Testing the new deck

It's funny really - after months of walking carefully on the decaying deck - it is now sound with new flooring. Kramer and I have had to adjust our steps - we no longer need to walk so gingerly.

We are looking for a small rectangular table to put on the deck so that we can dine out there. Last night though, we had a guest over for dinner, and we sat on the deck (with an old table covered with a cloth, and the dining chairs as an interim measure) for pre-dinner drinks.

Inside the house was a big hot and stuffy - but on the deck with the fresh evening breezes it was a special treat. We sat until after dark, and watched as Mrs Possum in her box up the nearby tree preened herself before putting her head out the door and watching us, before scampering off for her night time feeding.

All three of us enjoyed the ambience of the place - and hassled MM - for the job has been on the "to do list" for many years without progress.

I'm just glad it is done - BEFORE anyone has plunged through the breaking floorboards.

Kramer? Why would he not like being up close and personal when someone is throwing him cheese and biscuits and cuddling him. I think he thinks it is perfect too.

Kramer's coping with the scary new deck

Yesterday Kramer would stand on the deck - and look around the new work as if wondering if something was going to bite him. His ears would be back against his head and his eyes were cast around as if expecting something. Later in the day, he had little choice but to walk on the new flooring - and make his way down the stairs now with wonderful handrails - intimidating hand rails.

Today, he's more comfortable. He thinks he can do it - nothing bad has happened but he's still a bit intimidated. If I shouted "BOO" I think he'd pass out.

He's getting the message though, I hope, that all this new stuff is here for the duration.

Agitated

Kramer seems to be distressed about the builders being around. He cannot do what he normally does as the gate is often left open by the builders and he's already got out twice. Fortunately he's not run away, and he's been quite safe.

Inside the house he finds it hard to settle down, and when he goes outside, the's intimidated by the new deck and stairs, and isn't sure what is going on.

He has a few more days to cope with - as the builders will be around today, and for a few days next week.

Kramer Escaped

When Kramer was fed yesterday hubby forgot the gate was open, and when the phone rang for him, he dropped his guard and answered it. The builders were having a tea break out the front of the house, and little friendly waggle tail Kramer walked out the front gate, and instead of meandering on the busy road, which he might have done if no one was there, he raced over to the builders to show his loving friendly style. Bob the Builder was able to easily pick him up and return him via the back door to his favourite place - inside the house.

Later when a visitor came, he made another attempt to get out of the house - I think he's just curious about the builders activities! But I caught him this time.

Trauma of the builders

We've just had the builders in to repair the front stairs that were deteriorating badly, and finish off the back landing that stopped when the previous builder had a stroke.

When the builders worked at the front of the house Kramer spent time trying to peer under the door to see what was going on - but the doors were deadlocked to prevent anyone from walking out and plummeting down the hole that had been the landing, until it was covered and the stairs completed.

The front of the house being almost completed, the builders moved to the back of the house. Now that is the way Kramer enters the house - up the stairs and in the back door. For one day he had to be carried down the front stairs into the back yard for toilet purposes, and then returned to the house the same way.

Kramer was not impressed. He didn't like this lack of freedom. Once he ran to the builders and annoyed them by jumping up on them as they sawed and hammered. And inside the house he was quite agitated. He couldn't settle.

The job is almost completed - at least he's free to use the back stairs on his own and go up and down as nature calls, but while the builders finish the job, he'll be a little more confined and I expect his agitation will remain.

Only a few more days and we'll have the work completed and the house will be ready for the painters. Now that could be a challenge!

Kramer rules

Kramer lives mostly indoors these days - and has created a few rules for himself and challenges for us.

If he thinks we are going out - he knows he will be put down in his "room" downstairs. So he hides. He has found one hiding spot that he knows makes it difficult for us to "retrieve" him. Under Ian's desk - and he refuses to be coaxed out with cheese, or chicken. We now have a broom that we can get in behind him and drag him out using the head of the broom. If we are not quick he's dived off to some other hiding spot.

All of his hiding spots - including his box - don't present problems to us.

