Eleonara di Capena or Nora for her friends.

We had a few days ago our little story about our Nicky and now it is Nora's turn, our eternal little hunter. She cannot help it her mother was a National Hunting Champion in Italy and she has all those instincts. The lady in Capena who owned the kennel had a room full of trophies and ribbons to her champion dogs and she did offer to train Nora for hunting but we declined given that we lived in the Città and move to another City. Though in the city there are cats, squirrels and wild rabbits, badgers too. We live by the Rideau Canal and there is a lot of wildlife despite being in the centre of the city.

Nora is also an excellent guard dog, she has a very keen sense of hearing and smell, nothing escapes her. We are constantly surprised by the fact that she can hear the elevator door open some 20 meters from our front door or knows when someone who is downstairs, that is 4 floors down is coming up, she is able to differentiate the phone ring tones, though we cannot perceive with our human ear the subtle differences.

She is also very talkative and modulates her voice to attract our attention, every sound means something different and we have become accustomed to it all, though we are not always sure what she means. Her hunting howl makes her sound like the Hounds of the Baskerville and can wake up the whole neighbourhood, it is a booming howl for such a little dog it is surprising.
Dachshunds have that capacity which make them sound ferocious.

And like all Dachshunds she likes to hide and burrow, we often loose her in the apartment, though she always knows where we are at all times. Unlike Nicky she does not like to lie in the sunshine as much as he does, she gets too hot and moves off to a shady corner. She is also not shy about putting him in his place if he annoys her. He is often scared of her because she bosses him without mercy.
She is a week older than him maybe that is why.

Her favourite sofa in the house, she is in this picture but you cannot see her though she is looking at the camera, hiding behind the small cushion. The sofa is growling you say, look closer and you will see her. 

There she is wedging herself between cushions and falling asleep, she loves doing that, especially at night. If we let her she would probably sleep there all night.

the one nice thing about Nora is that she loves everybody and is quite affectionate unless you are a squirrel then you are dead meat.

  

A dog's life

Well for Nicky and Nora it's a tough life I am sure Nicky has plenty to complain about.
Here is his story:

Me and Nora at birth we are about one week old here in this photo.

Here I am in Canada of all places, I was born in Capena, Lazio just outside of la Città Aeterna, my parents where Italian-Hungarian and my dad a National Champion Show dog. So I thought my life would be spent in shows around Italy with lots of Paparazzi. One day out of the blue, when I was 6 weeks old, I was kidnapped and left my relatives and the farm. We, Nora and I, she is not my sister by the way. Her story is a little different, I knew her relatives but they are hunters, her mom was a Champion Wild Boar Hunting dog.

La famiglia mia a Capena 

Anyway I digress, so we arrived in Rome, did I tell you I cried and cried in the car all the way to Rome.  The one with the beard sat with me in the back and cuddled me, so I would not be so scared.  He understood my sensitive little puppy nature.
We had this rather nice place to live on Via Dei Villini, a large place with a very nice garden, the food was good and we had nothing to complain about. It was not the farm with all our families but hey we were getting lots of attention and cuddles and toys and blankets we would chew, we also chewed on furniture and concrete. We have good teeth.

Via Dei Villini 26, Rome

Our new home in Rome, come in kids.

We were well looked after and our Vet understood dachshunds since he had 8 of them at his home.
Then one day, we are taken to the airport, I was very upset and made a point of letting everyone know, I barked as loud as I could, people were afraid but alas to no avail, we left our beloved Italy for Ottawa. It is not Rome I can tell you that much. I was only 2 years old when this happened but I still remember it. The new place in Ottawa was also nice and very green by a lovely canal, that does not matter much to me because I am not much of a walker unless it is a dog walk with lots of paparazzi and people giving me biscuit. Nora on the other hand loves it, so much to hunt she says and to sniff out. She goes for long walks along the Rideau Canal and comes back exhausted but happy. Oh well if she likes it who am I to comment.

Now my days are simple, I usually wake up around 06:30 in the morning, if there is sunlight well then maybe earlier.  I love sunlight, I give one sharp and loud bark to wake up the servants, they are very lazy and I often have to give one to two more loud barks to wake them up, Canadians are so lazy its terrible. You would never see that in Italy I assure you. So one of them will prepare my breakfast and Nora's breakfast too. She is very quiet in the morning so I do all the barking.

Sun is so nice in the morning after breakfast.

After our breakfast we go out for a short walk, just so I can see what is going on out there and what kind of weather we are having. The winters in Ottawa are terrible and I hate them, we have to put coats on and boots otherwise we freeze our paws. I have pleaded time and again to return to Italy for the Winter months, to no avail, they don't listen these people.

Then I come back in and will go and sit in the sunshine for a morning snooze, love the sunshine and could spend my whole day just lying there. We have many more walks in the day time and each time I make a point of having a little snooze.

Yes my days are quiet unless the cleaning lady comes in and I make a point of letting her know I am here and to leave me alone, not to make noise and not interfere with my routine but they do, it is so unfair.

Now I know that Nora has gone to the Vet lately for her annual physical and teeth cleaning.
I also went to the Vet and declared to be in perfect health. I am only 5 years old now. But now I hear that next week I am going back to the dentist for my teeth cleaning. What a strange idea they have here. Do I really have to go? No one asked me what I thought about it.
So you can imagine how stressful all this is going to be. Why do they always have to disturb my routine.

You can see and appreciate that I have a difficult life in exile here in Canada, thank God for the biscuits and the celery, carrots, the nice cheese and other goodies I get from time to time.

Nickolas and Eleonora are home

This morning we drove out to Prima Porta to fetch Nicky and Nora who were visiting family in Capena. We were told that Nicky was kept busy by 3 bitches in heat, he looked a little thin apparently he forgot to eat. Nora also lost a bit of weight which is a good thing, all the fresh air and running around in fields. They also had 3 classes in socializing and playing with much bigger dogs, German Shepherds that is at Lisa T. who is their trainer.
In the car, Nicky slept on the back seat, while Nora was in the front looking out the window and the world going by as we drove back into Rome.

Now after having double rations for dinner and biscuit, they are snoozing away on the sofa, using yours truly as a pillow. The world is perfect.

Tomorrow I was planning to go to Florence for the day to see a cabinet maker of miniature display cases. But since I am a bit tired I will postpone the trip. These cabinets I would use for my ever expanding army of lead soldier. If I ever go to Russia on posting, I probably will get into serious army build-up.
Russia is very well known for its quality lead soldiers and beautiful craftsmanship. When I get close to the one hundred thousand mark, I will let you know.