How To Take Care Of A Dachshund
I have been keeping the dachshund for 25 years, so the breed’s characteristics will be biased. I adore these sausages with all my heart. And not only me. In one Germany now lives more than a million dachshunds. How to take care of a dachshund? At the same time, their popularity is stable. It does not depend on the fluctuations of fashion — and many breeds can boast the same?
Dachshund is unique. Small size and unpretentiousness in care make it a popular companion for citizens. At the same time, the language does not turn to call the breed decorative. Dachshunds remain “real”, serious dogs.
Table of Contents
· The appearance of the dachshund
· What are the dachshunds?
· Character of the dachshund: 7 temperament features
· Individuals
· Curious
· Active and playful
· Tender
· Gambler
· Smart
· Vitality lovers
· The dark side of dachshund: 6 negative qualities
· Mania of greatness
· Loud voice
· Tendency to bite
· Zoo aggression
· Gluttony
· Destructive tendencies
· Questions of care and maintenance of a dachshund
· Diseases of dachshund
· Intervertebral hernia
· Breast gland diseases
· Parodontosis
· Heart failure
· How to take care of a dachshund: Conclusion
· Feedback from dachshund owners
· Why did we choose a dachshund?
· The first meeting
· This love is forever
· Questions and Answers
The appearance of the dachshund
Dachshund is the most recognizable breed in the world. A long and short sausage dog only looks ridiculous at first sight. Dogs have powerful paws and very large breasts. They are not big, but very strong dogs — their muscles are well developed. Strong constitution and endurance are a legacy of the centuries-old hunting past.
A long head with a smooth transition from forehead to muzzle is decorated with big ears. Brown eyes always look with curiosity, in them, you can see a remarkable intellect.
What are the dachshunds?
Inside one breed, there is a division by the type of wool and size. As a result, there is a huge variety of dachshunds.
There are three size groups:
- Rabbit dachshund — weight 3–3.5 kg
- Small (miniature, dwarf) dachshund — weight 4–5,5 kg
- Standard dachshund — weight 8–9 kg
By the type of wool are also distinguished by three varieties:
- Smooth wool;
- Long-haired;
- Hard wool.
Nowadays, hard-coat dachshunds are popular as working hunting dogs: they do not freeze as their smooth congeners. The coat is not confused or dirty, as in the case of long coat dachshunds. Stickers have their own color, which is called “boar”.
Long-haired dachshunds quickly became decorative dogs due to their spectacular appearance. Smooth hairs are equally suitable for hunting and for home life.
The most common colors of dachshunds are:
- Black-floor;
- Red (from dark to bright orange and sandy);
- Coffee (chocolate);
- Marble (tricolor).
There are cream, tiger colors.
The character of the dachshund: 7 temperament features
Taksu was created by hunting. Even rabbit dachshund is not a decorative “ladies’” breed. The smallest dachshunds were bred specifically for rabbit hunting. Only they could effectively operate in rabbit holes. With a standard dachshund hunting not only on the burrowing beast (fox, badger) but also any other game. Character traits of these dogs:
Individuals
How to take care of a dachshund? There are several types of hunting dogs (girlfriend, hound, cop, and others). Most of them work in pairs with a man, waiting for a team from the hunter. But not a dachshund. Normal dogs must find the beast themselves and get it. Struggle in a narrow dark burrow is one-on-one. A person there is no helper to the dog.
Therefore, the first quality of a dachshund is wilfulness. They try to live by their own mind from birth, not by a pointer. Because of this, the breed belongs to the “hard to remember”. Dachshund teams are easy to learn, but every time they think about whether to perform.
Curious
Thousandth nose works around the clock in search of interesting smells. Once in the new room, the dog will not rest until he examines every corner. All bags and your bag will be carefully scanned — what if there is something delicious? A walk for a dachshund is a real holiday because there is a feast of smells outside.
Active and playful
Short curves of the legs can deceive the ignorant. But dachshund owners know that these dogs have tremendous endurance. If a dachshund is in good physical shape, it is ready to wrap a few kilometers on a daily walk.
Dachshunds must be allowed to splash out energy. They gladly carry the ball, play with congeners, and amuse the owners with their grimaces. Do not assume that because of the short legs of the dachshund runs slowly. If desired, it becomes a real torpedo!
Tender
Like many hunting dogs, dachshunds can completely ignore the owner on a walk, with the rapture to rush around the countryside and find their own activities. But what they are really loving! Drinking on your back to scratch a belly, sticking your nose under your arm, and climbing to lick your nose is all right.
Those who say “happy not to buy” have not yet bought a puppy dachshund!
If you win a dachshund, you will not find a more affectionate dog. The same can be seen if you have a sandwich in your hands. Dachshunds love to iron and snuggle with the owner in your sleep. They are cozy and gentle. They are so sweetly sprinkled on sofas — it is easy to forget that in front of you is a tireless hunter.
