Let’s meet a local pet!

Do you love weiner dogs?

Want to meet a really cute one?

 

In this week’s interview with Alison McLaren and her pup Dudley the Doxie, we’ll chat about doing your research before committing to a breed, building breed-specific communities, and how Dudley taught Alison to sew.

Find Alison, Dudley and some gorgeous pet apparel here – 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dudley.the.doxie/

Ollie and Dud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ollieanddud

Ollie and Dud Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ollieanddud/

 

Now, let’s get to the interview!

 

 

Transcription:

Laura Wombwell
Hi there, it’s Laura from Laura Wombwell Photography. And joining me today is Alison McLaren and her wonderful pup Dudley. And Alison, I am so excited to see you both.

Alison McLaren
Hi, nice to see you, too.

Laura Wombwell
So today’s interview is all about getting to know a local pet and the person who loves that pet. So Dudley, obviously is gorgeous. How did he come to live with you?

Alison McLaren
So it’s actually kind of cool story. Um, I have always loved miniature dachshunds or have for quite a few years now and always wanted a dog of my own. But I do work full time. And so I didn’t think that it was something I could manage or something that I could do. And I had been trying to adopt and looking into different rescues and maybe getting an older dog that didn’t require quite as much attention or energy right off the bat. But it just wasn’t in the cards, I was turned down by multiple rescues when I was looking and got to a point where I was like, well, I can’t get a rescue. I know I can’t handle a puppy right now. I guess I’m just going to be without a dog. And I was on a Facebook group for adoption and rehoming animals in Ontario. And a lot of people would post dogs that they knew were looking for homes or people would post what they were looking for. And there was one day where I was feeling particularly lonely. And I just decided, you know what I’m going to post that this is something I’m looking for. I said, I would love to get a miniature long haired dachshund. And that my dream would be an English cream. I said, you know, they’re fairly rare and they’re very expensive. So I figured this would never happen. And I said any color is fine. Any age is fine, not a puppy. And within about five minutes, I received a message from Dudley’s breeders saying you’re not going to believe this. But my husband and I decided last night that we’re putting this guy up for we’re going to rehome him. Um, so the situation with dad is that he was he was going to be a show dog because he is, you know, the dream perfect clear cream. But he grew to be too big. They have to be 12 pounds or less to be to show in the minister category. And Dudley was already over 10 at 10 months old. So they said okay, he’s he’s not going to be a good fit for a breeding program he’s not going to be able to show so they decided that as heartbreaking as it was they needed to rehome him. And when they saw my message, they just felt like it was meant to be and from the very first conversation we had, we sort of just knew, and I saw the picture of him. And immediately it was just, that’s my dog. And so I took him when he was almost a year old. So he still had some issues to work through and some training that needed to be done. But it was manageable because I could hire a walker to have him and he was already housebroken and crate train. So he was able to be home during the day while I was at work. And it’s sort of been been great ever since especially with being in lockdown.

Laura Wombwell
Oh, wow. So it was just fate that this little guy happened?

Alison McLaren
I think so. Yes.

Laura Wombwell
So what is your favorite thing about living with Dudley? What does he do to make you smile?

Alison McLaren
Oh my goodness, I would say he is probably the funniest little dog I’ve ever had or ever met. He’s got a ton of personality. Last night, he lost his toy and started spinning in circles thinking maybe it was under his tail. He just always is doing the funniest little things and just keeps me on my toes. But he makes me laugh. And when you’re living alone during a pandemic, that is probably the best thing you can ask for.

Laura Wombwell
Absolutely. I think we’re we’re seeing so many folks who are bringing pets into their lives during this pandemic. And I think it’s such a good time to be able to bond with your pet and you know, figure out what it would be like if you were sharing the space all the time. Is there anything that you’re doing in particular to prepare Dudley for when you go back to work?

