South Chicago Dachshund Lovers Meet-up

So on Saturday morning, we all piled into the Escape to make the 3 1/2 hour drive to Mokena, IL to meet Dora. Ellie got to ride in style in the back in her crate...it was too crowded to have her roaming the car with Chris & I in there plus Brendan in his carseat and all of our stuff! She whined a little off & on, but nothing that prevent Brendan from catching a two hour nap! We stopped at a McDonald's for lunch about 40 minutes away from Mokena. Ellie stretched her legs and we all had a little lunch.

The meet-up was occurring at a doggie play place. Here are some pictures. It was pretty neat. Brendan enjoyed throwing the balls around and didn't terrorize too many of the dogs. Supposedly, this was a low turn out, but it was still pretty loud inside!




Amy, Dora's foster mom, brought her down from Wisconsin so we could meet her and introduce her to Ellie. We found a smaller room where the girls could wander and check each other out as well as we could get our questions answered about Dora.

After getting all our questions answered, we agreed to take the plunge and take Dora home with us. Amy snapped a picture of us with Ellie & Dora.


Then we started on our journey home. It was not the most pleasant 3 1/2 hours of our lives. :) Dora was very good...a little whiny/talkative at first and each time we stopped or started again, but overall, I was impressed. Brendan on the other hand had had enough of his carseat and was generally unhappy most of the way home. We ended up stopping 3 times on the way back for human potty breaks, a rest area where the dogs could walk a little & potty, and Brendan could run around a little, and then for gas. We didn't get home until 7:30pm. Luckily everyone was pretty tuckered out and Brendan didn't put up much of fight on going to bed.

Then we spent some time with Dora, getting to know her personality a little bit better. She thoroughly inspected the whole family room/kitchen/laundry where the dogs are confined to. She could obviously smell the cats as she vigorously sniffed thru the bars of the gates, but no kitties made an appearance for her. She followed Chris around like a little shadow and cried/talked if he left her sight. She also hopped right up on his lap (a little on mine as well) and snuggled/gave kisses.

After a couple hours of relaxing/snuggling, we called it a night. Dora slept pretty well in her crate next to Ellie's crate. There was a little whining initially and Chris heard some around 4:30am when he was awake, but otherwise, no major issues. :)

This morning (Sunday) we got up and she was a busy body again...followed us around, hardly sat down at all! We ended up all going for a walk...Brendan and Ellie in the wagon and Dora on her leash. She walked very nice, just as Amy had said she would. She only barked once at a neighbor dog in a fenced in yard. After our walk, she did seem a little tuckered out and did lay down, but I don't think that she actually napped at all...unlike Princess Ellie who slept all morning except for her ride (& short walk) in the wagon.

This afternoon, Dora was a little calmer and didn't cry quite so much when Chris left the room, which was a relief...I know that he needs to go upstairs sometimes to deal with work stuff and can't do it or have Brendan napping if she's yapping! However, it was mildly amusing to come back from being upstairs to find that Dora had followed Chris into the bathroom, as she didn't want to let him out of her sight!

She's currently dozing on a pillow on the couch next to Chris. I may try to snap a couple pictures and add them here in a little bit.

We think that we've (actually) Chris has come up with a nick-name for her already! She's a little bit bigger dog, 19 lbs, and maybe could lose another pound of baby fat and is this beautiful chocolate color that I love! Chris just started calling her "Chocolate Chunk". I think that it's kinda cute. :) And it totally fits with her absolutely sweet personality.