Blackie - The firstborn, so (nick)named because her fur was completely black, except for a tuft of white fur on her chest. She was adopted out at two weeks of age (as a Christmas present to a little boy). Obviously an extreme young age to be separated from her mother and I can only hope she survived the transistion.

Hungry - Unusual name for a dog, but her favorite pasttime was eating (surprising that she was not the biggest of the litter). She was also the meanest of the bunch. Don't remember exactly when she was adopted, but she was the second pup to go.

Speedy - The runt. But, what she lacked in size, she made up for in speed. She was a fast little thing and none of the other pups could keep up w/ her. I called her Speedy for "Speedy Gonzalez." She was adopted at a little over a year old.

Wimpy - So named because she was just that (I think she was also named for Popeye's pal Wimpy too), but she was a sweet girl. She was one of the three we kept, and it was by a miracle that she lived as long as she did. At a young age, she had been hit by a car and her pelvis was crushed. In all fairness to her, she should have been euthanized to end her suffering. But, dad couldn't do it (I was too young at the time for my viewpoint to mean anything), nor would he allow (or couldn't afford) her to have surgery. So, instead, she was left to heal on her own. Despite this, she still lived a long life. In the mid 90's (age 12 or 13), she was again hit by a car. This time it was fatal. We don't know how long she'd been laying out on the street by the time I discovered her... maybe just a few minutes, maybe an hour or two. It was dark, cold and not unusual for the dogs to stay out hours at a time. In either case, whoever had hit her, had been speeding and drug her body a few feet. I can only hope that she died instantly.

Clyde - Dad's dog (as was Wimpy). Ugly, but sweet and affectionate. Probably the most affectionate of the entire litter. He was also very jittery (and I've yet to meet a male dachshund that's not jittery). He was named for Clyde the Orangutan in the Clint Eastwood movies. He had also been hit by a car at a young age that broke his hind leg. The course of treatment was the same as Wimpy's and he was left to heal on his own. Like Wimpy, he walked w/ a limp for the remainder of his life. Cleo must have thought that this was normal, because every once in awhile, you could see her walking w/ a limp as well. He was very attached to Wimpy and became extremely sad after her death. About the age of 13 or 14 (approximate age, because I can't remember if Wimpy was still alive or not), Clyde developed a heart murmur. A day didn't go by after that, that he wasn't struggling to breath. Why my dad chose to keep him medicated instead of letting him go, I'll never understand. Finally, approximately 1 or 2 years after Wimpy died, Clyde's heart gave out, and he died of a heart attack in dad's arms.

Hexie - Their mother. She was the first wirehair dachshund that my family had (at least since I'd been born--there had been another Hexie, but that one had been my mom's family's pet as a child). Before her, we had 2 standards (Moritz and later Moritz Too) and a black and tan (Sam --both he and Moritz Too were hit by a car at the same time...we only had Sam for a week). I'd never seen a wirehair dachshund before we got her. But, anyway, I digress. Hexie was a sweet, lovable girl. I'm ashamed to say that after her puppies were born, I started paying more attention to them than I did to her--and she noticed. She became very sad, lonely and even a bit mean. I never had the chance to make it up to her, because in 1982, she was hit by a car and died soon following surgery (her paw had been torn off). The amount of guilt I had wasn't helped by dad blaming me for what had happened to her (it wasn't my fault, but he had to have someone to blame). In either case, Hexie deserved a lot better than what I had given her, and I'm sorry I never had to chance to let her know. I still miss her to this day. Perhaps I chose Cleo because she was the one who resembled Hexie the most.