Dachshund

Long in the body and short in the leg, the Dachshund was built in Germany for one job: chasing a badger down its own tunnel and refusing to back off once it got there. Dachs means badger in German, Hund means dog, so the name is really a job description. That deep chest and low, elongated frame were not chosen for looks. They let the dog fit through a tunnel entrance and still have the lung capacity and grip strength to do something once it got underground.

None of that shows up as timidity in the finished dog. Ask any Dachshund owner and you will hear some version of devoted, stubborn, curious and braver than its size has any right to be. Most pick out one or two people in the house to follow around, and the nose still runs a good part of the show, since scent work and a genuine prey drive never really left the breed, even generations after the hunting stopped being the point.

Two sizes exist, standard and miniature, crossed with three coats: smooth, longhaired and wirehaired. Between them there is a version to suit most households, though whichever one you land on, the character underneath tends to be much the same.

Who it suits

A Dachshund suits someone who wants a small dog with a strong sense of its own opinions and who has the patience to train around that rather than fight it. It is not the breed for a first-time owner expecting quick, eager obedience. It settles fine into a Dublin terrace or a house in the country, as long as it gets out for a walk daily and has something to think about indoors. Given the strain a long back can take, it suits a home where jumping on and off the sofa and racing up and down stairs can be kept in check, which is worth planning for before the puppy arrives rather than after.

Germany is where the Dachshund was put together, piece by piece, by hunters who needed a dog that could go where badgers and other burrowing animals lived and bring the fight to them. The name gives it away: Dachs is badger, Hund is dog. What the job demanded was a dog small enough to fit down a sett yet bold enough to face an animal that would not simply run, and the long, low body is the direct answer to that brief.

References to dogs of similar build appear in German writing from several centuries back, though it was really through the 1700s and 1800s that breeders pinned the type down. Selection favoured a deep chest for lung capacity, short legs suited to digging and working in tunnels, and a voice loud enough to be heard from below ground, so a hunter above could follow the dog by ear.

Three coats developed alongside this, each suited to different terrain and game. The smooth coat is generally reckoned to be the original. The longhaired version is thought to have picked up spaniel blood somewhere along the way, and the wirehaired coat likely gained terrier genes for extra protection in rough undergrowth. Standard and miniature sizes split off too, with the smaller dogs working smaller quarry such as rabbits.

Germany had the breed formally recognised by the late 1800s, and other countries were not far behind with clubs and standards of their own. The Dachshund then travelled well past Europe, doing hunting work in some places and settling straight into family life in others, with the companion role gradually winning out almost everywhere. It is a familiar breed in Ireland today, recognised by the Irish Kennel Club, and it is worth remembering that the animal the breed was named for is still out there: badger setts remain a protected, regular feature of hedgerows and forestry land across the country, which is often exactly why a Dachshund on a lead will suddenly go rigid, nose down, at a scent hole that means nothing to its owner.

You will not mistake a Dachshund for another breed once you have seen one. The body stretches out long, the legs stay short, and the chest drops deep with a keel that pushes the front end forward and down. The skull curves gently to a strong, tapering muzzle, the ears hang high and close to the cheeks, and the eyes sit medium-sized and almond-shaped. It is a small dog that somehow carries itself like it is not.

Coat and colours

The smooth coat is short, tight and glossy and is by far the easiest of the three to keep looking well. The longhaired coat lies sleek with a gentle wave, growing out longest on the ears, chest, underside and tail. The wirehaired coat is dense and rough to the touch over a softer undercoat, finished with a beard and heavy brows that give it a slightly weathered look.

Solid red and cream dogs are common, as are the two-tone black and tan and chocolate and tan patterns. You will also come across dapple (a mottled, marbled coat), brindle, sable and piebald markings. A handful of colour and pattern combinations carry health implications alongside them, so it is worth looking well beyond coat colour before settling on a puppy.

There is a lot of dog packed into a small Dachshund frame. It fixes on its people with real devotion and will often shadow one favourite around the house without much interest in anyone else. Curiosity never really switches off: a new smell, an odd noise, anything small enough to move will get its full attention, which is the hunting instinct still doing its job long after the job itself disappeared. That same instinct hands it a fair amount of nerve, occasionally more than is sensible around anything it has mentally filed as prey.

At home with family it is warm, playful and happy to be close by, often literally. Strangers get a cooler reception, and a good number of Dachshunds will bark at the door or at an unfamiliar sound without needing much encouragement, which makes them decent watchdogs on the noise front if nothing else. Socialising the dog early and often takes the sharp edges off both the suspicion and the barking.

Life with other pets depends on the individual. A Dachshund raised around other dogs usually does fine, but the prey drive has not gone anywhere, and small animals such as rabbits, rodents or birds can trigger a chase in an instant. Children can get along well with a Dachshund provided things stay calm and supervised, since rough handling puts real strain on that long back and might earn a snap in response. The stubbornness owners talk about is not exaggerated, so go in expecting a dog that argues its case and comes round faster for patience than for force.

A Dachshund does not need a great deal of day-to-day upkeep, but its shape does mean a few habits are worth building in from the start. How much grooming it needs depends on the coat, and exercise has to build muscle and fitness without loading up the spine, which matters more here than for most breeds.

