Outsmarted by a Dachshund...

Dracen is asking for a little brother again.  He's always been the little one trying to keep up with his big brother and cousin and older friends and while yes, he can be a little rambunctious at times, he does have a very nurturing nature and has always been drawn to babies. I've always said he missed his calling on being a big brother because I know he'd make a great one.  


This is not the first time we've had this conversation and he knows that I can't have any more babies so last night he tried to find a way around this by saying, "I know you can't have another baby but couldn't we adopt one?  Because I never got the chance to be a big brother."  


Ouch.  I almost cried.


I also began suspecting that many a third or fourth child was had for this very reason because talk about tugging on your heartstrings... This tugs on mine in a fierce way.  


And I would probably have tried to oblige him by promising him another Dachshund but Brisco Darling has been a very bad little wiener this week in regards to hole digging, knocking over trash cans and doing his business in the house.  Let's just say he's lucky  that I'm a tenderhearted, animal loving, tree hugging Dachshund freak who tends to forget the unacceptable act he committed just as soon he rolls over on his back and pats his cute li'l freckled face with his paws.

Charlie wonders if getting a well-trained big dog would help him to learn right from wrong. But I know a thing or two about how Dachshunds operate and it's not that they don't know right from wrong, rather they just want to do things their way.  And who can't relate to that?  
Dachshunds are smart and here's one example of how I know this...


I give the Darlings one Greenie each every day.  There are few things in this world Charlene (Li'l Bit) loves more than her daily Greenie. Brisco, on the other hand, could usually take it or leave it though usually he takes it and lays it down somewhere he can see it.  


It took me awhile to catch on to what Li'l Bit was doing.  She immediately takes her Greenie into the living room where she devours it in seconds.  Brisco takes his into the sunroom, places it on the floor, gives it the nose tap on each end, breathes on it, leaves it on the floor, then jumps up in the chair to watch over it.  


Li'l Bit knows this.  She also knows that if she goes in to nab his Greenie, that he will jump down off his perch to stake claim over it if she even thinks about going near it.  So here's the plan she concocted...


She scratches on the door to go outside knowing that Brisco can rarely resist the urge to go outside himself and that he will come running to go out too.  And he does.  But as soon as he gets out the door, she says, "Psych!" and instead of going outside, high tails it to the sunroom where she snatches the abandoned Greenie and begins consuming it at record speed.  


Poor Brisco realizes what's happened before he ever gets off the deck and proceeds to bark loudly and angrily to get back in only to discover that it is too late.  So what does the sucker (a.k.a. me) do?  I give him another Greenie that he wastes no time chomping down this time.  


I finally caught on to what was going on so this doesn't happen anymore.  The sad thing is, she pulled it off several times before I realized what was going on... 


Which is just one good reason why I should probably stick to the two kid, two dog rule for now. 


Plus, Charlie's oldest son is getting married next year and we all know that babies come next... I'll have to point out to Dracen how fun it can be to be an uncle. 


But wait?  Wouldn't that kinda make me a gra... 


Shut the front door!