Sasha's Mum tells us about her experience.
Hi everyone! I'm the lucky forever owner of Sasha, as we're doing a little project in the group to help you all understand these special rescue dogs a bit more, I thought I'd tell you about what it has been like living with this fluffy little lady - positives and negatives!
Nothing seems to faze Sasha, she is so incredibly brave and resilient, nails clipped, sharp twig removed from her fur, vet looking in her mouth - all things my regular mini dachshund Cheddar would create such drama over, Sasha is calm and trusting! But there is an anxiety underneath, she has just learnt to mask it well. She is incredibly food obsessed due to being starved so any sign of stress or excitement and she goes to a bin, clambers for a plate, sticks her face in a cup of coffee she had previously been ignoring!
She has her little sass that earned her her name, she steals everything from slippers to pens I'm trying to work with to get my attention!
These little dogs take up so much of your time and attention, I feel like if I wasn't working from home, that would be something I wouldn't be able to give Sasha and Cheddar, so bear that in mind if you are looking to adopt. Toilet training is a work in progress, she's quick to learn and has done so so well, but she has never lived inside before so incredible patience and ongoing persistence is needed (and some heavy duty carpet cleaner). This is something else I feel would be difficult if I didn't work from home and could take her out every 15 mins. Sasha is actually very submissive, despite us thinking she would be bold and feisty from her vids and pics on the page, you could tell immediately when she arrived with us that she had been the smallest dog in a world of bigger dogs!
She waits her turn until Cheddar has eaten (something I know a lot of the other adopters have had the opposite situation with!!) She plays with toys on her own - if Cheddar wants to play rough rope tug with her, she see it as he just wants that toy off her, so she immediately lets go and lets him have it. Bear this in mind, these little sausages may not immediately bond with existing sausages!
Cheddar loves Sasha very much but he struggles to understand her sometimes. She jumps on him to get my attention, something she would have done at the shelter when fighting for attention with 20 other bigger dogs, but Cheddar finds it really bad dog manners and will tell her off by growling. She loves the reassurance of cuddling him, he likes his own space alot.
I understand that we are incredibly lucky in that sense as some of the dogs really don't settle with their new family, through no-ones fault, these dogs are all different, we just don't know what they've truly been through and we can't predict how they are going to be. Looking at Sasha's sweet little face, you can tell she is just so grateful for even the simplest things she has right now, and she lets us know that the dachshund way - by rubbing herself on your face! She's a clever little girl and her love of food has made her very eager to learn and easy to train, she's already working on her recall and adventuring off lead with Cheddar.
We wouldn't change her for the world!