Alison McLaren
We’re trying to get out and about a little bit more again, um, he has I found that during the pandemic, as many people have likely found some of the training and the behaviors that we had worked on prior have sort of slipped away a little bit. He’s one of the big things with him is because he came from somewhere out in the country where he wasn’t exposed too much. When I first got him he was afraid of everything. So he was afraid of sidewalks. He was afraid of bikes. He was afraid of cars because it was also new to him. So we were dealing with a lot of reactivity, and we put a lot of work into that and going lots of places and getting to know Lots of different people and environments. And with COVID we haven’t been able to do so much of that. So he’s definitely regressed a little bit. But we’re starting to get back into things he’s going to be doing. He does agility lessons with Brittany Holland he’s not you know with two inch legs he isn’t necessarily what you would think of when you think of agility dog but we’re not doing it we’re just doing it for fun not to compete and we’re gonna start doing some some training with him as well. So working with a local dog trainer to give a little bit of the the issue that we have the issues that have resurfaced I’m nipping them in the bud before they get to be unmanageable.Laura Wombwell
So with Dudley being a dachshund, are there any challenges that you found whether just with him or with that breed in general,

Alison McLaren
Um, if there’s anything that you that you would have heard about dachshunds, but in terms of stereotypes, it’s all true. They are stubborn, they are yappy, but they are full of personality, and there’s so much fun. So when he’s out agility, he is by far the loudest in the crew. He, if he’s excited, he barks if he’s upset, he barks if he’s stressed out, he barks and agility is probably his favorite thing to do. So he is just happy barking the whole time. In terms of being stubborn, they, they can be difficult to train, but they’re also exceptionally food motivated. So that makes it a little bit easy. I mean, aren’t we all at this point, but he’s a, he’s a lot of fun. And just, you know, you got to take the good with the bad and I wouldn’t even call those things, bad things. It’s just it’s part of who they are. So I got I got lucky with him.

Laura Wombwell
Well, and you know, every pet is going to come up with the with their own set of challenges. Yeah. So I know that Dudley has motivated you to actually set up a little bit of a community. So what can you tell me about your group?

Alison McLaren
So kind of a funny story, the way it’s happened, I have, I have gained so many new friends. I’m so met so many people in the community just based since I bought him. And so there was one time, I guess it would have been a couple years ago now that I discovered that there’s a group in Toronto, they call them the sausage dog mafia, which I think is hilarious and amazing. And they did doxie meetups. So one of the things that’s really interesting about the breed is that they do sometimes struggle with other dogs. And I don’t know if part of it is they’re so low to the ground. They’re so small, that other dogs can be intimidating. But in almost every situation I’ve been in, they get along well with each other. So I thought, you know what, let’s give this a try. Every time I’ve ever had him, the reactivity is solely on leash. Every time I’ve had him interacting with other small dogs, he’s been fantastic. So I thought I’m going to go to one of these meetups and see how it goes. If we need to leave early, we need to leave early. But let’s give it a try. Knowing that he’s come from a breeder, he’s used to dachshunds. So we went and he had the absolute time of his life and watching you know, 20 little wiener dogs run around together is just I mean, if that doesn’t bring joy, I don’t know what does. So a while I’ve been talking to a couple different doxie owners nearby because there’s a lot of them in our area. And we had set decided that we wanted to do a little meetup of our own. And it was just a few people getting together with our dogs. And we had this and we started talking about what if we made this something bigger, like the Toronto group because it’s a bit far to go to, you know, go to Toronto meetups all the time. But we have so many of us here. So I started thinking about it and started a little Facebook group to get a sense of if anybody would be interested. And it’s really exploded, um, we do monthly meetups when COVID is not stopping us. But we were doing them all the way up to November. Except when we were in lockdown, and we have another one coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve just booked one for March. It’s outdoors. So we have a limit of 25 people we stay six feet apart. And they just have a blast. They just run around we call ourselves Southwestern Ontario Doxies. And there’s Facebook and an Instagram group. Our biggest event was we had a Halloweenie party. And there were close to 40 of them there. And this is all you know, southwestern Ontario, so we’re not even we’re getting a few of the Toronto dogs but mostly Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge wealth and out into the London region. So it’s a really neat little community to be a part of, again, not something I ever thought was gonna take off quite this way but they absolutely love it and we we haven’t had any issues with any of the dogs. So it’s a pretty cool, pretty cool little thing to be a part of.

Laura Wombwell
Wow. So if, if an owner were to come to one of the meetups? What what what are they like? What do the pups do?

Alison McLaren
Honestly, it’s essentially a private dog park. So we rent out a space, there’s a local space called Heritage Pet and garden in Ayr. It’s private dog park. So we rent out the yard so that we’re the only ones that are in there. And if the dog has never been before, but I just asked that the owner stay close by but it is sort of a come at your own risk I’m there’s there’s waivers that they signed for the dog park, and they have to have all of their vaccines up to date and show proof of that. So everything is as safe as it possibly can be. But it’s really just a structured dog park. So as they come in, if if the dog is a little uneasy, just stay close by make sure that they’re, they’re good to go. But we haven’t had any dogs up until this point that have had issues. So it’s been it’s been a really great, great little group to be a part of, and we’ve got a few new ones coming out next week. And most of them I know already. And yeah, I don’t I don’t know. It’s just, it’s hilarious. We all talk about just how much fun it is to just watch them and see them play and see how they all interact with each other because they have the exact same tendencies and the ways that they interact with each other and their, the ways that they move and the way they play. It’s all very similar. So there’s definitely a lot to be said for, you know, breed specific behaviors.

