Ed and Suzy Speare of Virginia write, “Phoebe was a local dog born on February 13, 2001. She came to be with us in June of that year and lived to be almost 16, passing in November of 2016. We had an older male dachshund who was not too spry until Phoebe came to stay and right away he perked up and enjoyed chasing her around and playing tag in the house. Phoebe considered him her “Unkie Ace” and followed him everywhere. Phoebe had a couple of odd characteristics for a miniature dachshund, but not totally unheard of. Her ears had extra cartilage in them and tended to stick up and were not long and floppy. She also had a shorter tail than the norm. She liked to play, but also liked to be still and sit with anyone who would hold her. She was good with kids and other dogs, except Schnauzers which she disliked intensely for some reason. She liked to play tug of war with a rope toy, but at 2 and 1/2 years that kind of play caused severe disc problems in her neck. She had to have one removed and another channeled to relieve pressure on her spinal cord which had caused her to be temporarily paralyzed. She recovered completely, but in her older years had severe back problems and became lame in the hind legs. Her condition got worse as she passed her 14th and 15th birthdays and just a few months shy of her 16th birthday had to be put down when her internal organs began to fail. Friends came with us to the vets to say goodbye and were a comfort to us. We were able to use the little pet prayer book you wrote all along with her and even at the end. Suzy has had dachshunds all of her life and she said by far Phoebe was the best one of all of them, so when it came time for us to have a dog again, we opted for a longhair and different coloring so as not to compare a new dog to the best one ever.”