In the morning - anytime from 4.30 am onwards - he will decide it is time to come in upstairs and let out an intermittend "Woof" which will wake us. We have learned it is easier to go and get him, and bring him upstairs and he has a towel on the bedroom floor that he goes to sleep on until we wake.

Kramer rules.

When the grandchildren visit they love letting him out of his "room" - and making him get out under the door that he chewed away. He loves them - knowing of course that they can spoil him.

Kramer - the fruit eating dog

When Kramer came to live with us we were told he loved mandarins, but we soon learned that all fruit were popular with him. If we eat fruit, or should I say "when" because we do eat fruit on a daily basis, we have to share with Kramer. Bananas are one of his favorites and he growls at us until he gets a piece. We usually give him a piece of the end, or if the fruit is bruised he might get a larger piece. We can't use the word "banana" without him getting excited.

All fruit is on his favorite list!!! And he's very vocal about it when we are eating.

There have been a few funny incidents.

On one occasion he was very interested as I ate a mandarin - and I'd just started to peel a fruit with him very interested and quite hopeful of getting a piece. The phone rang, and I left the plate with the fruit on a small table while I answered the phone and I'd only been out of the room for a minute or two. When I returned, the guilty dog was standing on the foot stool, chomping on the fruit and peel, with juice squelching out of his mouth. I could only laugh.

We now call bananas "b" - as a futile attempt to eat a banana without sharing with him sometimes, but he's worked it out. Our fruit bowl is on a buffet - and any movement towards that piece of furniture, he's woken from a deep sleep and he's right there demanding his share.

The grandchildren love feeding him his titbits.

Kramer - a portrait

Kramer is a little shy when the camera is around. I tried to get a nice photo of him just after he'd been to the groomers and came back all clean, and neatly trimmed. He refused to look at me, and the camera. This is the best I could do.

Dog in a Box

In all the dogs we have had - all dachshunds since 1971, we have never had one that liked sleeping in a box. While speaking with one of the members of the Dachshund Club of Queensland, I learn that dachshunds often hide in boxes. Seems that in all those years we've not left one around for one of our dogs to climb into, until recently.

So why would they like sleeping in a box? These little dogs were bred to be badger hunters - and badgers would be found down their burrows. It appears that dachshunds like being in dark confined spaces - hence the love of boxes.
Now I wonder what would happen if I had a hole or burrow in my yard??

Kramer and the storm

It's been a tough day. Hot. Humid. Kramer's worn out with the heat. Perhaps due for another "trim" but that will happen next week. Meantime he just lounges around. Last night he was kept awake by thunder, lightening and rain. About two inches of rain fell last night, and Kramer barked a few times, in a futile effort to get us out of bed to go and "rescue" him. He has a downstairs "pen" for night times.

"Brave" hunter Kramer

Over the past few days we've noticed a number of tiny - baby - geckos. There's been one running around our bedroom walls. I don't like them in the house. They poo on the walls, so I'd rather they stayed outside, and we have quite a few that come out and eat moths and other bugs.

They are pretty hard to catch and put outside - they are very quick on their feet.
This afternoon Kramer caused a minor commotion at the front door. Initially I though he'd sensed someone behind the door, but it was soon obvious that he was catching something. A tiny little baby gecko. Bitten to death in his mighty jaws. A bit of an overkill, but that's what happens.
He was pretty pleased with himself!

Koko - the sleeping watchdog

Koko loved the new place and he had a better back yard and still enjoyed the freedom of being with the family. But several funny things happened there.

One night we'd been visiting our neighbours up the road for a party, and we all came home around midnight and went to bed. We all went to sleep but about 30 minutes after going to bed, I heard noises, and crept in the dark around the house peeking out of the windows to find the source of the voices.

Two people walked under our house and into our laundry area. Without making a sound I phoned 000 and asked for police to come. The police officer took the details of the street, and my cause for concern. The police officer asked if I was alone. I replied that I wasn't but my husband and children were asleep. During all this time, even though the people would have walked within feet of Koko, he never barked. Some watch dog!

