Often incorrectly perceived as a laid-back member of the low-maintenance toy group, the iconic Dachshund is an independent, fearless, often stubborn hunting dog and unmistakable in appearance. Keep reading for our list of things you should know about this delightful breed!
1. Daxin Dog? Doxin Dog? Doxen? Doxy?
One of the trickiest dog names around, the Dachshund is pronounced “daks-hund” as a reflection of their German heritage. The ‘Doxin Dog’ was developed over 300 years ago in Germany to hunt badgers, and their name reflects this. Dachs = Badgers + Hund = Dog – literally a ‘Badger Dog”! Interestingly, in the post-war years, the breed was actually called the Badger Dog to avoid any negative associations with Germany during that time. But don’t worry, no matter what you call this short-legged charmer – ‘Doxen’, ‘Sausage Dog’, ‘Weiner Dog’ or “Doxin’ – everyone will know who you are referring to!
2. The Dachshund is a Formidable Hunting Dog
Contrary to the dachshund’s recent surge in popularity as an apartment dwelling and cafe-visiting pooch (currently ranking as #12 on the list of most popular dog breeds), they were bred to be independent and fierce hunters with a strong prey drive, able to hunt and kill badgers many times their size. The modern dachshund still possesses these inherent hunting characteristics, with the AKC breed standard describing the ideal dachshund as “clever, lively and courageous to the point of rashness” and they are known to be quite stubborn, due to their intelligence and independent nature, so they can be a challenge to train and require a patient and persistent owner.
3. Three Coat Types and Two Sizes
The Dachshund comes in three varieties of coat: Smooth; Wirehaired; or Longhaired and is shown in two sizes, standard and miniature. The miniature dachshund is interestingly not a separate classification, like in many other breeds, but there are show classes for those dachshunds under 11lb/5kg and over 12 months of age. The standard dachshund usually reaches 16lb/8kg – 32lb-16kg when fully grown.
4. The UK’s First Cloned Dog was A Dachshund
‘Mini-Winnie’ was the first cloned dog in the United Kingdom, and she was a dachshund! The result of a lucky competition win by her owner Rebecca Smith, Mini-Winnie is a clone of Ms. Smiths then-8-year old dachshund Winnie, and was born in South Korea. The process would normally cost around $100,000!
5. Some Dachshund Colours Are Banned
You might be used to seeing dachshunds in the commonly found colors of red or black and tan, but they actually come in 15 different colors! Colors found in the breed include black & cream, black & tan, blue & cream, blue & tan, chocolate & cream, chocolate & tan, cream, fawn (also called Isabella) & cream, fawn & tan, red, wheaten, wild board, black, chocolate and fawn. In addition, they can have various marking combinations including brindle, dapple, sable, brindle piebald, double piebald and piebald.
The AKC breed standard for dachshunds is very strict and outlines anything outside of the listed ‘colorways’ is grounds for disqualification and are particularly tough on the pied variations, which aren’t allowed to have blue eyes or more than half of their head covered in white markings.
Additionally, the unique ‘double-dapple’ pattern is discouraged as double-dapple puppies are significantly more likely to suffer from the following health problems:
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Partial blindness or partial deafness
- Abnormally small eyes
- Malformed eyes
- Malformed ears
- Missing eyes
- Missing ears
- Congenital eye defects
The Kennel Club and the Dachshund Breed Council class the double dapple colour as “unacceptable” due to the health risks that accompany it, and double dapple Dachshunds are not eligible for registration with the Kennel Club as pedigree Dachshund dogs.