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\nLike a lot of us, Rickie Cox\u2019s miniature dachshund Taz isn\u2019t always eager to get out of bed in the morning. But when Rickie yells, \u201cLet\u2019s go check the horses,\u201d Taz is off and running.<\/p>\n
\nLike a lot of us, Rickie Cox\u2019s miniature dachshund Taz isn\u2019t always eager to get out of bed in the morning. But when Rickie yells, \u201cLet\u2019s go check the horses,\u201d Taz is off and running.<\/p>\n
Rickie manages GCH Land & Cattle Company in Weatherford, TX, home of the stallions Dualin Jewels and Bowmans Smart Jewel, as well as their famous dam, Bowmans Fancy. Taz is Rickie\u2019s assistant or at least he thinks that he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very loyal and he knows the ranch rules,\u201d noted Rickie. \u201cHe takes every step I take, whether it\u2019s freezing cold or burning hot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua, another black and tan mini dachshund, shared Rickie\u2019s home for 20 years. When he died, Rickie was heartbroken and vowed that she would never have another dog. Heidi Branch, who raised dachshunds, had offered to give her a puppy, but Rickie refused to even go look at the litter.<\/p>\n
One Saturday, four years ago this fall, Rickie opened her door to find Heidi with three puppies in her arms. When Rickie sat down to play with the pups, they all ran past her, except for Taz, who put on his brakes and jumped in her lap.<\/p>\n
Ranch life agrees with Taz. His favorite pastime is chasing rabbits, but when it comes to work, he is highly skilled at entertaining weanlings and yearlings. His job is not without risks, however, as he learned at a tender age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was giving vaccinations and worming yearling stud colts,\u201d Rickie remembered. \u201cOne of the colts came running up between me and the fence and Taz, who wasn\u2019t even a year old yet, couldn\u2019t get out of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ran right over him and stepped on his head. I grabbed him up and ran out of the pen. I thought he was dead. He was limp and his gums were white. But he finally started to come out of it and by the time I got him to the vet, he was fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a little more cautious now,\u201d she added. \u201cIf the horses run up too close to him, he wants me to pick him up. He wants out of the tangle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like a lot of us, Rickie Cox\u2019s miniature dachshund Taz isn\u2019t always eager to get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}