Benny Archuleta aka “Senior Wiener”

You’ll find a wealth of information on this site regarding Benny Archuleta aka “Senior Wiener”. The reason is simple … he is a major inspiration for the concept behind this site as well as within the Dachshund rescue world. I’ll share a bit about how I got to know him, and one major impact he’s had on me.

When I first got to know Benny in October 2001, it was because I was on the internet searching for “different-colored” Dachshunds, other Dapples, Piebalds, etc. My husband and I had a black and tan, Tiffany … her mate, Blaze, who was a black and silver Dapple … and their son, Tuna, also black and tan like his mother, and the first of my two heart & soul dogs.

All of a sudden, I found a listing that was in Jacksonville, Florida where we lived … and recognized a street name. As it turns out, Benny lived about a mile away, or less. I contacted him, and as I recall, went over for a visit in the next few days.

Soon after, I was regularly going over to help socialize the 16 or so Dachshunds (and Dachshund mixes) Benny had in his care. He worked the early shift for his “day job” with Continental Airlines (now United), so that he would be available for vet appointments in the afternoon if need be. If there were special appointments, because I lived so close and knew all the animals, I could take them in for Benny if they had an early appointment.

When he was home, besides spending time with all of his charges, making sure they got the care they needed, screening adoptive homes, arranging monthly meetups in our area (this is WAY before the concept of “meetups”), Benny also made available the Dachshund Rescue Web page website for any group in any state to post animals who needed homes. Benny knew nothing about websites when he first took this over. He taught himself, and then as the need expanded, he had custom programming done so the animals needing homes could be listed, and one of his points of pride is that he made sure the site was “pure HTML” so it would work on all browsers, all versions. He wanted to insure that absolutely anyone on the internet would be able to see the Dachshunds needing homes.

I’m sure Benny helped hundreds of Dachshunds in this way. He also was the first person to start working with Animal Care & Control in Jacksonville, an area of a million people. Wherever Benny could find a way to help our beloved Dachshunds, he did it. Not that he and I have always agreed on everything

One of the ways Benny has made a huge impact in Dachshund rescue as well as my own viewpoints is that ….. he was open to helping any groups, any person, needing help to help Dachshunds. If you know anything at all about rescue you’ll know that many groups would have little to do with other groups, although this is changing a lot in the past ten years or so. A lot of this was tied to many rescue people not comfortable with other people, and often new groups would sprout up due to personal differences or even philosophical differences.

Benny refused to get caught up in any personalities or “politics”. He often donated money to other groups needing help, or helped people keep their Dachshund. The welfare of the Dachshunds is ALWAYS FIRST.

Find out more about Benny here, gift Benny to help with the Retirement Home for Senior Wieners via the Monthly Doxie Club, shop at Benny’s Barktique. These are all ways to help directly.

However, what I and anyone who has interacted with him will tell you is this: If you’re helping any Dachshund including Dachshund mixes, then he’s perfectly happy.