Grooming

• Smooth coat: a weekly brush with a soft brush or hound glove lifts out loose hair and keeps the coat glossy.
• Longhaired coat: brush two to three times a week to head off tangles, paying attention to the ears, chest and feathering.
• Wirehaired coat: brush weekly and hand-strip or trim the harsh outer coat a few times a year; keep the beard and eyebrows tidy.
• Bathe only when genuinely dirty, using a shampoo made for dogs.
• Check and clean the long, hanging ears regularly, since Irish weather means a damp walk is rarely far away, and moisture trapped in the ear raises infection risk.
• Trim nails every few weeks and brush teeth several times a week, as the breed is prone to dental trouble.

Exercise

• Two short to moderate walks a day suits the breed well, totalling around 30 to 60 minutes.
• Bring in scent games and puzzle toys to keep the nose and brain occupied.
• Avoid letting the dog jump repeatedly on and off furniture and go easy on stairs to protect the back.
• Keep the dog lean, since carrying extra weight adds real strain to the spine.

Environment

A Dachshund is equally at home in a Dublin terrace or a farmhouse in the country, provided the basics are covered. Irish weather brings more of a damp problem than a heat problem: a smooth-coated dog in particular feels the cold and wet, so a coat for winter walks is worth having, and a good towel-off by the door saves a lot of mud on the carpet. Ramps or steps at the sofa and bed help the dog manage without jumping. Garden fencing has to be secure below ground as well as above it, since this is a breed that digs, and a scent under the hedge, whether badger, rabbit or fox, is not something it will easily ignore.

A complete, balanced dog food suited to the Dachshund's size and life stage covers what it needs nutritionally without any add-ons. Portion control matters more here than for a lot of breeds, since this dog puts on weight easily and carries it on a spine that is already working at a disadvantage. Weigh or measure meals rather than leaving a bowl down all day, and adjust the amount so the ribs stay easy to find under a thin layer of fat. Standard and miniature Dachshunds eat different amounts, and individual dogs will vary further with metabolism and activity.

Treats and supplements

Keep treats to roughly 10 percent of daily calories and take that much off the regular meal. Small, low-calorie treats are ideal for training a breed this driven by food. Most Dachshunds on a complete diet need no supplements on top; check with a vet before adding anything for joints, skin or otherwise, particularly for a dog with existing back or weight concerns. Fresh water should always be within reach.

The Dachshund tends to be a long-lived breed, with 12 to 16 years being typical. What comes with that distinctive shape, though, is a higher risk of back trouble than most breeds carry. The main worry is intervertebral disc disease, where the cushioning discs between the vertebrae bulge or rupture and press on the spinal cord. Keeping the dog lean, limiting jumping and handling it properly all help bring the risk down.

Preventive care

• Book annual vet checkups, moving to more frequent visits once the dog reaches its senior years.
• Stay current on vaccinations and parasite prevention.
• Keep the dog at a lean weight with a steady, consistent exercise routine.
• Brush teeth regularly and book professional dental cleans as advised.
• Use ramps or steps and discourage jumping to protect the back.
• Buy from breeders who health-test parents for eye and spinal issues.

Training a Dachshund is a lesson in patience. It is intelligent enough to learn a long list of commands, but it was bred to work alone underground making its own calls, so it tends to weigh up whether a command is worth its while before acting on it. During training that comes across as stubbornness more than anything else. Food motivation usually runs high, which gives an owner something to work with, but the breed loses interest fast and pushes back against repetition. House training especially can take longer than average and goes more smoothly with a fixed routine and a crate.

Keep sessions short and frequent, and stop while you are ahead rather than pushing for one more repetition. Early exposure to people, other dogs and everyday situations cuts down on wariness and excessive barking down the line. Everyone in the house needs to hold the same line, or the dog will work out fast that the rules bend depending on who is asking.

Basics

1. Start house training early with a fixed schedule and a crate that fits the dog properly.
2. Teach name recognition and a solid recall, since this breed will follow a scent without a second thought.
3. Build the core cues: sit, stay, down and leave it.
4. Practise calm greetings so barking at visitors does not turn into a habit.
5. Add scent games and puzzle toys so the breed's drive has somewhere useful to go.

Responsible Dachshund breeding starts with health and temperament rather than looks. Females generally reach sexual maturity within their first year, but most breeders wait until a bitch is physically mature and has cleared relevant health screening before a first mating. Given the breed's tendency towards spinal disease and certain eye conditions, breeding stock should be checked for both, and any dog with a history of back trouble is better kept out of a breeding programme.

Pregnancy runs about 63 days. Litters stay small, usually somewhere between three and six puppies, with miniatures typically towards the lower end. Whelping needs watching closely, and a vet should be called if labour stalls or the mother seems distressed. In the first weeks the puppies depend entirely on the dam for warmth and feeding, so the breeder's job is keeping the whelping area clean and warm and tracking weight gain.

Weaning starts around three to four weeks, with socialisation continuing through that critical early period. Gentle handling, ordinary household sound and early contact with new people during this stretch all shape how the dog behaves as an adult. Colour and pattern pairing takes particular care: mating two dapple-patterned dogs together can produce serious health defects in the puppies, which is why it is avoided by anyone breeding responsibly.

How to register a Dachshund in Ireland

Irish law has required every dog to be chipped and registered since the 2015 Regulations came in, and it expects the details behind the chip to stay current, not gather dust. A free United Pet Club profile does that for your Dachshund, for life. Registering your dog is a few minutes' work and costs nothing at all.

Lodge your Dachshund's fifteen digit number with United Pet Club and the chip finally earns its keep: free registration for life, every brand accepted, and a record the ISPCA or any warden can turn into a phone call. Microchip registration takes minutes, and the free account covers the profile while you're at it.