Mary
Lyle, one of the organizers of Rochester’s Dachshund Parade, expected about 60
dogs to gather this past Saturday for the third annual march down East Avenue.
“We had 41 dogs last year, and this year we’ve had interest from people as far
as Buffalo,” she says as she distributes photocopies of “The Doxie Song.” (“It
has an oom-pah-pah beat.”)
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Imagine her elation when more than
100 dachshunds, many decked out in tiny jackets, long, narrow sweaters, and
even (va-voom!) red pleather, assembled on the lawn of the Episcopal Church
rectory. Traditional black and brown, wire-haired, longhaired, miniature and
spotted dachshunds were all represented.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And the owners were no less varied.
Patty Ragan calls Ginger, who, at 16 may have been the grandmother of the
bunch, her “very first baby.” Pre-teen sisters Kellianne and Alaina Mohorter
brought their dogs, also siblings, in from Canandaigua. Rolf Paschedag brought
three-month-old Lily out for her first official dachshund strut. Looking out
over the lawn, Paschedag sums it up best: “Not a frown in the bunch. I’ve never
seen so many happy people.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Ray Rowling and his wife Billie were
there with their two-dachshund herd.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย How long have you been wrangling dachshunds?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Cyrus is 3 and Pocahontas (Pokey) is
5. We had another dachshund 40 years ago, then we took some time to do other
things. Once you’ve had a dachshund, you’ll never want to have another kind of
dog.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย What’s so great about them?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย They have a mind of their own.
They’ll keep you laughing all day long.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย What do they do that’s so funny?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Oh, they’ll jump in bed with you and
then roll around, they’ll play with you.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Did you participate in last year’s parade?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Yes, we did. The lady in charge
stopped traffic on East Avenue, and we all walked across the street, up and
around the Eastman House driveway and back here to the rectory. It was
wonderful.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2004.