Laura Wombwell
I have heard that from so many meetup groups that yeah, you know, having dogs mixed with other dogs of various breeds is great, but there’s just something special that happens when it’s all one breed getting together.

Alison McLaren
It’s pretty cool to watch I didn’t when I went to the first one in Toronto, I wasn’t sure what to expect and I had no idea it would be like that. So was there a lot of fun.

Laura Wombwell
Nice. So Dudley has also motivated another adventure for you. I love these these dogs getting involved..

Alison McLaren
All of these things I’m starting without ever intending to start though. sort of seems to be a thing.

Laura Wombwell
Perfect. So you have a small business called Ollie and Dud. What can you tell us about that?

Alison McLaren
So Ollie and Dud is a just a little while it started out as very small business making pet bandanas. So one thing that most people who know me know is that this little guy is probably as spoiled as they get. I spent a lot of money on Dudley and I was spending too much money on Dudley and that’s really what it came down to. And I thought okay, a bandana is literally a triangle. I can do this. So I my mom had an old sewing machine that she never used. And I said, Hey, Mom, do you think I could give it a try? I’d never seen before. And my birthday was coming up. And my parents offered to buy me a sewing lesson as a gift. And I thought okay, yeah, this sounds great. Let’s give it a try. And so I went to the sewing lesson and learn how to make a pillowcase, which was, I mean, I can’t say I’ve ever made another one. But you know, it was great. Um, and then from there, I started making just a couple little bandanas for Dudley and they were, you know, simple, cute. And then people started to see them. And as my collection grew, people started saying, Well, can you make me one? And so I started making a few friends here and there. And then it got to a point where I was getting messages on Instagram on Dudley’s Instagram account saying, Hey, I heard that you make bandanas would you do this for me. And so it kind of turned into something that it was never planned to be. And now it’s grown. I’ve started making custom dog coats. And I’ve learned how to make like bow ties and neckerchiefs and all sorts of different things. And, you know, I my most recent project this weekend, I was asked by one of our regular customers, if I could make a bow for the dog out of her. She’s getting married in a couple weeks and a scrap of her wedding dress she dropped off and I made a bow for the dog to carry the rings and it’s just it’s become something really special. And it’s my favorite part is just seeing all the pictures when things are done and seeing how much joy it brings to other people. And yeah, I mean, it’s definitely it supports the Dudley habit. So when I do agility and things that’s all funded by Ollie and Dud and sort of all just spiraled and became a big part of my life so it’s it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot more fun when I don’t have my office on my kitchen table and I have a little bit more space but we’re making do.

Laura Wombwell
So where did the name come from?

Alison McLaren
So Ollie is my parents miniature dachshund and then Dudley obviously. Um, so it was just it kind of just came to me it was like well what do we call this and it’s obviously inspired by Dudley and Ollie is my other little loves so all the undead just seemed like a perfect fit.

Laura Wombwell
Perfect. So when you are making the dog apparel is it all made to measure. Are you custom making everything?

Alison McLaren
I am. I’m so I use snaps as opposed to tie on. So I need exact measurements when I’m doing it. I use snaps because I feel like that’s the safest option. I do have some anxiety, I have anxiety disorder and I get my my anxiety comes out full force when it comes to Dud. I always think of worst case scenario. And so for me, one of the things that makes a good bandana is that it will come apart if it gets called on something. Um, whereas if I have it tied on, that’s not likely, you know, the more you pull it, the tighter it gets. So I thought snaps were a good way to make sure that it’s safe. But it does mean that every single item I make has to be made to order because every dogs a little bit different. But I know as someone who has a dachshund, I like shorter bandanas, I don’t want them to go as low because he can drag it on the ground if it’s too small or too long. So it’s nice to be able to customize things and it’s just a good creative outlet for me. You know what I’m doing? There’s lots of people out there doing it. So if what I have isn’t what you like, there’s a million other people doing it, and you can find something else that works for you. But I’ve met a lot of great people. And you know, over Christmas alone, I made over 300 bandanas. So when bow ties and different things for local people, and it’s sort of just exploded and it’s a lot of fun.

