Duchess's story

　　This lovely girl is Duchess, a 7-8 year old long hair Dachshund. Duchess is all black and is a larger miniature Dachshund who weighs about 17-18 lbs at her correct weight. She loves being a lap dog but cant access your lap without assistance since shes a Dachshund. She is calm, quiet and sweet as can be. Duchess loves everybody

　　adults and kids. She is very sweet and gentle with children of all ages. She is past the age of playing though, and prefers to just be part of your life. She is not past the age of walking and car rides. She loves both of these a lot and makes a great walking or travelling companion. She has great leash manners and doesnt get upset by other dogs or people. She gets along with cats as well, although she can protect her space from both dogs and cats and thinks cats shouldnt sneak up on her. And sometimes she just enjoys chasing the cats a bit but she is harmless. She is fostered with dogs bigger than her as well as cats and does just fine with both. She is housebroken, loves dog beds if your lap isnt available and is just an even-keel kind of girl. She would be fine as an only dog or as a companion but not playmate to another dog. She is fine in a crate but can be left loose in the house if she cant access anything edible.

　　Duchess is a little special needs in that she is hypothyroid. This is a lifelong condition where the thyroid is not working correctly. She came into foster with long untreated hypothyroidism, which caused her to be very overweight, lethargic, bald and have terrible skin. Luckily, hypothyroid is easily treated with one small pill twice a day, and yearly monitoring to make sure all is well. With correct treatment and a little bit of a diet, she is now down to her correct weight of 17-18 lbs and her hair is growing back in dramatically. She also has a lot more joy for life and would really like to be part of walks and rides and other fun things that get her out and about. Her pills will have to be given her whole life, but they are reasonably in price. She must also be kept at her correct weight, so not too many treats for this girl unless you are also walking her. She spent a lot of her life overweight and does not need to go back that direction. She is also currently on Apoquel, a medicine used to keep her from itching. It is uncertain whether she has environmental allergies or she just needed these pills to recover from the bad shape she was in, but they have helped her immensely and may be required for life as well. Apoquel is also given once a day and Duchess is happy to take both it and her thyroid pill with a little cheese whiz or kong stuffing (or peanut butter or cheese or anything else edible).

　　Duchess is up to date on shots, spayed and her teeth were recently cleaned (or removed). She is ready for a new home with the right family to love her. She is fostered near Madison, AL. She wants a great family who will take great care of her, make sure she gets her meds, not overfeed her and just want her in their life. And walks. Lots of walks