Introducing Snickers. An owner surrendered, black and tan, senior, mini-smooth dachshund.
Randall and I went to pick him up this afternoon, and we're in the process of introducing him to everyone. Well, right now, Snickers is sleeping it off in his crate. "It" being the bath he just got. :)
He currently weighs in at 11.6 pounds, which I'd say is a pound and a half to two pounds too much. Looking at his body, I'd say he should come in somewhere between 9 and 9 1/2 pounds, so I can hopefully start work on that immediately.
Unlike our permanent foster dog, Elvis, this little boy looks to be healthy and, IMO, is very adoptable. His DOB is listed as 1/7/2001, but he really looks to be closer to 8. There's a bit of grey on his chin, but his tan points are still pretty vivid. I'll have to compare him to pictures of my standards at his listed age, but I'm just not seeing 10 here. He also doesn't move like he's 10. Very quick. Very happy. And if he is 10, his young looks should serve him well. :)
Personality wise, he seems quite sound. He's very interested in the other dogs, but in an extremely friendly way. Not even a glance at the cats, so unless something changes, I'd say he's good with both cats and small dogs. Looks to be good with people, and wants to be in your lap if you're on the floor. All around just a nice little boy who should have his own family and set of laps to lounge in.
He's currently not neutered, but we should be getting that changed soon. The only real problem I'm seeing here are his teeth. His breath would absolutely knock you over. I could smell it when they brought him through the door at the shelter - and the tartar is pretty much covering every tooth (and I think there may be some roots showing, though it's hard to say). The other thing I notice is they're sore to the touch and almost bleeding.
I called the clinic a bit ago to give them a heads up that the shelter was going to call to schedule a neuter, and that his teeth probably need attention at the same time. Hopefully that can be done, because it's the one thing that I think would keep him from being adopted.
What I told Randall is I think if he's neutered and those nasty teeth cleaned, I would hope to get his weight down in a few weeks. If it all comes together like I hope, I see no reason why he couldn't be taken to some adoption events starting the end of February.
Fingers crossed. Because while I absolutely love having Elvis here as a permanent foster, it's really our hope that we can bring in fosters who can be adopted into forever homes.
