Meet Emma, Joanna’s tiny best friend

If you’ve read my posts about Joanna when she was a puppy, you may be surprised to learn I wanted another doggie! LOL! But alas, I’m a sucker… and when I saw a picture of a mini long-haired dachshund, I fell head over heels. I begged my husband (because we had said, no more animals!), “I have to have her, please. This is important to me.” and of course, he caved. Next thing you know, we had an 8-week old puppy that weighed 3 1/2 pounds, so tiny I was afraid she would get squashed.

Back up a few years… I left out, that we had just sold our house and we couldn’t move into our next house for 3 months. Soooooo… we moved into my sister’s house with 1 labrador, 3 cats, and a new puppy. My sister has 3 kids, a husband, and a dog (and a cat at the time). So, all in all, there were 4 adults, 1 college student, 3 teenagers, 3 dogs and 4 cats, and a partridge in a pear tree. For 3 months. 3 months.

My brother in law is a patient man. 🙂 He still likes me, it’s amazing.

Emma turned out to be the best puppy ever. She is a love bug! A sweet angel! And… I couldn’t believe how careful Joanna was around her. Joanna doesn’t always like other dogs, she thinks she’s a person (MY person). But they played like maniacs together… all I did was take videos non-stop and laugh my head off. They were hilarious! Always with the mouths open, looking ferocious, but playing and zooming all over the house. Emma knows Joanna is the boss, but Joanna gives Emma a lot of leeway. She LOVES her and the feeling is mutual!

Emma is now 10 lbs and 3 years old — and she hangs on every word we say. She climbs up on one of our laps, and stares into our eyes with such adoring wonder… you can’t help but melt. She LOVES to play and be with her family.

Emma is also the best snuggler. She wears herself out all day, so by the evening, she is ready to snooze and cuddle with her people. She doesn’t pace or get restless, she just passes out, right on my lap. Sometimes I carry her to her bed because she is sooooo tired. Haha! Done for the night!

The surprising thing about my little angel, is that she is a stone cold killer in the yard. The biggest sweetie pie with people… but if you are a mole, squirrel, rabbit, chicken or turtle, you better skedaddle. When she goes outside, her personality completely changes to “working” – she patrols the fence-line non-stop (she’s worn a path along the fence of the entire yard). She digs and burrows under the grass, hunting moles and critters. One day, we saw her flip a mole right out of the hole over her head! She’s killed moles, a bunny and a rat… my husband said she is clever as hell and barely tame LOL. Yes, she is an angel, but also a wild animal. When she is patrolling and on the hunt, she is the wild animal part and will not listen when we call her to come in… even for a treat. It’s serious business out there!

Living with Emma and Joanna has made my life so much better… I know Joanna was the WORST puppy in the world and I almost had a nervous break down (see previous stories 🙂 ), but she turned out to be the very best. She’s all love. And so is Emma. ALL LOVE.

Dogs really are the best people.