Viktor is Milloup's nephew from sister Alex's second litter. In late November 1999 Viktor moved in with the Clausen family in Gedved south of Århus, and since then he's been in regular contact.
Uncle Milloup thinks it's great to hear about what a brat like that will get up to, and maybe others do, too. Therefore, Viktor has now been given his very own page, where he can let us know what great deeds he's been entertaining his family with.
But first meet Viktor's family: Peter is the father of the family. He took these pictures of his wife, Doris, and their sons Christian and Casper:
Viktor's family have had dachshunds before - from the Dalborg kennels that also have a couple of shares in the pedigree of Alex and Milloup - and these dachshunds took part in both shows and obedience tests. Therefore, the family knew exactly what they wanted, and Viktor was the first of the puppies from this litter to be spoken for - just a few days after he was born.
Whether in fact the family chose Viktor, or if it was the other way around, is a bit of a mystery. As it is, Viktor started the acquaintance by putting his mark on his new family - he managed to place a wet bar code on Peter's shirt. Something tells me that Viktor must possess a hereditary inclination in that direction. Both of his maternal uncles, Milloup and Rasmus, just love making bar codes. And if I'm not mistaken, granddad Boris does too..
Letters from Viktor (most recent first)
Mid March 2000:
Hi Uncle Milloup
I send you this letter because the family I live with have gone completely off the rocket now. First they say: "Come Viktor, we're going to have some fun". Then they drive me into the woods, and that is grand, but they merely leave me sitting in the car while dad Peter runs around in the woods with a bottle in one hand, a load of flags in the other, and a map in his mouth.
And then we're having a ball - what a load of rubbish; dad Peter is having coffee and listening wideeyed to the stories of how bright the others' dogs are, and I'm still sitting in the car getting bored stiff.
Finally, having been bored for at least a hundred hours, we're going for a walk in the woods. I get out, and the old man just stands there saying "seek trail", and I wonder what's gotten into him, now we're in the woods, so we're going to play. But I just get pulled to an evil-smelling red patch, and again he says "seek trail". It smells evil, but if he thinks it's fun it's okay with me (it must be what he calls tracking). So, when we've played "seek trail" for some 10 - 20 meters, I find this delicious log, and I just have to attack it, and it's great - but the old man sulks.
I run to him to get him back into a good mood, and I jump up to cuddle him - and he gets even sulkier.
He insists on pulling me back to that evil red stuff, but then we have to cross a patch of mud, and the path is right beside us just waiting for me to run as fast as I can on it, which is great - but the old man gets sulky again.
He places me once more on top of that red stuff, but it's not funny anymore, so I find some likelier smells to follow (why on earth it has to be just the one smell, that's beyond me) - and the old man sulks once more.
At long last we come upon a funny piece of fabric with hairs on it (dad says it's hide) and it smells real bad. Dad seems to want me to give it a good shake, but yuk! it has hairs on it, and they're loose. I don't want to sink my teeth into something that disgusting. - And the old man sulks again.
And when we walk back to the car with the others I can hear dad Peter saying repeatedly; well, he's only 5 months old - whatever he means by that.
Why does dad say that it's just as well there's another tracking course next year?
That apart I've had a terrible experience. I was minding my own business, quietly chewing away on a box of ant repellant. You should try that, uncle, you can make the syrupy stuff inside cover almost the entire body, and that was fun. Well, the result was that my mum raced to the phone to ask the vet whether this was dangerous for me, but fortunately it wasn't. Anyroads, I ended up in the bathtub - and got disgustingly wet - just as well I don't have to wash every day. But best of all was running around afterwards drying myself thoroughly on the carpet.
I'm having a good time apart from the time I wanted to go onto the lawn but instead ended up in the veterinary surgery. That was because a door slammed on my paw, and it cost me two broken toes - that wasn't nice.
I've discovered that furniture made of pine tastes better than furniture with fabric on it, but best of all is leather, and there's nothing like a good ladies' handbag, a shoe or a belt. That's just grand.
Sometimes my folks just sit around watching tv. When I decide it's time for some action, I run into the bedroom or bathroom and find a stocking. I just have to bring the stocking into the lounge and show it to them - that galvanizes them into action, and we play a game called "two middle-aged people trying to catch a puppy" that's a real entertaining game, you should try it.
Why do you think my mum and dad always look so tired?
As you can see from the picture, I've by now found my proper place in the family - belly up in a comfy chair.
Well, that'll be it for now.
