SEBASTIAN — When I went to see 8-year-old Dachshund brothers Miller Junior and Little Buddy, I expected to meet a couple of scrappy guys. After all, Dachshunds are accomplished hunting dogs.
Dachs in German means badger.
But Miller Junior quickly set me straight.
“I am no hunter – and we are definitely not badgers,” he said. “If anything, Little Buddy and I are sweet, loyal, silly and loving lapdogs. As a matter of fact, Mom and Dad call us their wiener dogs.”
Buddy and Junior live in Sebastian with their human parents Sally and Fred Maio, but the two brothers almost didn’t wind up together.
Back in 2004, Junior recalls, “Mom was in Roseland doing some errands after Hurricane Jeanne. Down the sidewalk, there was a pet store called Kuntry Kritters where Buddy and I had been living. Mom decided to go inside and take a quick look around.”
“Ahem,” Buddy cleared his throat, trying to get our attention.
“What, Buddy?” Junior asked.
“I know you like to talk, Junior, but don’t you think I should tell Bonzo this part of our story?”
“When Mom saw me and looked into my big dark brown eyes she knew she wanted me,” Buddy said, picking up where Junior left off. “Mom found out about Junior being my brother and realized she was at a loss for what she should do.”
“I was starting to panic,” Junior interrupted. “I had a feeling Mom was going to leave with Buddy, not me. So I put on my silly sad face to get her attention.”
“Mom hadn’t even told Dad about me yet,” Buddy remarked. “It took Mom two hours before she decided to take me home with her. I could tell Mom had a heavy heart leaving Junior at the store, but I knew in the end Mom would do the right thing.”
“Well, I didn’t know that,” Junior said. “I was really ticked off. And I made sure everyone knew it. I had a good old-fashioned, ear-splitting temper tantrum all night long. The owner of the pet store even placed me in a cage with another dog buddy so I would stop screaming.”
Meanwhile, Sally arrived home. The moment Fred met Buddy and heard about his little brother, he told Sally to go back to the pet store to pick up Junior. Unfortunately, when Sally got back to the pet store, it had closed.
The next morning, Sally arrived at the pet store 15 minutes before it opened. When the pet store owner and Sally saw each other, they both started crying with joy.
“I guess I had really upset the pet store owner and I felt bad about that,” Junior told me. “But as far as my Mom goes, all I could think was: What took her so long?”
“Junior and I reunited and we’ve been living happily with Mom and Dad for the past 8 and half years,” Buddy concluded.
Well, all I can say is, all’s well that ends well.
Till next time,
The Bonz
