Dachshund Fest 2015

Sometime last week the Lord planted a photo in Francesca's Instagram feed that mentioned the upcoming Dachshund Spring Fiesta in Washington Square Park. She showed it to me, we immediately made plans to go and on Saturday we met up prepared to see more wiener dogs in hot dog costumes than we could handle. Unfortunately we ended up seeing exactly zerodachshunds in buns—we squealed with joy upon thinking we had finally found one only to realize it was an impostor (chihuahua).

Other than the bun fiasco, however, the two-hour event was a complete and total delight. I kept repeating over and over "my mouth hurts from smiling so much," and there isn't a better way to describe how the gathering of so many dachshunds in one place made me feel.

I was surprised by the variety of colors and sizes on display, although I will always prefer my dachshunds miniature and short-haired. We did see some really unique color combinations, including the new-to-me "Isabella" (hi Big Al!) and a few all-black dachshunds that were really beautiful.

The weather was really beautiful on Saturday, and since the event started at noon the direct sunlight was causing the most amazing shadows. I became slightly obsessed with capturing the perfect wiener dog shadow—is there anything better than the classic shape of a dachshund?

Although not as perfect as buns, there were some pretty wonderful outfits—a Pope, a skunk, a reindeer, a three-headed, three-eyed dog, a motorcycle dude in a Harley jacket and jeans, and a variety of really adorable sweaters/sweatshirts.

I have always heard that dachshunds tend to be mean, but that wasn't our experience at all. Every dog we met was extremely friendly, happy and maybe just a bit overwhelmed by all the new friends in the park—which also does a good job of further explaining how Francesca and I felt when we left.