The Desert dog and the Dachshunds

Gail Barnaby had spent the previous few years in Saudi Arabia, where her engineer husband had been working. It has been an interesting time and certainly a profitable one. So, on returning to the UK, Gail decided to indulge her dream of having a house full of dachshunds. It transpired that in her youth, her great aunty Mabel had several of the long-bodied, short-legged little canines. Gail was hooked and promised herself that one day, when she was settled, she would have as many as possible. Now, the dachshund can be a delightful companion dog but stubborn, so it was not surprising that I received the request to visit.

Gail Barnaby was decidedly upset during that first telephone call.

“Is that Mr Hodson?”

“Yes, it is. How can I help?”

“Mr Hodson, I have three dachshunds, and the youngest, Joshua, is behaving very badly.”

“And what is he doing?”

There was a long pause as if Gail Barnaby was unable to bring herself to say it out loud.

“He had taken to nipping the legs of visitors.”

“Well.” She said, giving a nervous laugh.

“He can only reach ankles, but it really is very disconcerting and embarrassing; I’ve tried everything.”

I asked for more details, including the age of Joshua, if he was neutered, status amongst the other dogs, feeding, and general history and a visit was arranged with the agreement that we met in the same way that other visitors were welcomed. This appeared to be going into the kitchen area first, followed by entering the lounge. A visit to St Austell was always welcome as it enabled me to drop in at one of my favourite pubs, meet up with landlord Gerald and his “local legend” wife Sandra, and, of course, get acquainted again with Mutley. See How a lady’s mind works  (31 October 2021).

An unexpected greeting

I arrived at the appointed hour and knocked on the door which was opened by Gail Barnaby as I expected. What I didn’t expect to see was the very large hairy dog that accompanied her to the door. He was definitely not a dachshund. He was the size of a Bernese Mountain Dog, totally black and obviously completely blind. There was no mistaking that totally white blank look.

Now, there are rules when approaching a blind dog, starting with no sudden movements, allowing the dog to sniff your hand and “anywhere else he chooses!!” Plus, talk in a friendly tone of voice.

I was ushered into the kitchen closely followed by this very big, hursuit canine. I sat on the stool provided only for my new companion to sit as close as he could; in fact, he was leaning against my leg. A cup of coffee appeared, and an explanation followed.

Ajmal was originally a desert dog, and I was informed that the name translated to “very handsome.” When Gail and her husband were in Saudi Arabia, the dog appeared at their house one day, basically made himself at home and never left. What was surprising was that he looked nothing like an archetypal desert dog, which would be something approaching a Saluki. He was obviously the consequence of a liaison between two very large heavy dogs.

He coped with his blindness extremely well, as do most animals; however, there are two things that made Ajmal different from other dogs.  The first was his insistence that he was in very close contact with a human. I had seen this before, but usually, that contact was with the dog’s owner. In Ajmal’s case, he chose to stay close to visitors, at least the ones he liked. There were visitors that he ignored, and Gail had decided that if Ajmal didn’t like certain visitors then they would not be invited back, fortunately I passed muster!!

The other odd thing were his feet, his pads were not flat as we would expect to see in a dog in the U.K. but were almost pointed so as to ensure that the minimum of pad touched the hot sand.

Back to work

I found the details of the life of a desert dog fascinating and could have spent hours listening to the anecdotes brilliantly told by Gail, but sadly, I was here to work, and drinking coffee and listening to tales from Saudi Arabia wasn’t going to get the job done. There are many ways to stop a dog from nipping ankles, and all behaviourists will have their favourite one. Mine is the least confrontational. I always carried a small bag which contained, among other things, an aerosol can of a bitter-tasting spray. A quick spray of the bottom of my trousers and I was ready to enter the lion’s den, well, at least the home of the demon dachshund. Enter I did, and the inevitable occurred. Joshua immediately rushed forward and grabbed the bottom of my trouser leg with the expected result. He immediately let loose, gagged, spat and proceeded to paw at his face. He gave me a malevolent glare and returned to his bed.

There were three beds in a line just to one side of a huge sliding picture window that led out to the garden. The beds were of the foam and fabric variety, very lightweight and washable. The other two beds were occupied by two more dachshunds who went by the names of Mary and Solomon. The biblical names were not lost on me, but I considered it none of my business. Mary and Solomon wandered across, gave me a cursory examination by sniffing my feet, turned round and wandered back to their respective beds. Another cup of coffee was made, and we sat in the lounge discussing the way forward for Joshua. It was then that I witnessed a most extraordinary sight. With the lifting of the clouds, the sun’s rays shone through the glass picture window. It started with Mary who got out of her bed, took a firm hold of it with her teeth and dragged her bed into the sun, this was closely followed by Solomon and finally by Joshua. I stared in disbelief, looked at Gail Barnaby and said.

“Did that really happen? Is that normal?”

“Oh yes, as soon as the sun arrives, it started with Mary, and the boys just seemed to follow.”

“What about Ajmal? Where is his bed?”

“He doesn’t have one.”

“We’ve tried every type but he just won’t use a bed, he just sleeps where he feels like, presumably a throwback to his days in the desert, however, I do have some amazing photos.”

Life before mobile phones

Gail departed and returned a few minutes later carrying a photo album. She opened it to the appropriate page and I saw Ajmal spread out on the lounge floor, laying on top of him was Mary and Joshua with Solomon curled up between his front paws.

“It’s extraordinary; during the day, the dachshunds and Ajmal virtually ignore each other, but at night, the dachshunds abandon their beds and curl up with Ajmal.”

In those days, there were no mobile phones with cameras, so like so many of my generation, we had no means to record what we witnessed, so none exists. When I look back, I am saddened by the fact that I saw so many amazing sights but was unable to record them for posterity.