Grief Support≡
Memorials≡
Boutique≡
Brandy the Boy Dachshund
by Karen Brandenburg
Friday January 14, 2005 my family and I said goodbye to our seventeen year old, male dachshund Brandy.
Brandy came to us June 9, 1988 on my husband birthday, as a puppy. He brought with him much joy, and sometimes frustrations, as all pets do! When he was three years old our daughter was born. She is now going on fourteen and has not known life without Brandy.
Brandy was so funny! When our daughter was a baby my husband gave Brandy a toy ball that was given as a baby shower gift. Brandy chased it all over the house growling at it! From there evolved his love of chasing a basketball. We moved to a camp in 1997, and Brandy discovered the tetherball, where he would jump and hit it with his nose! We, also discovered he loved to go sledding with us. We would just ask him if he wanted to go, pick him up, flip him over, and holding him by the chest he would ride downhill with us. He would then jump off the sled and bound back up the hill to go down again! Whenever we would play frisbee or fetch a stick with him, he would run after the object, and come running back with it in his mouth, but before he would get to us he would dash to the side of us, and just seem to laugh as he did so! What fun we had with him!
Brandy's health first began to fail when he got arthritis in his back every winter. He then developed cataracts in his eyes, and threw out his back requiring emergency trips to the vet. Every year we wondered if he would make it through another winter, but he always managed to make it.
The people who came to the camp loved him. One man even wrote a story about how he came to him one day when he called him in German! "Brandy, kommen sie! Kommen sie mach snell"! That was the summer of 2003, when Brandy was 15 years old.
Finally one day last month we knew it was time to say goodbye to our old friend. The pain that gripped my heart was unbearable! I felt like it would burst. I took him out for one last walk and met my husband on the sidewalk in front of the camp office. My heart broke as I sobbed onto my husbands shoulder. Brandy could barely walk or see, and I knew we were doing the right thing. We brought Brandy up to the house where our daughter met us at the door crying. As my husband drove off we cried, knowing we would never see Brandy again.
My husband buried Brandy at the back of the camp where he loved to run and play. I bought a pet memorial to place on his grave. What I really want is a marker that has a basketball on it!
This Monday February 14th will mark one month since we said goodbye to Brandy. We have since bought a sweet tri-colored sheltie named Buddy. He is a delight to have, yet I still miss Brandy so much!
Comments would be appreciated by the
author, Karen Brandenbur
321-784-1468 Tech Support
