Story submitted 2017-07-19

Basie and I (Billie) have adjusted well to many changes in the last year. We used to be known as Rusty & Nell. Basie is my twin brother; we had our second Birthday in December. We’re from the same litter and look identical except of course that I’m a girl and he’s a boy. I’ve always been bigger than him but in the last year I’ve gotten even bigger while he is close to the same size. We’ve both grown more hair but mine has become very full and fuzzy. I’m writing this letter instead of Basie because I’m a little smarter than him and have a better attention span. Mom says to give Basie time because we all know girls mature faster than boys. Dad doesn’t necessarily agree. Basie is so goofy that Mom and Dad keep calling him a monkey. I’ve never seen a monkey but they must be very curious, stubborn, and mischievous because that’s how Basie is. He’s also a little lover boy who likes to give high fives and tries to get all of the attention. I on the other hand want to stay out of trouble and try harder to obey our parents. My favorite thing to do is to run laps around the yard when I’m not too busy looking for something to eat. Basie and I both spend most of our time outside looking for good things to eat such as grass, sticks, rocks, bugs, poop, and anything else that we can get in our mouths. It drives Mom & Dad crazy and they say that’s why we kids never get to go outside unless one of them is watching us the entire time.

We ended up in DRNA foster care last year when our previous owners, an older couple in Richmond VA, could no longer care for us. We were in foster care in Maryland until July 2016 when our new parents adopted us and took us to live in Pennsylvania. Our new parents said it was an omen that we were from Richmond and that’s how they knew we were meant to be together because that’s where they lived before moving to PA. We were just getting used to our new home and walks on the sidewalk in our subdivision when our parents told us they were moving us back to Richmond. We had to stay in an apartment for a month or so while waiting to move into our new home in Powhatan County (just outside of Richmond). While in the apartment our parents made sure that we got long walks and took us to a dog park to play…but if other dogs were in the park we couldn’t play because we don’t especially like other dogs. This is still the case but we continue to work on our social skills.

All of the moving has paid off. We liked the house in Pennsylvania but we love the house in Powhatan. Our new home sits on 10 acres in the country and has windows all the way down to the floor. When we are inside we keep watch of everything going on outside and warn the wildlife not to get too close to our house. If squirrels, rabbits, deer, or other animals get too close to the house we warn them off with the signs (nose prints) we have posted on every window and by barking at them. We do this for people too but Mom and Dad keep telling them to ignore us and invite them into the house anyway. We used to run away from guests but have started to learn that they can be okay and often offer good pats and attention. The new house has a really long hallway that we use as a race track to see who can run the fastest. We like to leave our toys scattered all over the hall and throughout the house so that there is always one nearby. For some reason the parents keep trying to put all of the toys in one place but we’ll have none of that. The minute they try to put them away we pull them back out and scatter them around again.


When outside we can run in the yard and Mom and Dad take on us walks through the woods. We still don’t understand why we can just spend all of our outside time eating grass and stuff but that’s another story. There’s a lake that we’re dying to try out but the parents said they still have to make a better entrance to the lake before they will let us kids try playing in the water. In the evening we take a long walk to the mailbox where Dad makes us wait in the driveway with him while Mom gets the mail out. At night we both get to sleep in the big bed with Mom & Dad even though Mom says we’re bed hogs. Unlike other Dachshunds that slept with them in the past, we don’t burrow in the covers and prefer to sleep on top of the blankets.


We miss our previous parents and hope that we run into them someday so we can thank them for giving us a good start to life and to let them know that we are doing well. We also owe a big thank you to the wonderful people at DRNA who found new parents for us and kept us together in the same home. We are completely joined at the hip and worry about each other if we aren’t in the same room so staying together was very important to us. Our wish is that every Doxie finds their happy forever home too!


Thank you to everyone who helped us find our way! Mom and Dad said to tell you they are thankful too. (We’re sending you pictures of us in the big bed, in the backyard with our lake, and playing in our race track hallway.)