the market

A couple of weekends ago, before we needed an ark to navigate through town (yes, the rain has been THAT bad lately!), NewMama and I heralded the opening of our local Farmers Market.  We thought it would be a great opportunity to continue Ramsay's socialization and exploration.  Little did we know that Ramsay would be both an audience member AND an attraction!

Forget the AKC rankings, which have listed doxies as the 8th most popular dog breed for the past 2 years.  In my experience, there is no breed as instantly recognizable as the Dachshund.  At the Market we met children who could barely speak a straight sentence, but could scream out "HOT DOG!" from their strollers while pointing at Ramsay from across the parking lot. "Aww, look at the little wiener dog!" was heard more than a few times that day.  Though people may not know the word "Dachshund", much less pronounce it correctly, everyone recognizes a doxie when they see one...and if Ramsay's breed wasn't enough of a novelty - his one blue eye certainly was!  The look of surprise on people's faces was priceless.  Overall, dogbert was an acceptable ambassador for his breed, interacting very well with people.  He only became a little unruly when he saw a dog he wanted to play with.

Sadly, the vendor who makes Ramsay's favorite home-made biscuits wasn't at the market that weekend, but NewMama WAS able to get some plants for our garden.  It was all we could do to ensure that they didn't become dogbert's next snack!