Gambler
Most dachshunds do not know the fear — they rush violently at the enemy much larger than themselves. And they often get into trouble. If the dachshund wakes up hunting excitement, it becomes deaf to your commands, feels neither pain nor fatigue, focusing on the target. Dachshund is exactly the dog that can bark for hours on a rescued cat from a tree. It can bark for hours on a cat rescued from a tree. It bites into its trunk with its teeth and digs under its roots. Suddenly, the tree will fall.
Smart
Dachshunds do not participate in agility and will not equal in obedience to dogs’ official breeds, but no one will doubt their intelligence. It is the intellect that gives a dachshund a special charm and slyness. They are damn ingenious in their pranks, after which they ask for forgiveness so artistically that it becomes impossible to swear, just chuckle.
Vitality lovers
Dachshunds are not sad, are not offended, and do not hover with guilt. They do everything with such a high that you will fall in love. Eat — with appetite, even if it is a carrot, extracted in the vegetable garden or a dry crust of bread. Hunting — with excitement. Drowsy or warm in the sun with the expression of bliss on your face. For me, a dachshund is an endorphin dog!
Even if a dog’s hind legs fail, dachshund owners usually do not even think about euthanasia. Because their dog continues to rejoice in life. Loving dachshund helps them get out of any disease, charging with optimism everyone around.
The dark side of dachshund: 6 negative qualities
Since I’m a big lover of a dachshund, any flaws of these dogs seem to me just cute features. But if you are not yet struck by taxonomy, pay attention to them to think about the consequences before your first dachshund.
Mania of greatness
Any dachshund, even a tiny one, will think more than once about the question — isn’t it the main one in this house? For this insolent long-nosed dog to follow your orders, you will have to educate from the first days. All your life proves that the owner is the main source of food, pleasure, and entertainment.
And that you can change the dachshund, even if you have no time for it now/lazy/you are very tired once can. If you give the slack, your opinion will no longer be taken into account by the dachshund when making decisions.
Arbitrariness, stubbornness, and a tendency to dominate make a dachshund unsuitable for elderly people or newcomers to dog breeding. Owners who can not put the dachshund in place create a despot and a monster with their own hands.
Loud voice
For hunters, it was very important to hear the dachshund giving a voice while in a deep hole. So we can say that for generations, the loud barking animals have been selected. On the one hand, this is a plus — the voice behind a closed-door can confuse a large and formidable dog. And the intruders will beware of coming in. On the other hand — if a pet is not properly raised, the dachshund can turn into a bastard.
A separate problem arises if the dachshund howls and barks, being left alone. Dogs deprived of work do not get either physical or mental stress. This leads to different behavioral disorders, including howling. Hello neighbors…
Tendency to bite
Many people consider dachshunds aggressive. But this is not quite true. It’s just that they have no “moral barrier” to harm a person. Often, dachshunds bite their own owners and family members — if they consider themselves leaders. Then the person will be bitten if he tries to shove the “boss” off the sofa, take the food or clean the pet’s ears.
The second reason for bites — if the dachshund defends itself, it is afraid. It is not allowed to beat the dog in the process of education or burned. This will not end well, especially if the dachshund has a wonderful memory. A dog can throw on a certain smell, for example, on drinks.
The third reason is territorial aggression. When I first brought a dachshund to my dacha, it bit my neighbor’s leg with blood. She did not bark, just came up and barked on the back. It happened when an old lady came to our house. The dog had never seen her before and decided that she was a stranger. But it was not easy to explain with a bitten dog! Bite the dachshund and neighbor’s kids if they were running around our site with squeals and noise.
Zoo aggression
Dachshund can get along well with cats in the house — and selflessly chase strange cats on the street. They need to realize their hunting instinct. They want to chase the beast. A special madness covers them from the smell of rodents.
How many times I have seen the crying owners who decided that the hamster in the cage is not threatened with anything. The village dachshund can choke rabbits or chickens, so the pet can’t be let go on a self-guided walk.
Contrary to fears, dachshunds can easily get along with cats in the same house. If you take a dachshund to an adult cat, they will become friends for life.
Without timely socialization, dachshunds hardly communicate with congeners, especially larger than themselves. More than once, I watched a tiny “sausage” flick its teeth a centimeter away from the face of a puzzled Labrador or a sheepdog. It only remains to recommend keeping the dachshund on a leash because bravery will not help her avoid injuries in a fight with a dog several times larger than herself.
Gluttony
When the dachshund is awake, one of two states is looking for food or eating. Dachshunds are the masters of begging, and their begging look bumps out the most persistent. Never before have I seen a dachshund hug so much that she would give up a tasty piece.
