Browse ›
A dapple Dachshund with wide brown eyes stands beside a heap of shredded newspaper on a wooden floor in warm light. 12 / 36

Yesterday's News Was Fine Until the Dachshund Got to It

AI imagedachshundcaught in the actshredded newspaper

Warm light touches the speckled coat of a wire-haired dapple Dachshund who stands very still, his big brown eyes opened wide and his whiskery muzzle slightly raised. Beside him lies a heap of shredded newspaper, curled strips and torn pages heaped up on the wooden floor, with more bits scattered all the way to a gray laundry basket. A couch with a rumpled blanket waits behind. His ears hang long and soft, and his eyebrows seem to say that he has just been discovered. We'll call him Pretzel.

Dachshunds were bred in Germany to hunt badgers, which explains their bold personalities, their keen noses and their love of digging and tearing things apart. They are loyal, clever and sometimes stubborn, and they can bark more than you'd expect from such a small dog. Their long backs are delicate, so avoid letting them jump off high furniture and use ramps if needed, and ask your vet about keeping them at a healthy weight. Shredding paper uses the same instincts as digging out prey, and a snuffle mat or a box of crumpled paper made for play can give that instinct a safe outlet.

Pretzel doesn't move a muscle. He stands very straight with a look of surprise, as if the paper simply blew in. The floor is a landscape of news, and nobody will be reading the headlines today.

More from this collection

All 36 →
A pink hairless Sphynx cat with huge ears sits beside a tipped metal trash can and garbage scattered across the floor.The Trash Can Was Upright This Morning. The Sphynx Had a Different View.A cream Devon Rex cat with damp wavy fur and big ears rests its paw on a bathtub edge in a tub full of white bubbles.The Bubble Bath Was Prepared for Someone Else. A Devon Rex Hopped In.
A blue and tan Yorkshire Terrier puppy rests its paws on the rim of a cardboard box in a sunny, cluttered room.A Cereal Box Was Sitting on the Floor, and a Little Yorkie Climbed InA tricolor Beagle with a muddy muzzle sits in a garden beside a freshly dug hole, looking up with soft brown eyes.One New Hole in the Garden and a Beagle With a Very Muddy NoseA harlequin Great Dane holds a chewed-up slipper in his mouth in a sunny living room with laundry and socks on the floor.A Great Dane Walked In Holding a Slipper. It Was Not the Same Slipper.A grey hairless Sphynx cat with wrinkled skin stands on a heap of scattered hardcover books on a carpet.The Library Is Closed Today. A Sphynx Has Taken Over the Books.