Frieda - 1956, about 13 years

Dearest Frieda - who started it all...

Ingvald - June 1957, 17 years old

We grew up together but 'Ing' had a broken heart for our Nana.

Shotzie - April 1961, 13 years old

You were the love of my childhood and the first of the many dachsies who have passed through my life. We were the same age, you and I. You taught me love and gentleness, with a twinkle in your eye. It has been over 40 years now since you left to wait at Rainbow Bridge. I know that you are not alone - many of those who came after have gone on to join you there. These long years past, some of my memories have faded, but my love for you - never! I still talk to your picture every day and smile as I remember the time we had together so long ago. Watch over us - we will see you again. I love you still . . .

Tina - August 1961, 5 months old

It has been more than 40 years. You came to us when I was a teenager and after our beloved Shotzie had gone to Rainbow Bridge. Your stay in my life was much too brief, precious puppy. I treasure the memories of a beautiful, little, red girl who passed much too quickly through my life. I often wonder about the girl you would have become.

Lady Anne - 1961, 17 years

Dear Lady Anne, You were my best friend growing up and taught me how important dogs are to people; you taught me well through your loyalty and love; you were the only person I could truly tell my troubles to during those adolescent years. Thank you for being there.

Max the First

At the Bridge with the other dachsie angels. Play hard and be happy until we meet again.

Winkie - August 1962, 9 years old

Dearest Winkie,
Helping you up the stairs as a puppy was my first memory as a toddler. You were universally loved by family and friends. You sat in the brown chair with a friend or stranger, you didn't care. You liked cheese and ice cream and snuggling under the covers as all dachshunds do. You survived being poisoned and being run over by a car but could not survive cancer. We were on vacation in the summer of 1962 and had just returned from visitng Yellowstone Park when Grannie called to relate your passing. How we wept that night, even my Dad who I don't ever remember crying before. While you loved us all, you loved Mom best. You would turn over to have us pet your ample stomach and hide under the beds to nap. Have as much fun at the Rainbow Bridge until we come for you...we love you and miss you still !!!

Debbie, Drew, Dow, Mom and Dad.

Karo von Haus Meusel - June 1963, 9 years old

Gut Hund you are missed.

Will-o'-the-Wisp - August 1963, 15 years old

Dear Wisp,

It's now almost 40 years, but there was no Internet in your time. In memory of the great times together, when I was just a little boy and you were getting on and I had to help you up the stairs and it was you that seemed pretty tired when we got to the top!

I still miss you, but I've had a dachsie that looks just like you for almost eight years now and, of course, he's called Wisp!

In Loving Memory,
Alexandre

Candy - Summer 1964, 8 years old

Candy, it's been years since you left me, but you still maintain a very special place in my heart! I will never forget going to pick you out when I was just six years old. Because I was an only child, you truly were my best friend for the next eight years of my life. I will never forget the love that you brought into my life.

Baron von Heyde (Moochie) - July 1966, 7 years, 7 months old

Our beautiful dachsie came to us on a snowy day in February, 1959, as payment of a debt. Daddy, an extraordinarily talented mechanic, had rebuilt the engine in a friend's car. 'Friend' was a little short on cash at the time, but he did have a litter of AKC dachshunds that were just the right age...would he like one for his kids? Daddy looked down into a cardboard box Friend was holding and picked up a little wiggly black and tan puppy. 'Sure,' he said, 'why not?'

From that day forward, Moochie was a member of our family. He loved to ride in the car and his favorite stop was the A & W where Daddy would buy us all (Moochie, too) ice cream cones. He was a great little camper and went on all our fishing trips, even hiking several miles back into the woods on more than one occasion. Before he was a year old, he swam in the Yukon River above the Arctic Circle. In the winter he loved to play in the snow. He would dive into a snowbank head first. We practically had to drag him inside. The following summer he traveled the Al-Can Highway with us. Then, after living in Seattle for a time, in the spring of 1963 he moved with us to the Mojave Desert. Moochie perceived the desert as hostile territory; you could see it in his eyes. His dream was to return to Alaska. The desert sapped his strength and in the end a snake was his undoing.

When I picture him at The Bridge, he's frollicing in the snow - or having an ice cream cone with my brother Earl, who met him at The Bridge in June 2001.

Be patient my loves. One day Mama, Daddy and I will be reunited with you there.

All my love, Dee Dee

Maxamillion Marx Payne - June1967, 6 years old

To the one who began it all. You were my first 'doxie' and I have never forgotten you. You were my playmate, my soulmate and my friend. I will see you at the Bridge....