On the one hand, a dog-leaver is not bad, because it makes training easier. On the other hand, for most of the walk, you will make sure that the pet does not vacuum from the ground.
Dachshunds are not only begging but also stealing. My rascal once chewed a bag of food, which I carelessly left in the corridor. The dog looked like a globe but was not going to die.
If you take a puppy to the house, you have to learn to order. You need to hide not only the food but all the potentially dangerous items: dachshunds may find it edible what you can’t think of — lipstick, cream, used diaper.
Destructive tendencies
For such a small dog, the dachshund has amazingly powerful jaws. And paws. And claws. In a word, you should not let such a pet get bored, or you will have a designer repair in your apartment. It is easy to dig a sofa, playing in the hole. It is easy to rip the wallpaper. Grind everything, left unattended — why not? The dacha area of the dachshund can destroy the lawn, boiling holes in it.
Dachshunds cope with toys from the pet store in a matter of minutes, and only treats like deer horns, or rubber balls can take them for a long time.
Questions of care and maintenance of a dachshund
The popularity of dachshunds was greatly contributed to their unpretentiousness in content. They feel equally confident both in the streets of the metropolis and in the village. Dachshunds willingly eat both natural food and industrial feed. They do not need to wipe their ears or eyes. The care varies only depending on the type of wool.
Dachshunds have to be washed every time after the walk: their breasts and tummy get dirty instantly. You can teach your pet to wear a waterproof jumpsuit. Clothes will also be useful in winter — smooth wool dachshunds are very cold. They should at least wear a sweater.
Dachshunds do not like to walk in the rain. If they do not like the weather, the doggie will instantly chrome or lie on his back. You will be cursed to drag the “unhappy” on a leash (do not poop at home), collecting the reproaches of passers-by. But when you turn to the house, the sufferer will cheer up and rush on all four paws.
All the dachshunds, and the hardcore ones, too, love comfort and coziness.
Hard wool dachshund should be trimmed (plucked undercoat) 2 times a year during the seasonal molting (spring, autumn). Long-haired — regularly combed and bathed. Smooth-haired dachshunds, deprived of undercoats, are the most comfortable in everyday life. They are easy to wash, dry instantly, and the apartment’s wool will be few. However, hard as needles, hairs can intentionally get stuck in bedding.
All dachshunds grow claws very quickly, especially on the front paws. They are necessary to dig. If the dog does not hunt and walks little on the asphalt, the claws grow too long. They are shortened with claw cutters once a month.
Diseases of dachshund
The good news is that the dachshunds refer to long-term dogs. I personally treated a 19-year-old cab. The life expectancy of 15–17 years in these dogs is considered the norm.
Intervertebral hernia
Among the general public, there is an intentional opinion that problems with the back of the dachshunds are associated with a disproportionately long body. But this is not the case. Numerous cases when the back legs of the dachshund fail are associated with congenital discopathy.
In this case, the dog has a disease of tissue regeneration of the intervertebral disks. They lose their elasticity, and by the age of 4 years, there is a risk of disc herniation (protrusion, rupture).
When the disc is protruding, there is pinching of nerves or spinal cord. Depending on the hernia’s size, this is either painful or a picture of paralysis (the dog can’t lean on his hind legs, urination and defecation are disturbed). Treatment can be both operative and conservative. To choose the right strategy, you need to “see” the hernia — CT or MRI.
A dog older than 4–6 years can provoke a hernia by jumping from heights, injury during active games with other dogs. The only prevention is to maintain good physical shape and prevent obesity.
So-called chondroprotectors do not affect the process of disk destruction. They are not used either for treatment or to prevent discopathy in dachshunds. Genetics plays a decisive role: dachshund can live a life without having problems with the back. Or it can for the first time “buckle” at the age of 4, and with age, the attacks will be repeated regularly.
Breast gland diseases
Dachshunds are extremely caring mothers. Even after the first birth, they take excellent care of puppies, can adopt other people’s cubs, such as kittens. This is due to the high hormonal background. But if the bitch is not sterilized and does not bind, there are problems.
After a leak, dachshunds often have a false pregnancy and then a false lactating, mastitis. At an older age, malignant tumors occur on the mammary glands.
For this reason, it is recommended to castrate the bitches that are not involved in breeding, ideally — even before the first leak.
Parodontosis
Dachshunds, especially dwarfs, tend to form tartar. Ideally, a dog should be taught to brush his teeth (brush + paste) from childhood. Tartar leads to periodontal disease, bad smell from the mouth, and loss of teeth.
Heart failure
Very often dachshunds suffer mitral heart valve failure. In older dogs (usually after 6 years) its sashes begin to deform and can no longer close tightly. The valve starts to “leak”. For a long time, the problem is compensated by the body and remains unnoticed.
Only when the left atrium is already greatly dilated, owners may notice a periodic cough, shortness of breath, intolerance to physical activity. An elderly dachshund needs special care.