Laura Wombwell
Amazing. Have you found throughout the pandemic that folks are really wanting support local and because they’re spending all their time with their pets to spoil their pets a little bit?

Alison McLaren
Oh, yeah. And I am guilty of that as well. I have definitely supported a lot of I mean, lots of local lots of small businesses. Um, but I think people being home with their pets has really, at least I can speak for myself, like I’m spending my I’m buying special things for him because I love seeing him happy. He’s getting different toys and treats that he might not have had before everybody is online shopping. I don’t know about you. But you know, you think with all the stores closed, that would be a good thing. And then you realize no, everybody just shops online when there’s nothing else to do. Um, but I think a lot of people are spending more time on social media. So if they’re seeing it, it’s, they want it and it’s you know, it’s working out well for me because it’s also something to do when you can’t really go much of anywhere. So yeah, it’s business has picked up in the pandemic, let’s just say that.

Laura Wombwell
Are there any other local businesses that you would love to give some love to? Whether it’s a care provider or someone with another small business?

Alison McLaren
There’s so many um, I have really I feel like everybody in the community now knows who I am and I know who they are because I’ve scoped them out when it comes to sort of where I where I’m where I’m a regular so I would say there’s two for dog food and treats and The Healthy Barker is a local shop that makes they do raw and gently cooked meals for dogs. Dud was having some allergy issues last summer so I reached out to see okay, let’s let’s get him get some diet changes going here because they thought that it was the food initially and ended up just being seasonal allergies but he adores the food so much that we kept going with it. I use it as a topper a lot of the time. So we love The Healthy Barker and Martina is the owner and she’s a certified canine nutritionist. So that’s kind of cool to Finnegans Deli is another favorite. Um, you can get a lot of dehydrated fresh dog treats doubly adores his pizzles. So, and I mean doxies can chew he’s destroyed three black kongs so he he likes to chew but thankfully nothing that he’s not supposed to. Um, so I love Finnegans Deli. He is a occasional visitor at Dogtopia, which is a doggy daycare downtown Kitchener. We don’t I don’t take them all the time. But when we were in lockdown, and they were still open, it was an opportunity for him to still be socialized. And I love that I can watch on the webcams. They have a live stream all day every day so you can watch your dog while they’re at daycare and he has the time of his life there. So I really like the people there are fantastic and they do a lot of giving back to the community as well through charity. work and I worked with them with on a charity project with all the undead where I gave them some bandanas and then the proceeds went to their charities. So I really, really liked Dogtopia I mean, I could I could go on there are so many in Kitchener Waterloo. I have to give a shout out to you and your photography as well. The best picture I have of Dudley is the fun one. We’ll have to post it maybe you can share it, share it in here put it up on the screen of Dudley and ice skating together. I’m a skater and this was something we did as one of your Muttsterpieces so that was great. Um, but yeah, there’s just so many I’m we live in. I don’t know if every city is like this, but the Kitchener Waterloo area is just like the dog community here is absolutely insane. And in all the right ways.

Laura Wombwell
I absolutely agree. I think we we just have such a vibrant and thriving pet community here. You know, even as far as like pet friendly patios and beautiful green spaces, and we’re just we are spoiled for options in this part of town.

Alison McLaren
Absolutely.

Laura Wombwell
Are there any favorite places that you in Dudley like to visit as far as like, do you have favorite trails? Or is there anywhere in particular that you love to go?

Alison McLaren
Well, there’s a few, um, I am not much of a winter person. I don’t like the cold weather. Dud adores it, he is a snow Bunny, he will get right in there despite the fact that he turns into a snowball. Um, but in the summertime, he also goes against every doxie stereotype, and he loves to swim. And so one of our favorite plots is just outside of wealth. And there’s a I can’t even remember what it’s called, but a little area where there’s a swimming hole, but it’s, it’s running water. So it’s very clean, but it’s enclosed. So the it’s, I don’t know, it kind of feeds off into a different area, but the water is always moving so it’s clean. So we go there in the summertime, and it has hiking trails attached to it. And he loves to do that we’re big fans of here on natural area as well. It’s got beautiful trails, and I mean really just anywhere we can go that he can come with me We can get outside. St. Jacobs is always amazing. And they actually have Spoil the Dog Bakery, which is another one of our favorites. And Spoil the Dog Bakery actually went around to all of the businesses in St. Jacobs asking if they were dog friendly, or if they were willing to be dog friendly. And there are little signs in the windows of every store that you can bring your dog into. So we’ll go down there and go into a few shops and he’s he’s pretty good about behaving himself in the shops. So we go and do some shopping, grab a coffee, there’s dog friendly cafes, there’s the brewery downtown is also dog friendly. The patios so it’s, it’s a pretty fun place to check out as well.

