Four Dachshunds

My darling wife is a dachshund fan. I don't know anything about dogs and nothing about dachshunds. I do know something about bicycles and can spot different brands and different styles of bikes as they spin by. My wife is consistently amazed by my ability to overtake a cyclist, and identify the bike, while driving in the car. I might say something like, "Wow, did you see that nice lugged-steel Trek with the Berthoud handlebar bag and downtube shifters?" To which she'd say, "How can you tell? I didn't even notice the color".

Of course the situation is reversed when we are in different surroundings. Say for example our local animal shelter...or maybe the dog park in Denton. Her ability to recognize a dog at great distance and tell me its breed, typical personality, and whether its is well cared-for or not. She knows dogs and has a special place in her heart for them. Due to her sympathetic heart and involvement with a dachshund rescue group, we've been "collecting" dachshunds for several years now. They come to us in a temporary "foster home" arrangement...and then they decide they like it here and never leave.

Now that I've established our respective areas of knowledge, here's my point. Recently, we've had this new dachshund added to our group of three and...I don't know...something just isn't right. She tells me he's a dachshund, but there is something different about him. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he's a little peculiar.

Here we have Joey (the black and tan), Ted (the miniture wire hair), Bill (the red), and the new boy Gus. See anything different about him?


I understand that my wife is the expert in these matters. What can I do but defer to her knowledge and insight...?


...but I can't help wondering about ol' Gus here.