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One Sunday, Miss Tennessee Tucker Nicole Perry of Franklin made it to the Top 10 in the Miss USA Pageant. The day before, Andouille “The Tube Steak” Louie of Brentwood took home a title.

Louie, often called Dewey, was named Best Dressed Doxie at the All American Dachshund Rescue’s annual Dachsie Derbie Picnic. Dewey seized the award dressed as 'Weinie Pearl' complete with the $1.98 price tag on his hat. He won last year as well when he competed wearing a leopard coat and matching pillbox hat.

Unfortunately Dewey didn’t get a crown, but he did receive a blue ribbon and a gift bag full of doggie toys and treats, according to his pageant manager and costumer, Donna Vincler.

Dewey’s lucky enough to belong to Donna, whose husband Mark decided she needed a companion two years ago after her daughter (and only child) Aubrey Swander graduated from Brentwood High.

Donna said making Dewey’s costumes is a breeze after making Aubrey’s dance costumes for years.

“He also won ‘Shortest Ears’ but we are not too sure if that is a good thing or not. Dewey took it a little personal at first,” she admitted.

The Dachsie Derby is a fundraiser for All American Dachshund Rescue, a national organization based in Columbia, Tenn. All of the money raised at Saturday’s event helps to shelter and provide medical care of stray, abandoned and rescued dachshunds and helps to find foster homes and 'forever homes' for the dogs.

“Many of the dogs that have been cared for by this organization have been rescued from puppy mills in various states,” Donna shared.

Want more information on dachshund rescue efforts? Click here.

In other dog news, reader Marjorie Stephenson writes:

“We found a precious Chihuahua Sunday after church in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot across from Brentwood United Methodist Church. … We have gone to all of the vets in Brentwood and also had the sweet dog scanned for a microchip to see if it would identify the owner. The dog is wearing a little sweater and is happy and safe until its mommy or daddy finds her.”

If this sweet dog is yours, email me at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com and I’ll put you in touch with Marjorie.

And yet another doggie tale…

A huge shout out goes to Dirk Plantinga’s neighbor Sandy, who spent hours last week searching for the Plantinga family’s dog, Josie. Here’s what Dirk emailed me:

“She tracked Josie down like a detective by finding people who saw her and following the trail. Ultimately the search led her down a long driveway along a pasture off Concord Pass and there Josie was, relaxing in a field with some donkeys. …

“Sandy said she went to all that effort because she knows I would have if her dog was missing. That got me thinking about how social networking could be leveraged in Brentwood to help spread the word. So today I started a Facebook group: Lost Pets - Brentwood, TN and a Twitter account @bwoodlostpets. I want to get the word out so I'm targeting Brentwood with a Facebook ad.”

Dirk’s also posted a story on his blog.

“I know pet owners will watch out for each other. Imagine if every pet owner in Brentwood joined this group and was willing to be on the lookout to help a neighbor find a lost animal. The result would be a virtual network that could get the word out instantly to a targeted audience. There are lost pets web sites out there, but Facebook and Twitter are what people pay attention to.”

Think I’ll go join the Facebook group now. What about you?

Susan Taylor Leathers is editor of Brentwood Home Page. Contact her at susan@brentwoodhomepage.com. To read recent BrentWord columns, click here.