Laura Wombwell
Awesome. I know you mentioned that before you started your doxy group you visited Toronto, are there any things that maybe other municipalities have that you would like to see come to Southwestern Ontario.

Alison McLaren
Um, one of the things that I would love to see and I have been doing some research to figure out if, if it’s something we have, and I haven’t found it at this point on some of the meetups that they do. So we had to stop our meetups once it got super, super cold. Oh, time to let them out. So we had to stop our meetups once things got cold because you can only do so much in freezing cold weather. Um, Toronto has a lot of indoor play spaces for dogs. We don’t have that. And I haven’t been able to find really anything that would have capacity for you know, some of the dog daycares have small faces and dogtopia said, you know, once we’re out of COVID we could definitely talk about this. But this space isn’t necessarily there. So I would love to see something that is a sheltered space where people could rent out, similar to the way that we rent out the outdoor space and air, pine tree pet resort and wealth has a fenced in dog space, you can rent I would love to see some indoor spaces. Um, I know that recently there there’s a farm nearby that was renting out sort of a riding arena which I think would be awesome. Unfortunately, the price wasn’t something that we could manage for a small and I tried to keep our price really really low for the meetups. Um, and I’m a little concerned about the sand with their with their legs being so small but something similar to that would be just awesome to have in town.

Laura Wombwell
Perfect. Um, as far as Dudley’s particular particular breed when you are getting together with those other owners, are you folks finding any similarities with like, the challenges that you’re having as as owners together?

Alison McLaren
Oh, yeah. Um, I mean, everything from dealing with reactivity and barking to how do you find a quote that actually fits adoption because they’re a normal width but they’re extra long on we we have a lot of the same challenges and we’ve been able to share strategies and sort of figure like come up with solutions and something that works for somebody else might work for Dudley um, yeah, we’ve definitely found we have similar struggle struggles, although every dog is different. And even between the short hair versus the long hair adoptee, there are differences. I mean, we have everything in that group. Like we’ve got a couple wirehaired Wiener dogs, we’ve got a bunch of smooth coats, we’ve got almost every color we we don’t we actually just have a we were saying in our last meetup, we need to dapple to complete the group. And we now have a dapple joining this, this next event. So we’re really excited. But we’ve got every shape, color size, we’ve standards, really tiny mini like it’s really just, it’s such a fun little, little setup. And I take lots of pictures, we actually had to put up Kinsey Winger came out and did some photos for us at our last one of our last events. And the photos are just hysterical. I’ll have to send you a few of them to share because they’re just so funny to look at. It’s just it’s one of those things that I feel like we could charge admission and have Segan like it’s just, you know, the wiener dog races are one thing, but just watching them play, it’s a whole other thing.

Laura Wombwell
I think that’s what’s so amazing about pet ownership in general is how it brings people together. Yeah. Especially if we’re, you know, inclined to be shy or to not reach out as soon as you put a pet in the mix.

Alison McLaren
It changes everything. Absolutely, yep, that I definitely agree with that. And some of the people in our group are very shy, but slowly, we’re getting to know them a little bit better. And I find that, you know, so many people who have Instagram for their dogs, and I, I am one of those people. And it’s a good way to start connecting with people and, you know, meeting meeting friends and like his life and all the things he does if we didn’t have the social media element, I wouldn’t know about most of it. So it’s kind of cool that we have we live in a world where that’s a possibility now.

Laura Wombwell
So for folks who don’t know about dog, Instagram is just a whole rabbit hole.

Alison McLaren
I say it’s the happiest place on the internet.

Laura Wombwell
Key question when you’re interacting on dog Instagram, are you interacting as yourself Allison or as Dudley?

Alison McLaren
On our actual posts, Dudley is speaking about anytime I’m talking to somebody about like, messaging, it’s me. That would just be really weird. But I mean, no shame. That’s what people do. I’m not judging.

Laura Wombwell
Well, and it’s just an incredible way to me, not only people from all over the world, but there are a ton of local people that you meet through dog Instagram, as well.

