Daddy’s Boy

Rerun is a truly special animal.  If he was a human he’d be an extremely paranoid, anxious, and probably violent person of middle intelligence who was good looking and also happened to be a spree killer cannibal.

Rerun has some pretty serious emotional issues.  I’ve worked with a lot of dogs in my life, but he is literally the first one I have ever worked with where it has taken years to teach him to sit.  That’s right, years.  It’s not that he’s too stupid, it’s that he takes dachshund stubbornness to an entirely new level.  He’s like a giant ox wrapped up in a little dachshund body.

Rerun has a couple of very interesting personality traits that make him an unusual dog.  At least, as far as I’m concerned.  First of all, he has the WORST anxiety disorder I’ve ever seen in a dog.  Part of this is because one of us is a big softie with dogs and is bad about enforcing discipline and rules.  Ahem.  Dogs find rules and discipline comforting and therefore dogs with anxiety issues get worse without structure, not better.  Next, he is absolutely a one owner dog.  To the exclusion of all else he adores Geoff.  The only exception to this is that he has developed a giant crush on our upstairs neighbor.  He’s ok with the husband upstairs, but the wife?  Rerun is so taken with her that when we come in from walks he has been known to trundle on up the stairs and run to their apartment door just to see her.

Otherwise though, his heart belongs to daddy.  Right now he is sitting in a dog bed by the door waiting for daddy to come home and he is furious at me for not making daddy appear out of thin air.  If I pet him, give him scritches or a treat, he growls.  He refuses to go out in the backyard unless I toss a bone out there as a bribe.  He won’t cuddle with me at night or rest his head in my lap when we’re sitting on the couch.  If I discipline him he stares me right in the eyes (a sign of dominance) for as long as he can.

Much of this has been mitigated in the last few years by the introduction of Prozac (yes, you read that correctly) into his life.  He is a happier, more content, easier to get along with dog now that he’s on an antidepressant.  It’s been at least a year since he’s bitten my hands (feet and toes are another story) and that’s got to be some kind of record.

I’ll leave you with a photo of what Rerun will probably be doing till Geoff gets home.  Snuggling under a pile of security blankets.  Or pillows.  Or clean laundry.  You get the idea.

~Kelly