Kind regards Viktor
| Hi Viktor,
Didn't you like the training course? Well, it does sound as if you've had a rotten time sitting in the car for such a long time.. But if you go about it in the right way, it doesn't have to be that boring in the future, you just have to train your dad properly. Don't worry about the blood smelling bad, the blood is not the ends here, it's the means. And there's no reason whatsoever for you to pull at that stinking old piece of hide - I never did.. But if you're bright, the evil-smelling blood can lead you to - FOOD, and that's not such a bad thing. Now dad has discovered that you're not particularly
interested in neither the blood nor the hide, and this means that
you're already halfway to making him realize how you want things to
progress. Now you just have to make him understand, that it takes
more than just old blood and hide, it takes tidbits if you're to
take an active interest in this affair. You've shown him that you
can do 10-20 meters - if you want to - now you must get him to make
it worth your while.. You just have to realize that if you grow too good too fast, then they get demanding and start making bigger intervals between the tidbits. Just fancy this; nowadays my mum expects me to go all of one km before I get something to eat! In all fairness I have to add, that I usually find more than just a tiny piece of sausage in my bag. Mum and I have simply agreed that I find the rotten old piece of hide that she's so partial to, and in return I get my bag of goodies. But why on earth she doesn't just leave the hide in its bag on the balcony when she's so desperate not to loose it, that's beyond me.. Did this ant repellant stuff taste good? If it didn't, there's no valid reason why you should chew on it. Take the advice of an experienced bloke whose youth was spent partly on beer caps and cigarette buts. Each time you get yourself nice and greasy, they just throw you into that bathtub - that one of the weird ideas that two-leggers have. But why on earth did you dry yourself on the carpet? What do you think bedclothes are for?? I'm sorry to hear you got your toes smashed up, that must have been a nasty experience. Here at our place I lead a dangerous life, because my mum has one of these office chairs on wheels, but I reckon she must have won her driving licence for it in the lottery. At any rate she just recently almost parked it on my toes. I just managed to cry out in the nick of time, so nothing happened.. I'm fully capable of picturing your game of "come and get me", it must be a sight for sore eyes. But have you never pondered on the fact that stockings and the like can sometimes be exchanged for edibles? You just have to choose your prey carefully, not all things pay equally well. When I was your age I often collected mum's boots. I rather liked the old and worn-out ones the best, as they smelled the most of mum. But it was really the new boots that paid the best, so by and by I changed my focus of attention to those. You see, she didn't pay much attention to my carting the old ones around, I was allowed to bring them into my bed and all without her having a fit.. So you just have to find the right kind of prey for this game to pay off. Happy hunting! Kind regards, |
We think he wants to be an electrician when he grows up. By now he's had experience with almost anything to do with wires and lamps. On Christmas Eve there was suddenly a loud "poof" to be heard and a lamp went dark. Guess who had bitten halfway through the wire. Apart from this, the good Viktor is growing increasingly well read. He's almost chewed his way through the 22 volumes of a children's encyclopaedia.
We have been in the woods, and Viktor scurried hither and thither with his nose almost below ground. He's also nuts about searching for tidbits around the house, like you advised us to do. Another special thing happened today in the woods. We lost something there. Viktor's batteries were totally lost. He was asleap almost before we reached the car, and he's still asleap. This has never happened before, he's never been this worn out, so it's probably not the last time we'll try to win a day off after a trip to the woods"
| I remember perfectly well the quiet satisfaction when
finally peace and quiet fell on the battlefield, and the puppy lay
snoozing peacefully in his bed. While recharging the batteries for
yet another rampage.. I can remember, too, the first time ever that I brought Milloup along to the woods. It was mid winter with a thin layer of snow and temperatures just above freezing. When we entered the wood, something happened that I'd never seen before - leastways not from Milloup. He bristled! All hairs all along his spine were standing on end. Until then I'd thought that a dog would only bristle, when it was facing potential danger. Old Uffe only did it when he was sizing up another dog and estimating whether or not it was worth the fight. Since then I've found information saying that bristling also indicates interest in something.. |
Mid December 1999: "We're trying to teach him to walk on
a lead, but he won't. He'll walk when we're homeward bound, or when
either Christian or Casper is leading the way. So our morning walk
takes place with Viktor sitting on my arm when leaving, then he'll
walk back again..
He has really taken possession of the house. Until now he's chewed
on our cupboard, unravelled part of the carpet, spread a big potted
plant over the entire floor - soil and all, eaten a couple of
electric wires, and our floor looks like hit by a severe blizzards
on account of all the little white lumps of potato flour everywhere
(Guess why they are there?). "
| Well, it sounds as if Viktor is really keeping his family on
their toes. The potted plant and the carpet we cannot beat, but
from Milloup's list of destruction can be mentioned: A chest of
drawers chewed at the bottom, a pair of leather shoes and a pair of
boots, a pair of nice warm trousers and my mother's woolen tights +
various other items.. On the other hand, the thin and fine cotton lead bought for a couple of dollars and intended only to last through the period of sharp puppy teeth is still with us and in perfect order. That's life. Uncle Rasmus ate his new family's canary, and Viktor's older brother Felix stripped the wallpaper off the kitchen wall to make ready for a redecoration - according to reliable sources this didn't take very long, so if anybody out there is looking for a "diligent worker" then maybe he can be had on loan? |
