Lol, you know I had a great cake. It was a molded chocolate one with chocolate pudding and strawberry sauce and iced with that hard chocolate shells and topped with chocolate covered strawberries and hubby got me my favorite cut flowers 2 big bouquets of alstromeria. I had gotten some in one of my first trades but they came up. I love those. I fell asleep after fishing and they had to wake me up at 9pm to eat my cake, lol. I was whooped bad I guess. Not used to all this running around. Thank you all for the nice birthday wishes.

Happy Belated Birthday!! It looks like both of us got to spend our birthdays in hotels this year! I know how good a long shower can feel - I had one this morning and am going out again today to get dirty again. Lars

lily, you will never regret the time you have with your Dachshund. And there are no health guarantees with any breed. It is just unfortunate that Dachshunds are so prone to this horrible back/neck disc problem. We used to have a Beagle - we adopted our Beagle at 7. He lived to be just shy of 20. He found our cat - the brilliant one - and she was pregnant. So we had quite the houseful. After our Beagle died, our cat was miserable. Our vet told us that she had a hound boarded at the clinic - he had been rescued by a couple who the Humane Society would contact should things look grim - and our guy was on the list. But this couple already had 8 dogs at home so couldn't take him in. He lived at the vet's for 6 months - and was placed in 2 homes during that time - but with people who didn't realize that some Dachshunds are really Alpha so he was returned. The vets were about to keep him as a clinic dog (he did like to supervise them and the other pets) when our Beagle died. The vets gave us a week to mourn and then contacted us and we met our Dachshund. The vet did use the word "hound" so we were kind of shocked when out came this hot looking, auburn, gorgeous Dachshund. He surveyed the room and the other waiting patients and then looked me in the eye and demanded to be picked up. Love at first sight. Of course the vet had to contact the couple who had rescued him and they came over a few days later to inspect us - we were both having fits that we would fail the inspection. It was funny, the woman was so much like me - and we were both born in Aug. They brought our pup with them and immediately saw the bond. So he became ours. So 4 homes by the age of 1. He died on Sept. 13, 1997 at 11:30 a.m. - but who is keeping count?! The dog of my life. During his time with us we adopted other Dachshunds rescued through this couple which is how we ended up with so many. Our last guy - very similar to our first - was also Alpha, similar body type but did not do as well with the surgery. So of course we can't go through it again. Yet other people have Dachshunds for 18 years with no issues. Our last guy had 2 girlfriends - sisters - who would have little hissy fits over him in the vet's waiting room. He liked both of them, but he did kind of prefer one over the other. Just like people! I saw these girls last year at the vets - I so wish our guy could have been there - they missed him to. I really hope that you will have many years of health and happiness with your Dachshund and be spared the horrors of the back issues. I am not at all surprised that your Dachshund can keep up with you on your walks since they are going concerns and very stoical. You should take pride that a Dachshund has decided to live happily with you because an Alpha Dachshund is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But I love feisty, in your face, smart dogs - it probably helps that they really love me too otherwise I might look at things a little differently.

I hope that you're having a great day with relatives and/or friends ... ... and good wishes for a fine year ahead. May it be memorable for all of the right reasons. ole joyful