Pet Sounds #87: Silver Liz’s Dachshund Mix Milo Is Pure Gold
Eleven years ago, Carrie and Matt Wagner met each other in central Pennsylvania, fell in love, moved to Chicago and founded an experimental pop duo named Silver Liz. It was a pretty busy 12-or-so months, especially because Carrie was studying at Second City Conservatory. The two got married as well, but their lives weren’t complete until another addition to their family entered the picture: Milo.
“This is Milo,” Carrie told The Bad Penny in an interview earlier this year introducing Milo by gently picking him up. “We got him at a shelter called True North Rescue in Brooklyn almost two years ago. They estimated he was about 6 years old when we got him, so we’re not we’re not exactly sure how old he is. But we’re thinking at this point he’s maybe 7 or 8 – maybe younger, but he’s got a lot of energy.”
She elaborated: “He loves to run around the dog park and play with other dogs. He’s a happy little guy. We really lucked out because he’s so chill. We don’t know anything about his past, and the contact at the rescue didn’t know much [about his past either]. I wonder if he ran away or if his caretaker got too old to take care of him anymore. But he doesn’t have any signs of aggression or bad behavior. He’s a really well-behaved dog.”
Matt added: “He’s definitely a dachshund mix. We think he’s a dachshund rat terrier chihuahua mix, which is apparently called a ‘Toy Rat Doxie.’ That would be a really cool band name. You can he’s tell he’s very oblong-shaped, very long. He’s very confused by our baby daughter … we don’t know if he’s been around a baby before, but he definitely seems jealous [of her]. Still, she loves him. She makes all these noises around him and thinks he’s a character from Sesame Street.”
Cassie further chimed in: “We got really lucky with him. We didn’t really train him at all.”
When asked if he gets into any antics, she cited the obvious: freaking out over squirrels.
“He makes this sound like he’s hurt, when he’s yelling at them,” she said. “It’s a high-pitched sound that draws so much attention. It’s very cute, but he goes nuts.”
Cassie turned to Matt and noted: “He’s also obsessed with the moles in your parents’ yard. He can be savage when it comes to those. He’s killed a mole, a baby rat, a baby bird, a frog yeah … he can be like a little villain. I don’t know if he means to kill them – maybe he just wants to play with them but doesn’t realize his own power.”
When asked if Milo has ever tried to run away, Matt recalled a couple such instances. “He did one time at my parents’, but he didn’t get far. We found him peeing on a neighbor’s bush and grabbed him. It was stressful, though. Another time, we were at a rest stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I was with my parents. Carrie wasn’t there, but we opened the car door, and he jumped out and started running toward the highway. My dad and I were sprinting through the parking lot. Luckily he stopped [trying to get away,] but that was really scary.”
Cassie elaborated: “We try to get him to run in a safe space, like a dog park near our place. When we get a house, we’re gonna have a yard for him. We’re moving to Pittsburgh by the end of the summer.”
In closing, we asked Cassie and Matt to talk about the funniest thing Milo has ever done, to which she answered: “The thing that always makes us laugh is when he gets a little snaggletooth … like, his lip gets stuck on his tooth.”
Buy Silver Liz’s latest album, III, on their Bandcamp page. And follow them on Instagram and Facebook, if you’re into the whole social-media thing.
Don’t miss these latest installments of Pet Sounds:
• Pet Sounds #86: Black Heart Procession Leader’s Love for His Cats Can’t Be Beat
• Pet Sounds #85: Nuzzle’s Bassist Loves to Snuggle With His Cats, Stormy and Butter
• Pet Sounds #84: Still Bones Frontman Can’t Live Without Music – and Coda, His Gorgeous Pooch
• Pet Sounds #83: Dandy Warhols Synth-Bass Player Saved 6-Month-Old Mutt From Gang of Chihuahuas’ Bullying
• Pet Sounds #82: Products Band’s Drummer Has a ‘Freakishly Fast’ Cat That Can Maybe Talk, Too
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