Monday, August 10, 2009

Showing Off and Hamming it Up

Swift is such a little show-off. I had friends over on the weekend, and Swift just couldn't help himself. The only trick he knows really is how to sit up on his hind legs. He looks like a little prairie dog when he does it. It is absolutely adorable, and he knows it! When he wants attention, he just sits up on his back legs. He's even learned how to do it on the couch and the bed! Of course, he won't do it for the camera, so I don't have any pictures of it. What a cutie.



Friday, August 7, 2009

Do Dachshunds Get Hiccups?

They certainly do! Swift gets hiccups all the time. He's been better lately - not so many. I think it's because he eats his food so fast and he's been slowing down recently. I've started watching the boys eat because I had a theory Swift was eating Kool's food. Swift was getting pretty chubby, and poor Kool would want dinner twice a night. So I started watching them, and sure enough, Swift would gulp down his food and then start eating out of Kool's bowl. And Kool, being the sweetheart and non-confrontational dog that he is, would let him. Kool also didn't eat a lot, so sometimes he would just walk away and let Swift finish. Once I started putting water in their food and letting it soak, Kool would gobble down his food almost fater than Swift. Maybe it's because he's a little older and likes the soft food. If Swift tries to eat Kool's food now, I yell at him and pull him away. So I think he's learning that only his food is his and he's taking his time to eat it.

All that to say, well, Swift got the hiccups last night in bed. I know that when I get hiccups, they hurt sometimes, so I feel bad for the puppy. How do you get rid of hiccups for a dog? Well, I was thinking of all of the ways that humans try to get rid of their hiccups, and I thought, "Maybe I'll try to scare them out of Swift!" I waited a bit and just breathed in and out very slowly so as not to disturb him. All of a sudden, I yelled, "BOO!" Of course, Swift jumped up and looked at me as if I were crazy (which is probably true). But once he settled down and lay back down, did he have the hiccups anymore? No. It worked!