Suppose the dachshund is older than 4 years old. In that case, you plan to have surgery under general anesthesia, make an ultrasound of the heart. In any case, after 6 years, it is better to check the heart regularly. Endocarditis can be detected at an early stage. Then, the cardiologist will prescribe drugs to slow down the wear of the heart muscle.
How to take care of a dachshund: Conclusion
If you once start a dachshund, it is very likely that from this day on, only dachshunds will live in your house. No matter how wonderful the other breeds of dogs are, they are not dachshunds, which says it all.
Let such a pet needs attention. The time spent will pay off a hundredfold. It is impossible to mope when there is an energetic, wily long-nosed pet.
Feedback from dachshund owners
Why did we choose a dachshund?
Fifteen years ago, when my child was in elementary school (that is, already ripe for a dog, maintenance, and care), by this time my child had read many books about dogs and watched many films on the same subject, and as a result, there was a passionate desire to get a dog.
They began to choose a breed for an apartment. We do not have a summer cottage. It was not possible to take a large dog to the expanses. And here, a friend, who lived in two dachshunds, offered this breed. At first, I was hesitant. It seemed to me that she was such elongated and short legs. But in the end, we took a puppy with a standard long-haired dachshund.
So this is our first experience of keeping a dog. As you write in this article, dachshunds are skittish, smart, and they will follow your order if it coincides with her wishes. Now our beauty is 15 years old. Over the years, she has been so naughty: stripped off wallpaper, chewed shoes, telephone and television cables, chewed off two men’s handbags at her husband, etc. A lot of other things. But she gave and continues to give us so much positive that thanks to her, we have another long-haired dachshund (miniature, it is already 5 years old), and thanks to her, we fell in love with this breed.
How do you get along with children and cats? With children, it is great. The main thing is to let the dog know that this is our child, and you can’t hurt him. They are rarely smart, and sometimes it seems that she understands the meaning of what you have said. With cats, apparently, they also get along easily. I would like to mention another such point. It is a single breed. There are many similarities. But they are so different. Each one is an individuality.
The first meeting
That’s why we are still ahead of us, but my husband came back from work and fell in love with her. Now we notice the first traits of her character. Gina always tries to go to bed with us if we don’t let her start screaming and barking. She is very active during the day and loves to play with children and cats with whom she became friends very quickly. Now she is a full member of the family!
This love is forever
For 12 years, we have been living with our favorite dachshund. We have started our beauty absolutely casually — we looked for a small dog in the house. There was already a big dog in the yard, and our grandparents wanted a “bell”, so the house is big, and we needed a guard inside.
But we did not consider that the old people would not have enough strength to deal with this “battery”. We took it to the apartment. Everything that could be chewed up in the first days was chewed up, everything that could be excavated and excavated. Most of all, we got winter shoes, made of genuine leather and with natural fur — we pulled everything up.
I was the only one who went to bed with me. She was not interested in the fact that she could be stuck with her feet — she crawled to the pillow at night, and in the morning, I woke up from snoring and a dachshund muzzle on the pillow. When I had a son — I did not need a baby monitor — dachshund lived under the crib.
When my son crawled, she crawled after him. I still wonder how much she had the patience for him when the baby poked her fingers and in the eyes and nose and in the mouth. Now my son is 5 years old, and our doggie is the best girlfriend in all leprosy. They sleep together, and often the dog replaces the child’s pillow.
Questions and Answers
Is Jumping bad for dachshunds?
High jumps are harmful and dangerous for dachshunds, especially for young individuals, as well as for poorly trained and overfed dogs — they may have pinched vertebrae and as a result, surgery.
Do dachshunds like to be held?
Communication with the owner of a dachshund, as well as many other dogs, is simply necessary. They like to be stroked, caressed, and praised. If the owner was not at home during the day, then when he comes back, the dachshund will be his “tail” for a long time, going from room to room and demanding attention.
Why are dachshunds so needy?
Before being domesticated, dogs were pack animals. They are used to living in groups, and the Dachshund, being a hunting dog has especially tight bonds. It can get separation anxiety which can cause panic attacks, due to a natural biological inclination to bond with others.
Are ramps or stairs better for dachshunds?
The dachshund has short legs and a long body. This shape is ideal for normal hunting, but with the wrong approach to nutrition and physical activity becomes the scourge of the animal. One of the bans for taxi owners is to take your pet down the stairs.
Do dachshunds get jealous?
Dachshunds are real owners, and some of them are extremely jealous and even selfish.
How do you properly pick up a dachshund?
A puppy should have thick, widely defined limbs. He looks stocky, legs are not long. Contrary to popular belief, a monthly dachshund puppy should not have a sharpened face and eyes on the rolling out. On the contrary, the more rounded and tall his muzzle face, the better.