My husband woke, hearing my conversation on the phone and reached for his trusty and very unused and unloaded shot gun, and raced out the back door to approach the "criminals."

I phoned our friends up the road and asked their son to come down - he was probably in his late teens and he spent time looking for his gun, until he realised that he'd sold it! In the end he saw the police cars and he didn't come to help us!

Two police cars, one with police dogs, arrived within minutes and soon found the intruders. It was a girl who had been celebrating her 21st Birthday up the street, and had consumed too much alcohol and her boyfriend had walked her around the street hoping to sober her up. They made it to our house and they'd walked down our driveway as she wanted somewhere to sleep.

I'm sure her parents would have been pleased to see her arriving home in a Police Car.

On seeing the police cars, my husband threw his gun into the garden to hide it, and he retrieved it after they had gone.

Kramer started barking as soon as everyone left!

The legal saga continues

Apart from the "high cost" of repairing the boy's face (and I'm not sure that it even needed stitching), damages were sought for the boy having to live in fear next to a dangerous dog, and for the fear of dogs that resulted. The family had a Samoyed dog, and at no time did the boy look scared of his own dog. Though he may have shown greater respect for other dogs.

Through our association with dog friendly people we found a Queen's Counsel and dog breeder that without fee, helped us with our defence. We had a household Insurance policy which covered events such as we had experienced, so in the end they took it over.

We took photos of the boy playing with dogs, wrote lots of letters detailing the events, and the family spent money on photos in a futile effort to prove the boy had been grossly disfigured. (It was very difficult to see the scar from the injury in photos). They had several photos done, and each had to have on it a pencilled mark of the injury!

It spurred me on to move. If we moved into another council area, we would be out of the jurisdiction of the council, which still showed some interest in appeasing our neighbour who still wanted Koko "put down." They feared living next door to us!
We bought a house in Stafford Heights, in the neighbouring council area, and we all moved. In the end there was no court case, our insurance company settled with our now ex-neighbours, for a sum of money that we were told was far less than they had asked for, and in the end they would have profited little from the exercise.

We moved.

What is a dachsund?

A dachshund is a dog - with a long body, and very short legs. The breed's name is German and means "badger dog". These dogs were bred to scent, chase and hunt badgers and other small animals. They have a long narrow build - that in Australia they are referred to as "sausage dogs".

In America they are referred to as "Dackel" or Teckel"

We can't recall really why we chose a dachshund in 1971 as a pet for our family - we wanted a loving small dog, and somehow found our way to some kennels not far from where we now live in Wynnum.

We bought our first dog, a standard size, short haired chocolate dog, which had been deemed unsuitable for the show ring, because he had an undershot jaw. (His top and bottom jaw overlapped, which made him likely to lose points in the show ring and make it difficult to win.

Our children were aged 4 and 2 at the time, and Koko was a tiny bundle that we carried home in a cane shopping basket. He was great with the children as a puppy and we all settled well into our new home in Brisbane. We watched as this little scrap played with the children and grew into an adult dog.

As it turned out we had to return to Sydney to live for a while, and of course he came with us. In the rented house in Sydney we had no fence - so for 6 weeks he spent a lot of time on a rope on a line, but he did seem to mind. When we moved into a larger house he had more roaming space, but of course, like "dachies" do, he preferred to spend time with us.

Soon we were on the move again, back to Brisbane and we lived in the northern suburbs from then on. It was while we were living in Everton Hills that we first had a little trouble with him. Perhaps as the children grew older they were less gentle with him, but he started to snap at them. We made a rule that if they had children over to play Koko would be removed from the yard - kept inside, or, that an adult would stay with himand the children to ensure that the play was kind to all.

All the neighbourhood children were asked NOT to turn up in our back yard, but to knock at the front door to let me know they wanted to play, and that's the way the rules stayed. Except for the one incident that caused us much grief.