Sally No. 1 - Spring 1968, 11 years old

Sally, you were my first puppy as a child and provided me with a life-long love of dachsies. Oh, how you endured the torture of being dressed in clothes and wheeled through the neighborhood in a baby stroller, diaper and all! You were such a willing pupil when we 'played school' but would look at Mom with those pleading brown eyes to save you when you grew tired of it all. You even survived a 10-mile Boy Scout hike with Craig, although the little pads of your feet were so sore. You loved to be cleaned with the vacuum nozzle, stuff yourself up against the heat ducts, and eat anything in sight. You were such a docile and loving little girl and the day you died our hearts were broken. Mom and Dad never again had another dog but I have had three since you. ou have been at Rainbow Bridge for many years but the memories remain so vivid. You were one special dachsie and I will love you always.
Karen

Wennie - July 1968, 6 years old

Weenie was my very special friend when I was a little girl. I had no brothers or sisters so Weenie was my sister and I never felt like an only child. She had a wonderful nature but many health problems. I miss her to this day.

Humphrey - 1969, 6 years

Our soccer playing fella!

Tillie - 1986, 15 years

Sweetest girl ever!!

Chloe - 1986, 12 years

Sweet girl and friend!

We miss you all!

Heidi - 1970, 17 years

At the Bridge with the other dachsie angels. Play hard and be happy until we meet again.

Puddles I - July 1970, 12 years old

Rusty I - December 1990, 5 years old

Sandy - April 1992, 2 years old

Skeeter - July 1993, 5 years old

Igor - December 1990, 5 years old

Rusty II - November 1994, 4 years old

Puddles II - January 1995, 11 years old

Black Lady - June 1995, 6 years old

Bandit - November 1995, 4 years old, Blacky - November 1995, 10 years old, Buckingham - November 1995, 4 years old, Dolly - November 1995, 6 years old, Natasha - November 1995, 4 years old,and Snowball - November 1996, 8 years old, all went to the Bridge when their kennels were twice, tragically, struck by lightening.

Bozo Lane - 1971

Dear Bozo Lane,

You were an awesome dachshund and my very first dog. I remember eating ice cream under my bed with you (from the same spoon) when I was six. I'll never forget you, Love and more love, Teresa Lane

Fritz - 1971, 13 years old

Fritz was the first dog my family ever had when I was a child. I grew up with him always silently present. My mother used to always call him a "stubborn German" because he was so independent and strong willed. If anyone did something he didn't like he would get into his basket and turn his back to the room and lie there unmoving for hours no matter what we kids did to try and win him over again. Fritz was a great hunter who often trapped chipmunks in downspouts and then would sit there for hours barking at them and biting the metal spouts in fury. He was not a lap dog, but a very serious fellow. One time on his wanderings around the neighborhood he was viciously attacked by a wolf/huskie mix and survived dragging himself down the street and over 60 stitches that the vet used to patch him up. Although he was a rather aloof dachsie, he very willingly "adopted" a dachshund puppy we brought into the house when he was 10 years old. From that day on the two of them were inseparable. When I think of Fritz I picture him pressed tightly against the wall heating vent on a snowy day near the picture window.......and with a little dachshund puppy named Hans laying *on top* of him a fraction of an inch closer to the wall. For most of the cold Illinois winter days they would lie like that sleeping peacefully together. Fritz was a champion at sitting up and would sit up ramrod straight for very long time periods. Later in his life he turned quite gray and became blind from cataracts. Sometimes I would come into the TV room and find no one there but Fritz, who would be sitting up even though no human was in the room with him. He spent his last months wandering around his familiar house bumping into things and sometimes down the stairs that led to the front door. My mother would say this was okay because "he rolls" but I always felt very bad for him and his constant wanderings all over the house. One day when I was at school and my father at work my mother took Fritz to the vet and had him put to sleep without telling anyone she was going to do it. The only time I have ever seen my father cry in over 40 years was when he came home that night and noticed Fritz wasn't there. Fritz, you were a tough character but I still think of you with a smile and a tear 27 years after your passing.

Heidi Hye - July 1971, 4 years old

I received Heidi as a gift for graduation and couldn't have been happier. I had been raised with another dachshund through childhood, but Heidi was my own precious Baby. She was so sweet and loving. When she was four years old, some high school kids thought, after someone had let her out of my fenced yard, that it would be fun to run over the sausage dog. Therefore I lost my Baby. I miss her very much.

