Pet Parent Stories Interview
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello! I´m Salma, the humom of Monti and Ivy. I originally come from Mexico but I moved to Germany 5 years ago...why? Long story short... LOVE.
I have been living in Hamburg since I moved to this beautiful country. I have a full time job in renewable energies, but when I´m not working there I give my focus and love to Monti and Ivy´s journey on Instagram. It´s a very funny and rewarding hobby. We get to meet wonderful people that are part of this crazy doggie community.
Why dachshunds? Well, in my home in Mexico my very first pet was also a dachshund, we got her when I was like 4 years old, a few years later another 2 dachshunds joined the family. So you can say that I always have had a dachshund by my side. It was clear to me that once I had my own home I would need a new dachshund friend. .
2. Tell us a bit about Monti and Ivy, introduce us to your furry children!
Monti and Ivy are both chocolate-tan dapple dachshunds. They are standard size and short haired doggies. Monti and Ivy are actually blood related! They share the same mom. But Monti is 2 years old and Ivy is a little bit over 1 year old. They are siblings, yes, but they are so different! Monti is such a calmed sweet boy and Ivy is the crazy, energetic and feisty girl.
They are both super loving and compliment each other so well. They both love to eat fruits like blueberries, mango, apples but also some veggies like carrots. One of their favourite activities is playing hide and seek. They love to use their noses to track and find treats that we hide or some toys.
Beside this, Monti and Ivy started a dog modelling career last year, since then we have had various photoshootings with some brands and with amazing photographers. Last week we found them in 2 of the biggest dog magazines in Germany! How cool is that?
3. Why did you choose Dackels (Dachshund)? What amuses you about the breed?
Beside my childhood growing up with Dachshunds, my husband and I choose this breed because they are very determined, smart, beautiful and have their own mind. This strong character feature makes us love them even more. We are always challenged to make their training improve and have fun along the way, they are also very sweet and loving. It's very rewarding and we wouldn't hesitate to choose this breed over and over again.
4. What is your favourite place for dog-walking Monti and Ivy in Hamburg?
We really like to go to the "Niendorfer Gehege", it has a very big and beautiful zone for dogs, where it's allowed to walk off the leash if wished. This area is very open, but you also have some woods which makes it more exciting for doggies like Monti and Ivy that love to sniff every single corner and tree.
5. What has been the biggest challenge for you as a dog mom? Can you elaborate a bit on how you overcame it? What have you learned from this experience?
I think the biggest challenge for us is to learn how to control their hunting instinct, for us the recall command is still in the top 3 challenges.
For Monti is not that big of a problem as long as we have treats with us. But for Ivy it is very difficult, her "hunting" instinct is really strong. If she sees a bird or a bunny, she won't listen to us at all and will most likely be blinded by her instincts.
We had a situation with her a few months ago, that was the first time that we realised we needed to train this way more with Ivy. She saw some rabbits and went directly to follow them, she wouldn't listen to us at all and we lost her for a good 20 minutes, that was definitely one of the worst moments in my life. Since then we don't allow her to be off the leash until the training is reinforced enough that we trust her again. But this will still be a lot of work and will take a while. We try to reinforce this with positive training, rewarding her every time we call her and she comes to us, we also try to redirect her focus to other things that are also more exciting than a bird or something that she would like to hunt. But yes, this is still work in progress.
6. What is the most rewarding part of being a dog mom?
Definitely the unconditional love from them. To see those long bodies and tails shaking with happiness every time we come back home is the best feeling ever.
7. Can you please share with us how you started Monti and Ivy's instagram account (story behind) and what is the best part of this for them and for you?
We started our journey on Instagram when we first got Montilike 2 years ago. I started to share the first pictures of baby Monti and how it was for us to have our first puppy in our home. Later on we decided to give Monti a sister and well... Monti´s instagram account transformed to a shared account with little Ivy.
The best part of it is growing a community that is also crazy about dogs like we are in this home. We love to share our experiences and challenges with everyone. And in return we also learn a lot from others. The information exchange is really amazing. Thanks to this platform we already have met wonderful people and their doggies in real life, it's a very beautiful thing.
8. Which saying best describes your life motto?
"Being a dachshund mom means un-clapping ears 24/7."
Salma
9. Who takes care of your furr-babies when you go on vacations? Do you also take them with you sometimes?
For us this topic was really a big deal. Both of our families are far away and can´t take care of Monti and Ivy. Which meant that we needed to have a safe option where to leave our babies when we couldn't take them on vacation with us. Just to be clear, we love to travel with Monti and Ivy and we always take them with us when possible.
But for example when we need to do a long trip, like to Mexico to see my family, this is unfortunately not an option.
Last year we started to do some research and came across the services of Pets Ahoi. We loved the idea and decided to give it a try, that's when we met our favourite Dog Sitter. Monti and Ivy loved her from the very first time they stayed with her. So far since last year they have been with her for several hours and we are very happy with this. In May it will be the very first time that Monti and Ivy stay with their Dog Sitter for many days while we fly to Mexico. Of course we are a bit nervous but we trust her completely with our babies and we are sure they will be loved and have a great time while we are gone. We will be sharing our experience with the "homeboarding" service in our Instagram account. So you are welcome to join us if you want to see more about it.
10. Which is the best advice or tip that you can give other dog owners?
The best advice I can give you is to never give up on your dog's education/training. This is such a big deal and very rewarding when things work as you expect. Never give up and always try different techniques when you are struggling. But never give up!
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We thank Salma Sanchez Otero for the interview.
More about Monti and Ivy: www.instagram.com/monti.and.ivy
Image Credits Hannah Meinhardt
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