A Happy, Bittersweet Birthday

We had a birthday celebration on April 16th. Our little Willy was 13 years old. Willy was about 1 1/2 years old when we found him at the Bowie Flea Market. We were just about to leave when we noticed this little ropey weenie dog tail wagging in the back of a dog crate. There was a foofoo fluffy dog looking out the front of the small dog crate. We asked if we could see the dachsie and out came Willy. He was rather stinky but he definitely needed to be rescued. About three weeks before, the Wichita Falls newspaper had an article warning people to keep an eye on their small dogs when they were outside as there was a rash of small dog theft going on. They were being stolen to be bait dogs. The guy that had Willy claimed he was selling him for his neighbor who had two big dogs. Supposedly the neighbor said Willy was knocking over her lamps when she wasn't home.....hmmmm, little dog or big dog knocking over lamps. Anyway, we told the guy we only had $20 left and we wanted the stinky little red dog. He said okay and the rescue was on. We wrapped the little guy up and took him home. We already had three female dachsies at home but we knew that if the new little guy didn't get along, we had other friends who would be thrilled to have him. He got a bath as soon as we got home, the girls (Ginger, Heidi, and Gretchen) looked him over, Ginger told him she was the pack leader, he said fine with me and he had himself a new home.

The reason this birthday is bittersweet is that April 16th was really Gretchen's birthday but she decided to share it with Willy when the vet said he was about the same age as Gretchen. You may remember that we lost our beautiful Gretchen in January but I'm sure she was looking on during the birthday celebration and I know we were all thinking of her too.

Willy was named after Willy Davidson......we have a Harley Davidson too.

Happy Birthday Willy and Gretchen. We love you both.