanding wiener dog striding across its sands as our Wotan!

Wotan was very lonely on the rare times we would both go out to eat or a movie and leave him home alone. He would howl and the people who lived next door would complain. So we got him a dachshund pal as a companion. And we named her Shakti. I liked the way it sounded. It's a Hindu name meaning "consort to the god" and as we were getting her as a companion to Wotan (the chief Nordic god) we thought it was appropriate. Shakti grew very fond of Wotan and he never barked or howled again when we left him in the house. They used to always sleep together and sometimes, as you can see here, in the most unusual positions. Only dogs would want to sleep like this! They still often nap together usually with Shakti laying over the top of Wotan.

Here's a picture of me holding our tiny dachsie puppy Shakti when we went to Lava Beds National Monument in northern California. She is so small in this photo it's amazing to me to see now. There is no way I could hold her this way now as she's the biggest of our dachshunds. She was always quite fearless and was exploring inside these deep dark lava tubes at the age of 2 months on her own when we put her down.

And here we'll leave them for now. Two puppies together for a lifetime under a blooming crab apple tree in Ashland Oregon.

Click on the doxie in the mailbox to email me

Please come by and see photos of German dachshunds we met this year on our trip to the "motherland" as well as more Wotan & co. adventures. See them attack balloons and boxes. Marvel at Gaudi's jazz singing. Come see Wotan with a yogurt container stuck on his head...that's a sight that will certain amaze and dazzle you! All this and so much more! Be sure to have your speakers turned on for the whole experience. Adventures with Dachshunds

Photographs from many of my/our trips to Europe are shown at this web page: Europe Travel Photos

Stop by to see my web page with over 20 large photographs and detailed text covering part of our almost month long trip to Europe in May of 2001. Come see it at Germany and Belgium 2001

Stop by and see 21st Century Dachshunds View a number of action photographs of our dachshunds in very large rabbit burrows. Also see 3 doxies face off in a challenge against 3 swans as well as other humorous photos. See Wotan inspect a stove!

See dachshunds licking horses, sleeping on plants, protecting humans from ferry boats and more at 10 Funny Dachshund Photos

Another web page of mine tells the story in photos and text of Wotan's recovery from major surgery. Some of the photos are sad and some are funny. It ends happily though with Wotan back in the pink of health now. Check it out at Wotan's Recovery Page: Triumph of a Dachshund

A wiener dog (dachshund) steals $5 bills and tries to run away to buy pig ears but is caught and an attempt is made to remove the money from his mouth. A wily wiener dog (dachshund) steals a wad of $5 bills and tries to run away to buy pig ears but is caught and an attempt is made to remove the stolen loot from his mouth. Come by and see it at:Wiener Dog Takes the Money and Runs

Wiener dogs stare down Great Danes, get stuck in logs and blender jars, rips apart enormous carpets, swim in large ponds, hike on the edges of cliffs, help sift compost, and eat lots of pig ears. All that and more can be seen in action photographs at the new page Dashing Dachshunds.

This was my first page with animated graphics, and is also my first dachshund page with lots of text...and many funny stories about dachshund's behavior, some cute photographs and a mystery about an "angel" and a lost doxie. It's all here at:Dachshund Stories and Photos

Come by and see a page dedicated to the greatest dachshund in the world! Yes, it's All Wotan, All the Time

See dachshunds leap into a birdbath, destroying balloons, lifting weights, drinking espresso, imitating Mother Theresa and other strange and wonderful dachshund photographs atDoxie, Dachsie, Dachshund!

See photos of a dachshund atop a mountain, licking a glass case holding rats, wading in ponds amid sand dunes and other rare sights atAmazing Dachshunds!

Here are links to some of my other web pages