"Walter, the Drunken Dachshund"

Oil on archival, museum quality 1/8" Ampersand Gessobord panel - 5"x 7"

Last week I painted a Great Dane named Mr. Big. This is his adopted brother Walter. As with most Dachshunds I’ve met, Walter is a most inquisitive hound. Sweet, good natured, curious to a fault and always hungry, he tends to get into trouble. A case in point: I was invited to a dinner party to celebrate my birthday by Mr. Big and Walter’s owners. My friend is a first rate photographer and we ventured upstairs to view his latest work. We men took our beers with us and the girls left behind two half full chocolate martinis on the table. We were gone perhaps 20 minutes and returned to find a very drunk dachshund. He had managed to climb up onto the table and had drunk every last drop of both martinis. Though there was not enough chocolate in the drinks to worry about, he had consumed enough alcohol to be staggering around. We called the 24-hour clinic and were told he’d just have to sleep it off, as the alcohol was already absorbed. We, too, had absorbed a lot of alcohol so it seemed only fitting to dress him up for St. Patrick’s Day. I guess you had to be there. You will be happy to know that other than a bad hangover the next day, he is fine. Do I think he learned his lesson about not getting into things? Not a chance.