I was going through my old blog on blogspot.com and came upon an entry in 2009, saying that upon my return from Albania, I travelled to Tirana 38 times in four years for work, Nicky established a routine with me, one of many he would make. Nicky like Nora is very smart and in Dachshund fashion he likes to establish routine for us to follow. He started young, we can say the same of Nora.
At this point Nicky was about 8 months old. Here is what I wrote:
The weather is much colder now, must be around 9c this evening in Rome. The puppies were happy to see me much yapping and jumping and then this evening Nicky did something he has never done before, he jumped on the sofa snuggled up against me and fell asleep next to me while I was reading. Will says he was looking for me all week. When I came in, he came really close to my face and just stared at me for the longest while as if he wanted to say something, like where have you been.
So this was the first routine and now every day in the morning and in the evening Nicky comes and sits next to me, snuggles up and falls asleep. If I do not sit down he comes to get me to go sit.
Every night around 5:30pm we will have a cocktail. I make them. First I get the glasses from the cabinet, as I put them down on the marble counter, even if I do it delicately and quietly, you will suddenly hear this thundering cavalcade from the other side of the apartment some 40 feet away, sounds like brontosaurus running down the corridor. It’s Nicky and Nora, despite the fact that they might have been sleeping, hounds do a lot of sleeping, they heard the glass being put on the counter and they know, it’s cocktail time, meaning that they get a bit of ice.
Nick will position himself next to the ice box drawer with Nora behind him. Looking at me intently, much excitement as I open the drawer and rummage for the ice. I will choose a thin small piece for him and for her, being careful when I give it to him he does not bite my fingers off in the excitement. They love the crunch of the ice. Our previous dachshund Bundnie loved ice which had melted in gin tonic or in a bloody Cesar.
This is the I am going to bed look, according to the clock it’s 10pm, Nicky goes to bed at that time, his decision not mine. Often he will be snoozing beside me on the chair and suddenly wakes up and looks at me. He is prompting me now to get up while he quickly goes to his bed and I bring him a biscuit (cookie). Same routine every night without fail. Nora on the other hand is sleeping on the sofa and she would stay there all night if we let her. However she also wants a biscuit at this time though she has no intentions of following Nicky. Both of them since they were 7 weeks old have been sleeping in their SkyKennel bought years go from KLM. They use to have an excellent service for pets and we would transit Schiphol Airport often. So we got them the SkyKennels, they have their blankets and just wrap themselves up and sleep.
Of course there are lots of other routines, about walk time, who walks first, no they do not walk together, no point in trying leads to disagreements. Who enters the house first. Meal time and the list goes on.