Bourbon - November 1971, 3 years old

Mitzi - 'Mitti' - 1972, 13 years, 6 months old

Darling Mitti, It is a lot of years since you went to the Rainbow Bridge and Mummie has now come to you and just left Missus behind. You will have crossed with Mummie and waiting for your Missus on the other side. It broke my heart when you left us and I still love you just as much as I did the day you left us. Take care of Mummie until I come and join you. God Bless you both your loving Missus, Trissie.

Poncho Hollis - 1972, 3 years, 6 months old

My little Poncho, you came to me when I had lost hope in human-kind and you made me laugh, you gave me reason to live - and for three and a half years we were inseparable. When I lost you ,for such a long time my life stood still - I still hear your bark and feel your doxie kissies. Just wait for me at Rainbow Bridge - I will come I promise. Your brother, Carl, sends his love. Love, your Mommie

Lady - 1972

Gretel Collier - March 1973, 12 years, 7 months old

Gretel,

You came into our family as a puppy and soon became our life long Sister/Friend/Protector with an understanding ear whenever we were introuble from mum and dad. You were very proud and strong-minded with an uncanny abillity to sense who was good to the family who was not to be trusted. It has been 30 years since you passed on to a dachshund heaven where we know you still watch over us and we still talk about our time with you when we were growing up to become resposable adults. Gretel Collier the family still loves you and holds your memory so very dear. All our love to you.

Dad, Mum, Keith, Myra, Shane, Cherine and Mark

Mitzi - May 1973, 10 years old

Freda - July 1974, 13 years old

Precious 'Freedie' - you came to us the day after Tina died; we just could not stand the void! You were a joyful, playful girl who loved to sit up for hours on end to look out of the window. You became my mother's treasured friend (she is with you now - are you sitting in her lap?!!) when I left home. I was far away when you left for Rainbow Bridge with Mom at your side. My teenage pal . . .

Greta - July 1974 - 12 years old

Greta came to us in a small cardboard box when I was 3. I thought she was a guinea pig, but she turned out to be the greatest bundle of love on four feet! She was fiercely protective of my Mom and Dad and me, and was the best (loudest) watchdog in Crow Wing County. Greta was a 32-pound red, smooth-haired dachsie whose only fault was too hearty an appetite, which I wish we could go back and fix. It eventually proved her undoing as she developed back trouble when she was eleven. On my mom's birthday , we finally couldn't ask her to endure any more pain. For *years* after she was gone, I would come home and expect to hear her nails clicking on the linoleum as she would come to greet me when I would come home. Greta was a sister to me, as I am an only child. She would play endlessly and snuggle warmly whenever asked. It was always so comforting to have her snuggle up to my face and I would smell her puppy smell. When we were choosing our current dachsie, Fritzi, the things that sold me on her were her wonderful sweet puppy smell that was IDENTICAL to Greta's smell, and impish personality that told me that Greta's spirit was with us once again! Thank you so much, Greta, for the lesson in love you taught me! We all; Mom, Dad, Ashley, Terri, Fritzi and I, will someday meet at the Bridge and be together forever!!!

Heidi Gladish - September 1974, 12 years old

Heidi was my first dog. My dad bought her because my sister and I were afraid of dogs. Thanks to little Heidi, my sister and I have been dachshund-lovers ever since!

Heidi was a tweenie-sized smooth doxie. She was red with a black stripe down her back. Sometimes we called her HeidiBelle. She was a loving and lovable little dog and oh how I'd love to give her a hug right now! Heidi, Mama still remembers you after all these years and will see you someday at the Bridge. Be good little girl - I love you!

Sally#1 - September 1974, 14 years old

Sally #1, you were the one that started it all. I never had a longdog before you. Now I never want to be without one. I still miss you. You keep an eye on everyone and someday Mommy will see you all again.

Mommy

Ginger Heard - November 1975, 11 years old

Dear Ginger,

While you were not as sweet-natured as our first dachshund, Winkie, you were loved in your own right. You also slept under the covers, often in my bed, and I remember when my parents came to visit me at college and I was put out because they did not bring you on that visit. You, too, succumbed to cancer in the fall after my college graduation.

I'll never forget the day we picked you out. Mom took me and my two brothers to a pet store where they, unbelievably, had about four litters of dachshunds with four or five puppies in each. Mom took us each over there separately and we eached picked out YOU! We brought you home in a shoebox. Our neighbour, who had two dachshunds of her own, remarked one time how rich your coat was...it was all that love and people food! Now you have joined Winkie at the Rainbow Bridge and I hope that you are having fun!

Much love always, Debbie, Drew, Dow, Mom and Dad