Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Lilly: Paleo Dog

Our youngest and smallest mutt, Lilly, is a toy Dachshund mix. At 2 years old, she's about 6" 9" at the shoulders and 14 lbs.. When we got her at 6 weeks, she had typical Dachshund ears, hanging straight down.
A few weeks later...BOING! Her father's breed is unknown, but clearly he passed on those ridiculous ears to her. We suspect it's a Corgi trait.

As a pup, Lilly was ferocious and nearly unmanageable. Luckily, as she's matured, she's become more well-behaved, with a typically sweet, affectionate Dachshund personality. She simply waddles up to people, collapses against them to expose her stomach, and looks up plaintively in anticipation of a tummy scratch—which she almost always gets.

She loves to play fight with our other dogs, Sandy and Moxie. Sandy is a Chihuahua mix, much taller than Lilly, but lighter and less muscular. She tries to play the alpha bitch role with Lilly, which only works part of the time. Sandy's aggression works until there's food, and then Lilly's stout body works to her advantage—she just stands there and eats as she pleases, no matter how much Sandy tries to intimidate her. When it comes to playing tug-o-war, only Moxie, our Lab-Dalmatian mix, can keep up with Lilly. He's five or six times her size and gentle enough not to hurt her.

All three dogs have worked as a pack to catch and eat critters in the back yard. A dozen or more times, they've come in reeking of a dead animal, probably when they roll around on it. (Guess who gets to bathe them?) We've found parts of a baby opossum and a large rat. I found a rodent's nest on the back porch after I saw the little ones hunting in that area. But what makes Lilly my little Paleo Dog is her penchant for grub worms. My yard looks like I have gophers because she digs holes all over the place to get to her succulent treat.