The Story of Belle, by Paul Sabin
I must admit that I spent most of my life clueless regarding the overpopulation of dogs worldwide. I had always bought my dogs from breeders. Somewhere around 2004 I acquired from a breeder, a 5 year old runt Minnie Dachshund (4.5 pounds full grown). Her name was Pee Wee. She was a total ditz, and gave me the gift of laughter every single day. So, I renamed her Ditzy. She loved the whole world and gave me love and laughter every day for 5 years, and lost her to kidney and liver failure.
After some time grieving her loss, I began to look online for another Doxie. What I discovered was that there was a world of pet rescues trying desperately to find homes for dogs left homeless through no fault of their own. I contacted a rescue and agreed to foster two Doxies, Angel and Thumper. When the decision was made to adopt, Thumper’s name was changed to Belle. In late 2010, Belle developed cataracts, and went blind. I desperately tried to raise the money for her to have cataract surgery. Somewhere along the line, someone suggested that I try Facebook. I had never considered joining Facebook. I thought it was a total waste of time. But I gave it a shot. Someone saw my posts, and invited me to join a Dachshund group, which I did. I was having what I considered great success in raising the money for the surgery, when one of the ladies in the group set up an auction for Belle. To my amazement that put us over the top, and we were off to Columbia Mo to get the lights turned back on for Belle. But it was not to be. Belle had retinal degeneration, and cataract removal would have been pure cosmetic surgery. So Belle and I set out on the three hour drive home. During that three hour drive there were a lot of tears, and a lot of discussion. The decision was made that we would offer refunds and any money that was left would be used to help other dogs in need of veterinary care. The money ran out quickly and we needed funding. Recalling the auction for Belle, we decided to give that a shot. Our first auction had 2 donors (myself and one other). We raised $180.00, which was split between 2 beneficiaries. We persisted, and learned, gaining momentum with each auction. Then the excrement hit the ventilator. Accusations of scamming were leveled at me. I was getting rich from the auctions. I was booted from the group. That was when I created the group Dachshund World. Many people from the other group joined. A handful of believers joined as co-administrators, and we moved forward, creating the auction groups Dachshund World Auctions, and Helping Our Babies Auctions. As we moved forward we were joined by a most wonderful group of supporters, who have made our auctions successful. At her own expense, Ellie DePrima created the charity Dachshund World Charities. I apologize for taking so long getting to the point. The point is that had it not been for Belle it is unlikely that I would have ever joined Facebook. Without inspiration from Belle I would have never have had reason to create the groups. This is what Belle has done for me. This is what her sweet gentle soul has inspired. Godspeed my beloved. I will miss you until my dying day. 
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In Belle's Memory
Many Dachshund World members know Paul Sabin for his love of dogs, but not just any ol'dog, no, it is the dachshund breed. He's had many throughout his life, like so many of us. Paul was known for his "Fab Four" which consisted of Angel, Willie, Steve (who has greeted Belle over the bridge) and his oldest, Belle.
Belle was very special to Paul. Sadly, on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 Paul had to make the hard decision and send Belle, the Grande Dame of the Fab Four over the Rainbow Bridge to be with Steve and Ditzy at the age of 18. You can read "The Story of Belle" in Paul's words just to the left, under her photo. We wanted to do something for Paul to show how much we care about him and understand his loss. As usual Paul, refused any financial assistance to let us help him with the cost of cremation. He would rather have us, if we wanted to do anything at all, we should do something for Dachshund World Charities. Therefore, we decided to put together a wonderful gift basket prize! The gift basket and its contents have been generously donated by his co-admins and we wanted the doxie community to share in a chance to win this amazing basket of goodies! All donations will go to Dachshund World Charities, which Paul is a Board Member, and Chair. There is no set donation value, so if you're interested, you can use the below PayPal button, select the amount of your donation and automatically be entered in a chance to win. Below the Donate button are photos and a list of the gift basket items. Belle's Memory Gift Basket Items
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