What’s so amazing about Ulisse?
The thing I love most about him is the enormous love he gives us every day. He is an affectionate little dog and is very playful.

Who would he be if he were a person? 
He would certainly be another brother!

Do you know about his secret passions? 
Ulisse loves to spend his time playing with us and taking long walks. He loves going out with us and every time he sees us going out he places his pet carrier in front of him, thus communicating his intention to come with us.

How do you understand each other? 
Our language is based on a few simple words and gestures.

Did your dog ever bring you closer to other people?
Ulisse makes me feel part of a group. Meeting other dogs and their owners during the walk offers moments of discussion and light-heartedness… It’s wonderful to see Ulisse play with the other dogs and having fun!

Where do you leave him when you have to go away for a couple of days? 
He has never been alone so far. When we are out of town the other family members are there to look after him.

Is there anything that annoys you about him? 
Whatever he does, he always makes me laugh! A bit less when he nibbles on my designer bags, yet never enough to get angry. Or when he wakes me up at dawn – I still find him adorable.

What are your favourite things to do with him?
Playing, going for long walks and sleeping in each other’s arms.

Any dreams you’d like to come true with your dog?
I’d love to take him travelling one day!

Is your dog allowed on the bed?
He is. After carefully cleaning his paws, which we do every time we come back from a walk.

Any dog /advice you would like to share?
Well, getting a dog is a commitment, most probably you’ll be forced to let go of something else. But that’s nothing against the unconditional love they have for you, without asking for anything in return. It is a pure and disinterested love, inexplicable I would say.

Would you please present yourself briefly?
My name is Ilana, I’m 63 years old, I’m an interior designer, with a passion for design, art and fashion. And I absolutely adore dogs (and cats). I was born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, lived in New York City for 6 years where I studied Interior Design at the Parsons School of Design, before returning to Switzerland to start my own business. Seven years ago I moved to Tel Aviv with two dogs and a cat.

Tell me about your dog!
Her name is Noisette, she is a standard dachshund, long haired, chocolate and tan. She just turned 3 years.

Where did you meet and how did you connect?
It was during the Covid confinement. My last dachshund Punky had just passed away at the age of 14  (Noisette is my fourth of the same breed) and I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw a post from a breeder in France showing a litter of puppies. I immediately fell in love with one of them, the chocolate one, and shared the photos with my brother Sam who is also a great dog lover. To my surprise, he offered to buy the puppy as an early birthday gift for me. There was just one problem: How to pick her up?  The whole world was in lockdown, the airport in Israel was closed and no date for the reopening had been announced. Luckily, everything went well. A friend of mine picked Noisette up and took care of her until I could finally fly to Geneva to pick her up. 

What’s so amazing about your dog?
She is the sweetest yet the most stubborn dog, typical of the dachshund breed. She’s playful and loves cuddles and can even be arrogant when I scold her.
I once was fostering kittens who needed to be bottle fed. Noisette knew instinctively how to care of them, how to clean them to stimulate their needs etc. She’s a natural!

How would you describe your relationship?
I would say that we complete each other. She is extremely attached to me, follows me everywhere, even to the bathroom, which is also typical of dachshunds. She simply needs to be close to me, always, maybe also due to the fact that during the confinement in Israel she became used to me being around all the time.

Do you know about her secret passions?
I don’t think she has any secret passion! She is the happiest when we go out and walk the streets of Tel Aviv. I try to take her at least twice a month to the dogs’ beach, where she gets off the leash and runs free. She enjoys swimming in the sea as well!

How do you “understand” each other? 
A certain expressionof mine is enough for her to understand she didn’t behave well. 

If Noisette was a person – who would she be?
My best friend! 

Why do you love her?
For the joy, comfort and company she shares with me. The unconditional love dogs bring to your life has no limits and only dog owners can understand it.

Did your dog ever bring you closer to other people?
Dachshunds have become quite popular in Israel, in my neighborhood only there are 20 of them! We organize meet-ups at the beach or in dog parks which is lovely for everyone.

Is there anything that annoys you about her?
She is quite stubborn. Dachshunds have a strong character and do as they please. 

Any advice you’d like to share?
Dogs are lifesavers. But when you get a dog you have to commit and understand what your responsibilities are. You might not be able to travel as often as you would like to, or make sacrifices because they are home waiting for you. What you get in return is their unconditional love.  That is all that matters.

Please tell us about yourself and your dogs!
We are Carsten and Carlotta Teubel, both in our 50s, entrepreneurs, currently living in Berlin. I, Carlotta, used to work in the fashion Industry, Carsten was in finance. Together we created the brand Worldpearlslove, now we’re looking for new challenges. Our dogs are Noosa, a Labrador Retriever, 6yrs old, and Bali, a Miniature Dachshund, 3yrs.  Noosa comes from a breeder in Germany (Hessen) and was the only chocolate lab in the litter. His two black brothers got adopted, his mother and four sisters died after birth. So Noosa was “raised” by a foster dog-mom for his first few weeks! Bali got adopted from a family in Berlin when he was nine weeks old. We thought he would be an “ordinary”, normal sized dachshund but he grew into a big miniature one. 

