From Sicily with love! Today we will tell you the story of Dream, the dachshund beagle saved from a breeding of hunting dogs by the young Alessia. We gave her an to get more information about DOXLE, a particular mix between a dachshund and a beagle.
Alessia lives in the province of Palermo with her family and is a student of the Art Academy of Fine Arts, with a passion for illustration and digital animation. Since 6 and a half years Dream has become part of his family, loved by all its members.
Tell us something more, when did you adopt it?
I adopted Dream when he was almost two months old, he was a black and white puppy, skinny, shaky, scared and he was also very dirty, because we saved him from a terrible life made of “or hunt or get killed”.
He was taken away with his siblings from a hunting dog farm. Unfortunately, it was not a serious breeder, the dogs were mistreated, so we immediately accepted to adopt Dream! Other families like us have done the same and all his litter has been saved.
We were told that Dream was a beagle, so we bought the outdoor kennel, the basket for the house, collar, leash… all for a beagle! But then we noticed that he remained small, so we got better informed and we found out that Dream’s mom was actually a dwarf beagle, dad was a dachshund beagle and here is the stubborn little dwarf in the world! The proper breed is DOXLE, a really curious mix. The result is an adorable, sweet and friendly dog, suitable for the family and faithful to the owner.
What funny story would you like to share with us?
When Dream arrived at our house, I immediately noticed how curious he was and how quickly he could learn, I had read many books and seen many training tutorials, where they explained that to learn a command it took time… he had learned the “sitting” at two months, after not even three hours. Something strange, his predisposition is so incredible that I even taught him to read tricks on sheets. We have also published some videos on our Instagram account @dream_the_beagle where you can clearly see that it is able to associate the writing on the sheets with commands such as “sitting” or “lowered”. I recommend you to watch them!
How are you spending this particular period?
As unnerving as it may seem due to the impossibility of having a normal life, in reality it is a great pleasure for us, since during the university sessions I am forced to stay away from home during the whole week and Dream and I are spending little time together , it destroys us beacuse he and I are bound in the soul. So being together every day, waking up together and saying goodnight every evening, makes us happy. When I’m on the books or on the pc, he takes his mega cushion by Ferplast and drags it to my feet. When I lie down on the sofa to watch a movie, he comes, checks me, goes back to the kitchen and come back with his beloved cushion, wagging his tail and happy to be able to be near me.
What can Dream not resist?
Dream can’t resist two things, stuffed animals and fish. We could take everything away from him, but the fish won’t. He is a gourmet, it is difficult to capture his palate, in fact, we buy salmon croquettes, wet cod, salmon oil: he is crazy about it!
How do you go about walking? What should never be missing?
We regularly take three walks a day. We must never miss our Dudù soldier bag holder to collect his dejections, our beloved red training leash (so he has all the space available to sniff and snoop around, always being safe) and obviously a nice harness or collar with a custom tag, all branded Ferplast of course!
What advice would you give to those who would like to adopt a small Beagle?
A dog is for life, if you decide to take a Beagle you must be ready for all sorts of pranks: they are very intelligent, smart, curious dogs and also very stubborn! It is not easy to train them, because they practically ignore you! It takes a lot of patience, personally I love dogs with this type of character!
You must never think “well… so much is still a puppy” because that’s the start of an disaster!
Many trainers have told me that I have done miracles with Dream, because he has a very particular character, changes strategy continuously, is independent and has a great sense of problem solving.
Be careful, however, the Beagle is known mainly for his sweet eyes and his “cutlet” ears, as soon as your gaze lays on him, he has already screwed you, you have fallen in love and you can no longer do without it!