The little boy next door was playing in his yard with a wine bottle cork and in his play it ended up in our back yard. Koko grabbed it and ran, and the little boy climbed over the fence to fetch his cork. He grabbed Koko and wrenched the cork from his mouth. Koko was not happy and relatiated, biting at the boy and causing a small/minute three corner tear on his face.

I was a night duty nurse at the time, and asleep while all this took place. When I heard the story later when I awoke, I went next door to speak to the family and find out the damage done, but the boy's mother refused to speak with me. Within a couple of days we received a note from our neighbour to avise that she was taking legal action against us. She advised the Pine Rivers Council whose officers came to destroy the dangerous dog.

Koko wagged his tail and greeted the council officers, and we had sought legal advice too, so there was a stand off, and in the end the council officers left Koko with us.

The saga went on for a long time.

Is Kramer Stressed?

Does this dog look like he's stressed? Hardly. This is the pose he takes up most of the day. We don't know whether it is the heat and he needs to keep his bits, well, a bit cool, or whether he just likes it. We don't have to wonder if he is stressed

Kramer and Chloe

When Kramer arrived at the Hill family home, there was another dog there. Chloe, another mini long haired dachshund. She was a bit wary of Kramer initially, especially as Kramer attempted to mount her within minutes of their first meeting. Chloe bared her teeth at him, and warned him! He did try often, but they were both neutered, and Chloe was never in the mood for "it".

Within a few days a good friendship had been created. The went everywhere together. Life was good.

Let's start at the beginning.

Kramer's real name is Beldawn Kane, son of Taffs Treasurered Links (his dad) and Beldawn Shari (his mum) and he was born on March 10th, 1995. That makes him 12 on March 10, 07..

We have little information about his puppyhood, although it is believed that he was bred for the Japanese market. His father was a Chocolate Dapple, and his mother was a Black and Tan, - (min. long) as it says on the Certificate of Registration and Pedigree.

Kramer was the only chocolate dog in the litter, and as the Japanese apparently did not want a chocolate dog, he was sold to a pet shop, which onsold him to the Spillane family.
He was a much loved family pet there and his wonderful character was evident while he lived with them. But the family decided to move. Appartment living was not suitable for a dog - in fact not permitted, and they looked for a home for Kramer.

As it happened they knew we had a dachshund, and asked us to take him. We had almost decided not to have another dog. We still had Chloe, our ageing bitch. Reluctantly I went to see Kramer, and he won my heart. He appeared from nowhere, got onto my lap (and the family say he's never left). A week later we went to collect him and he's been with us every since. He was around 5 then, so he's lived most of his life with us.

Update on Jesse

Jesse was awarded a Certificate of Bravery from the RSPCA this week for his brave defence of his owner. As well they gave Jesse a huge bone, almost as big as the little dog with the big heart. Congratulations Jesse.

Jesse has been receving many accolades since then and has been in attendance at a number of rallies in support of women's safety.

(first published January 18th, 2007)

Jesse the Brave Dachshund

Brisbane women have been terrorised for many months by several men who have attacked women exercising - either on bicylcles or walking on bike paths around the suburbs. Most attacks have been in the northern suburbs and there is currently a huge police campaign to stop/catch these predators. Two women have been raped.
Several days ago a 14 year old girl was playing in the park near her home along with her 3 year old black and tan miniature dachshund, Jesse. A man approached her from behind and grabbed her, but Jesse took immediate action and attacked the legs of the low life predator. Apparently he ran off as a result of the attack by the little dog.
Well done Jesse.
(originally posted January 10th, 07)

About Kramer's Diary

I started Kramer's Diary elsewhere - but have decided to bring it back to Blogger because I find it an easy program to use - and it does all for me that I need. So, over the next day or so I will transfer all the posts to here, and I know I will find it a lot easier to update.

I do encourage folk to use Blogger - it is just so easy.

Kramer is a miniature long haired dachshund - and has been in our family for about 5 years, although he is 11 years old now. He came to us when we had Chloe, but after Chloe died he has been our only dog. We have learned that you can teach an old dog new tricks. He's quite funny and clever with a wonderful personality.