What’s so amazing about your dogs? 
Noosa is our CCO (Chief Cuddling Officer) and will do everything for cheese. Bali has the heart of a lion in a sausage costume and is the little big “security guy”. 

How would you describe your relationship? 
Noosa loves his freedom. But when it comes down to it, he’s very close and affectionate. Bali is always by our side, to an extent that he loves to sleep under the sheets (with us) at night. 

Do you know about their secret passions? 
Noosa loves swimming and rescuing everything and everyone in the water. The most passionate lifeguard! Bali loves to sleep in the sun, no matter how hot.

How do you “understand” each other?
We talk like we would talk to other fellow humans: Gentle conversation instead of commands.

Do you have a “trick” that always works?
Both of them are easy to handle, very smart and understanding. But since we’re together ALL the time really, they think they don’t always HAVE TO obey. But there’s one very powerful “code” that always works and it is HAPPIHAPPI (german slang for EAT EAT). They’d come immediately from wherever they are.  

If your dogs were persons – who would they be? 
Noosa is such a cool guy. He could be Steve McQueen or Denzel Washington. Bali has something of Clint Eastwood about him, but also of Hugh Grant, the womanizer. 

Why do you love them?
Because they are our furry sons. We are family. 

What was the most memorable thing your dogs ever did? 
Noosa once brought home a little bird. All we noticed was a very tiny bird’s foot hanging out of its mouth… He must have picked up the little one off the ground, maybe he had fallen out of his nest. And he definitely wanted to save him! Noosa would never have done him any harm. 
Bali amazed us right from the beginning. We remember very well that he slept through the first night. We had already prepared ourselves to go out at least three or four times, as we used to when Noosa was little. But we  woke up the next morning, everything dry and the little one still fast asleep. He should actually be called “easy and dry”.

Did your dog ever bring you closer to another person/other people? 
Of course they do. We’ve got in touch with the whole neighborhood. With people we didn’t know before and then became friends and with people we never actually wanted to know. That’s life.

Where do you leave them when you have to go away for a couple of days? 
We did it only a couple of times when we travelled far during the winter. The dogs were in a dog hotel outside of Berlin. The last two years we’ve lived in Ibiza where we’ve got the lovliest dog sitter. She lives near San Carlos and both the dogs just adore her and her hippie attitude.  

Is there anything that annoys you about them? 
Oh yes: Noosa loves to sniff each square centimeter in the street. A normal walk can take hours And Bali loves to bark: outside, when he sees other dogs and inside, when the door bell rings. But then again, that makes him an alarm system on four paws, doesn’t it?

What are your favourite things to do with them? 
They love to walk in the forest which they do three times a week with their dog walker. And they love nice restaurants, because they know they’ll get to try delicious pieces falling off the table. We all love playing in and out of the water, catching balls, cuddling and scratching, stroking and swimming. 

Any dreams you’d like to come true with your dogs? 
Living with them close to the sea and beach. 

Any advice you would like to share? 
Think about one thing before getting a dog: You do need time for them. They only want to be with you. How much space you have is not so important. It is your time that they need and deserve. 

Why a dog? Why a Dachshund?
We had thought about it for a long time, done some googling and finally found a breeder in Lecce. We contacted her and she sent us a couple of photos of their newborn puppies. Without hesitation we chose Poirot, the most beautiful boy of the whole bunch! In the eyes of others he may not be extraordinary at all, but he is ours, and we love him unconditionally. We call him our baby, can you imagine. And we hopefully are like Mom and Dad for him!

If Poirot were a person… who would he be?
A comedian, no doubt about that, some Mr. Bean or Benny Hill or, or…

Three reasons why you love him?
Because he is a good laugh even on rainy days, he is sweet and loving and we simply couldn’t live without him. If you think about it: He steals everything, destroys his toys and is often too lazy to even move from the sofa when he needs to do his business. BUT even this is adorable. We are completely lost!

What activities do you enjoy most?
Watching Netflix! The last series we saw was “Fauda”, which Poirot particularly loved. He seems to be into action movies!

Is Poirot part of the family?
150%!! He IS our family. He sleeps in our bed with us, much to the horror of non-dog parents… But this is who we are, this is the love that we share. I actually feel sorry for people who have never had a dog in their family. They are missing out on SO much.

They say Dachshunds are perfect travel companions. Is that true?
Well Poirot has already been around a lot for being just a baby… So far we’e taken him to France, Belgium and, over Christmas, to the UK which to be honest turned out to be an organizational masterpiece. Apparently you cannot fly into the UK with a dog. We managed via Eurotunnel in the end, but it was a mess. Back to Italy we were allowed to take him on the plane, but I don’t want to think about all the documents we needed to prove that he is healthy. Poirot certainly didn’t care about our backoffice work, he loved the adventure and enjoyed the view.

Any advice you’d like to give to people who are not quite decided yet?
Do not think any longer, taking a puppy – your puppy – is a decision you will never regret.  We do regret not having taken one earlier…

PS: Tamara lives in Puglia, working for the UK brand The Thinking Traveller (thethinkingtraveller.com) that rents exclusive holiday homes in Puglia and elsewhere.