He is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history, but not many people know that he was a practicing physician throughout most of his literary career: “Medicine is my lawful wife,” Anton Chekhov once said, “and literature is my mistress.”

In 1892/1893, Chekhov’s publisher, Nikolai Leykin, gave the playwright two Dachshund puppies from a litter whelped by his own

Chekov with one of his Dachshunds

Dachshunds, “Dinka” and “Pip.”  Accounts vary as to who actually named the dogs, but we’re persuaded that it was Chekhov’s sister, Maria, who picked names from substances she found in her brother’s medical. The male dog became, “Bromine” (Greek for “strong-smelling”), and the female, “Quinine” (a drug used as a painkiller). It was “Quinine,” the lazy, idle, and potbellied female, who became the author’s favorite. According to his sister Masha, “every evening Quinine would come up to Anton, put her front paws on his knees and look into his eyes devotedly.” Household help were less enamored. One source reported that the dogs, “barked at the servants, dragged galoshes all over the house, dug up all the flower boxes, and struck fear into the hearts of all the mutts running around the property. Those mutts had never seen such strange dogs.”

Chekhov adored the dogs and once told Leykin that, “The dachshunds Brom and Khina are well. The former is dexterous and lithe, polite and sensitive. The latter is clumsy, fat, lazy and sly… They both love to weep from an excess of feelings.”  “They both love to weep from an excess of feelings.” Isn’t that a great description?

In 2012, a sculpture of the two Dachshunds was unveiled near a road leading to Chekov’s summer house in Melikhovo south of Moscow. Evidently, the town is full of Dachshund fans who have taken to dropping coins in the hat, and rubbing the dogs’ noses to make their wishes come true.

Photos found on Pinterest