Alison McLaren
I absolutely like I started Dudley’s Instagram when I got him, because I knew that I had friends who probably weren’t gonna want to see pictures of him all the time. That oh, just you know, for the friends you don’t want to see it they cannot follow and the ones who do they can follow. I never intended like I never thought it was gonna be like his account has a lot of followers and I made a lot of friends and I never intended for it to be that it was just, I like taking pictures of him. I think he’s really cute. So I’m gonna share those pictures, then. It’s just become a whole different world.

Laura Wombwell
Awesome. So I would love to end off with some quickfire questions for you.

Alison McLaren
Okay. Let’s do it.

Laura Wombwell
All right. So, cat or dog?

Alison McLaren
Dog.

Laura Wombwell
Favorite breed?

Alison McLaren
Dachshund.

Laura Wombwell
What is Dudley’s favorite treat?

Alison McLaren
He’s on a carrot kick right now. Probably. Yeah. My parents give all he a carrot every single night like a big one as a two, and it has significantly improved his teeth and he adores it. So dad’s on a carrot kick. Even cut up carrots. People were laughing at agility last week because I was using carrots as his treats. So it’s healthy. Might as well just go with it

Laura Wombwell
Is Dudley full of beans full of dreams, or full of something entirely different?

Alison McLaren
Depends when you get him. It really he’s the most cuddly dog in the world, but he is also the most energetic, just wild thing you’ll ever meet.

Laura Wombwell
If a human actor were to play Dudley in a movie, who would play him?

Alison McLaren
Okay, so this is funny. Only because a friend of mine has because Dudley is so big for a dachshund. And he’s like solid muscle. A friend of mine always says that he’s the John Cena of weiner dogs. So I guess we’ll go with that.

Laura Wombwell
That is perfect. If money were no object, what one incredible thing would you do to spoil your pet?

Alison McLaren
I would love to travel somewhere. I mean, and maybe this is influenced by the fact that we can’t right now. But I got him in with may of 2019. And so I had him for a year before we were not even a year before we went into COVID lockdowns, so we haven’t been able to travel much we haven’t been able to go anywhere, do anything. I would love to actually do that with him. Um, you know, out of Ontario, potentially, whether it’s a road trip or flight, I would love to go and just do some different things.

Laura Wombwell
Perfect. And if Dudley could say one thing to the people of Southwestern Ontario, what would Dudley say?

Alison McLaren
Ah, that is a good question. If you are a person who has a wiener dog, he would say, come play with me. If you were not, he would probably say give me space. And let me come to you when I’m ready. Because he, he struggles with new people. But I think he would probably just just say spoil your dogs and lots of treats, treats are always good.

Laura Wombwell
Awesome. So if you, the human Alison, if there was a way that people could best support, whether it’s dachschunds as a breed, or best support you and Ollie and Dud, what would you love for this community to do to support you?

Alison McLaren
I think for me, I mean, obviously, if you’re interested in shopping with Ollie and Dud, you can find us on Instagram or Facebook. Um, but when it comes to doxies as a breed, I’d say the biggest thing is if you’re going to get one, do your research, make sure you’re buying from a reputable breeder or rescuing on dogs have a lot of health issues and if you don’t know what you’re getting into, you have to there’s a lot of preventative maintenance that goes into them. So I would say for doxies in general, just if you’re going to get one, do right by them and make sure that you you do the research you buy from someone who knows what they’re doing is done all the genetic and health testing or support something like the Canadian Dachshund Rescue. I make donations to the doxy rescue. There’s a couple other rescues that focus on little dogs like dachschunds, I do fundraisers for them, and I would say just just do what you can to and whether it’s doxies or any breed. Just make sure you do the right things for your dog and know what you’re getting into.

Laura Wombwell
That is wonderful advice. I love that. Well thank you so much for chatting with me today, Alison.

Alison McLaren
Nice to see you again.

Laura Wombwell
You too! And thank you to Dudley for waking up a little bit.

Alison McLaren
Passed out on my lap. This is what he does during zoom calls all day every day. There you go.

Laura Wombwell
It was such a blast to see you both and I really appreciate you taking some time to chat with us. So I’d love to thank all of you for listening. This is Laura from Laura Wombwell Photography. I am here with Alison McLaren and the lovely and talented Dudley and we hope that you and your pets have an awesome day. Bye!

 

Do you want to be the next interview? We’d love that!

You can connect with us on Facebook, Instagram or send us a message! Can’t wait to see you next time!