Sausage Stayz, a dachshund-only pet minding service, celebrated its first birthday on December 4.
Since opening, owner Louise Osborn has cared for close to 400 sausage dogs at her Sawyers Gully property, with as many as 16 dogs on her hands on any one day.
"These dogs are very well behaved until somebody turns up the front. Then they are like a choir, all barking together," jokes Obsorn.
"I only meet people at the end of the driveway for that reason. Their other favourite occupation is barking at Doug (the family's German shepherd) all day long. He just hides most of the time!"
Among her guests over the past six months have been my own three dachshunds, Cinnamon, aged nearly five, and her daughters, Chilli and Nutmeg, aged two. With Nutmeg being partly blind and therefore nervous of other dogs, and her mum and sister being quite protective over her, I had my concerns during their week-long stay at Sausage Stayz.
However, they were content and nicely tired, as well as having a bunch of new dachshund mates, when I picked them up. This is a testament to Osborn and the virtues of having a sausage dog-only facility as this is a breed that definitely enjoys its own company.
"I think I have found a real niche here," says Osborn.
"I'm unbelievably busy and it's all word-of-mouth, I don't advertise. You couldn't do this in town but geographically we're in a good spot and on five-and-a-half acres.
"I feel like the Pied Piper of sausage dogs - they follow me everywhere. I bought a 10-seater lounge and they all sit on that with me. If I sit, they all sit."
There is something deeply endearing about long, low-slung sausage dogs that attracts devotion from their owners and provokes a smile from passers-by.
Originally bred to hunt badgers and rabbits in Germany, dachshunds have royal pedigree, having long been kept by European royalty, including the former Queen of England, who had several, along with her corgis.
While sausage dogs can be yappy, they are loyal, loving animals, forever rolling onto their backs in the hope of a tummy tickle. They are an excellent family pet, always a source of fun and cuddles and always inordinately pleased to see myself and my two teenage daughters, whether we've left the house for 20 minutes or a few hours, squealing and jumping up on us in delight at our return.
Sausage Stayz began with a post from Osborn on the Newcastle-based Facebook page "Dachshunds Anonymous", asking whether such a facility was a good idea. As a single dad who sometimes feels a little imprisoned by my four-footed friends, I've welcomed a safe place to park them.
"I haven't stopped since that post," says Osborn, who already had a menagerie including her three sausage dogs, Sizzle, Snags and Dijon, Doug the German shepherd, horses, donkeys, chickens and cats, and was then working as a sterilisation technician at Kurri Kurri Hospital.
"I thought I could continue doing both, but this is 24 hours a day. I have one outing a day, to Coles, when my husband gets home from work. I don't get a day off until May."
Describing Sausage Stayz as "boutique boarding" rather than a kennel, Osborn has had individual dogs like Shadow and Loopy stay up to eight weeks, but also has regular day visitors, enabling owners to go to work or get other things done. Her most frequent visitor is 15-year-old "golden oldie" Fritz, and her day-care posse includes six regulars, Moose, Rocco, Preston, Odie, Teddy and Daisy.
Usual regulations over dogs being fully vaccinated apply at Sausage Stayz. The only dachshunds Osborn won't accommodate are un-desexed males.
"The dogs have the run of the whole place," Osborn says.
"They even sit and cook with me. The home environment is what works. Dachshunds love the comforts of home like comfy beds. They are a dog of luxury."
As well as being allowed into the family home and garden (where they love sunbaking and digging for worms and caterpillars) and being taken on regular walks, Osborn's pampered guests have their own custom-designed Sausage Shack: a converted, air-conditioned four-car garage. It comprises a sleep/feed room and large play-space with lounges, tunnels, toys and access to a dog pool.
"They like a bit of tug-of-war but mostly they just love lying around. They can sleep for 16 hours a day," she says.
"Every dog that stays here goes home exhausted, it's like giving a giant sausage dog party. Lone dogs love it and don't want to leave. All the dogs end up best friends."
So far, Osborn has not confined one dog for bad behaviour, using nothing but her voice, and occasionally a water squirter, to keep them in tow.
"I'm no dog trainer, no professional, but I'm the woman with the treats," she explains.
"If I yell 'Come on sausages', they all come. For me if makes no difference if I have three or 12 following me around.
"I'm patient, I have a few with high anxiety levels who are petrified for the first two hours. I just slowly include them in everything. Otherwise, I just wing it, I just love dogs."
That love is clear. Osborn frequently sleeps in the Sausage Shack, on a loft bed ("As soon as I lay down above them, they pass out like they're in a coma") and can't even have a bath without six or seven dogs watching her.
"When I was a girl I had a labrador," she recalls, "and I used to brush her teeth every night, sit on the roof with her and play cards with her. I was dog mad and I haven't grown out of it.
"Sausages are such funny little dogs with different personalities.
"Every day is different and every day is funny. They're very loving too. They are the best dog in the world and that's why I have the best job in the world. Everybody needs a sausage."
