Ricky Grierson

Married to John Grierson with 4 children and 8 grandchildren
Lives in Brisbane and fur-mum to 4 dachshunds, 4 of them rescues.

Having been owned by a dachshund since 2005, although she believes her first dog when she was very young was also a dachshund! Her love of the breed started on the first day she brought her standard black and tan puppy home at 10 weeks!  Gracie spent everyday of her life in bed between the 2 of us till she passed sadly on June 28 2015 from Congestive Heart Failure.

Gracie was the love of her and her husband’s life and was a full member of the family, loved by all and she will always hold a very special place in her grandchildren’s hearts.

When Gracie was 6 we decided it would be nice to adopt a dachshund not so fortunate as our own, we had been on a waiting list for a year or so when I responded to an ad on one of the for sale sites.

Winston’s ad read:

“Due to circumstances we must re home a 7 ½ month old Dachshund that we are looking after for our friend, her flat mate left the gate open and the dog escaped, that was a few months ago, now she cannot take him back because she moved into place that does not allow pets and we can’t keep him either.”

There were no pictures, so I emailed and asked for a pic, the picture that was sent was the dog but not as he was when he came to us. We couldn’t go and see him, the lady said she would bring him to me, when she arrived she said she had been at the dog park and he was limping. She said it might be a grass seed stuck or something like that.

Naturally it was love at first sight for us and we did not notice anything peculiar for a couple of hours, however as our emotions started to settle we could see he not only limped but actually held his leg up and walked and ran on 3 legs, he also seemed extremely skinny and very bony. It was Anzac Day so we could not get him to the vet until the next day…

To our shock horror, the vet confirmed a broken leg in 2 places and a fractured pelvis, there were no other symptoms to confirm anything other than physical abuse by a person/s, and he was dehydrated and starved. That was the beginning of a long road to rehabilitation, 2 operations and lots and lots of love.

It was also my first hand experience of animal cruelty; I had led a sheltered life until then.

I made a solemn promise that I would help as much as I could to rescue and re home this precious breed I had grown to adore over the years and so was born my 24/7 volunteer work to rescue and re home dachshunds and to help owners needing to re home their precious pets to loving safe homes. We now have 3 more beautiful rescues in our loving home and wouldn’t have it any other way!