True Stories
One of my favorite stories is from our first pair of Dachshunds. Schatzi was a great hunter. On the first day she came home with us on the way from the car to the house she found a green grass snake and brought it in the house to show us. My wife is not a fan of snakes, but I thought it was quite a feat! I've never seen one of these small, fast and well hidden snakes where we live and haven't seen one since. Unfortunately the snake didn't survive the encounter. The same is true of many rabbits. The strangest happening however was the crow. How she managed to catch it I don't know, but it was caught in our fenced back yard, quickly dispatched and dragged through the small dog door. It was left with wings spread open in our bedroom.
Muffin hasn't topped Schatzi's feats, but she too was an excellent hunter. I believe the rabbit count was about a dozen with a few survivors taken to our vet. Unfortunately when Sophie and Muffin were hunting together, nothing survived. When we brought Sophie home she was only eight months old ... just a puppy. Muffin on the other hand was about nine and obviously well experience at hunting. It wasn't long before she took Sophie under her tutorage and the two started hunting together. It was interesting to watch. Muffin would run through the bushes to see what would be flushed out and Sophie would race ahead and wait for anything trying to escape. Unfortunately few did escape. I don't know what kept drawing rabbits into our fenced yard, but they kept finding a way in only to lose their lives. I forgot to mention that Muffin had most of her teeth removed due to periodontal disease before we adopted her. Even with only nine or ten teeth she was an effective hunter.
About hunting
Dachshunds were bred to hunt. It's in their genes. We have made many efforts to remove the opportunity for them to kill other creatures, but it has still happened. I tell this story because it is true and part of their lives. Watching the two girls cooperate while hunting is clinically very interesting, but I never hope they find something in our fenced yard. It's no fun trying to extract parts of a rabbit from the jaws of a Dachshund and clean up the mess.
Muffin has lost a few more teeth due to the gum disease that claimed so many before. She is now down to six. She would be deadly with one, perhaps none. She is twelve now and white faced. She shows few signs of slowing down at the moment, but we will probably only have her a few more years. Regrettably she didn't receive good care when she was younger, but she gets the best we can provide now. Despite our best efforts, Muffin didn't live past 14 and a half.