Meet two dachshund siblings who are owned by a Chapel Hill resident

There are a lot of things college students gain when they come to college: new friends, free food and freedom.

But there's one thing missing from a lot of our hearts — dogs.

The way to almost any college student’s heart is to bring your dog to campus.

This is especially true for first-year Eleanor Nelson. 

“A good dog interaction will make me feel warm and fuzzy inside," Nelson said. "It will really improve my day. 10 out of 10, highly recommend."

Recently, Nelson’s day was improved when she saw Phoebe and Gordon, Chapel Hill resident Carly Rowe’s two dachshunds. 

“They were super cute. They seemed to be really small for dachshunds," Nelson said. "Phoebe was really cute because she had a flower."

Phoebe, the smaller of the two, is 6 years old and brown and white. Gordon is 7 and is white with black spots.

“People get really confused as to what breed they are because they’re not the standard dachshund colors,” Rowe said.

Rowe, Phoebe and Gordon tend to avoid busier times to come onto campus for walks.

“We get stopped a fair amount, which has its pros and cons," Rowe said. "Sometimes I just want to focus and they just really like to focus on their walk, which is really funny, so we don’t get stopped too often."

First-year Daniel Malawsky also enjoyed seeing Phoebe and Gordon. 

“They are so stout and precious,” he said.

Both Nelson and Malawsky have their own dogs at home, and both said they miss them while they’re on campus.

Nelson has two rescue dogs: Pip, an 8-year-old Maltese, poodle and Norwich Terrier mix, and Otto, a 5-year-old poodle and Chihuahua mix. 

Malawksy also has two dogs: Duchess, a 12-year-old Pointer mix, and Mango, a 6-year-old Labrador Retriever that was rescued from UNC labs. 

Mango was born for a study at UNC on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Malawksy said. 

Since he was one of the healthy dogs in the litter, the study coordinators decided to give him away so he wouldn’t have to be put down, Malawksy said. 

“He had a sister named Passion Fruit,” he said. Thankfully, Passion Fruit was also adopted.

Nelson and Malawsky also had similar opinions on having dogs on campus as full-time students. 

While they are both dog lovers, they're afraid of not having enough time to spend with their dogs.

“I wouldn’t have the time to give it all the love it deserves,” Malawsky said.

Nelson would consider it, but it would depend on whether her roommates would be able to help.

“If they have time, if they like dogs, that kind of thing,” she said. 

@karynhbrown

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