What do John Wayne, Marlon Brando, George Harrison, Andy Warhol, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Picasso all have in common? All were known for having dachshunds.
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Dachshund lovers now have the chance to celebrate the short-legged, long-bodied species of dog and their notable owners with the opening of Now Dach’s A Gallery in Edenhope.
Owner and manager Diana-Lee Saville, who moved to town from Smythesdale six years ago, opened the doors on Elizabeth Street on January 20.
She said she has been making money of the quirky dog breed for 10 years.
“I’m an artist, so I draw a lot of sketches and I started doing cartoony Dachshunds and was selling them as t-shirts,” she said.
“(Then) I found out a dachshund museum had opened up in Germany, and I thought I’d love to go there, but I can’t leave the country, I’ve got too many animals to look after,” Ms Saville also owns a kelpie, a corgi cross and five welsh mountain ponies on a horse stud just out of town.
“So I thought ‘Why don’t I start one up in Edenhope?’. We need more tourism in town, we need people to stop, and what better way than having so quirky and that you wouldn’t expect to see in the middle of the desert?”
As it happened, her partner Rodney Eden was looking at buying a shopfront with residences in town last year. They worked out an arrangement where he owns the building and she rents the space from him.
While securing council approval to set up the gallery, Ms Saville also did a small business course – the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme – in Horsham between September and December. It was run by RMIT University and the Centre for Participation, and Ms Saville says she uses what she learnt there regularly in her new business.
In the long-term, she has plans to hold cartooning workshops at the gallery and convert the residencies at the back of the property into accommodation. But for now Ms Saville is focused on marketing the gallery to tourists across Australia and the world.
“Mostly via social media. If I had the money I’d spend it on advertising everywhere, but it’s just not going to happen right now,” she said.
Ms Saville’s new enterprise follows a surge in Dachshund registrations nationwide. Between 2014 and 2016, registrations increased by 462% according to Australian National Kennel Council data.
“I think it’s turned into a bit of a cult,” she said, “and I don’t think it’s just because they’re small dogs: They’re quirky and different and hilarious. They make you laugh.”
– Wimmera Mail-Times
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