Why are wiener dogs so long

Dachshunds were originally bred in Germany over three hundred years ago as a working dog. They were used for hunting badgers. Their purpose is right there in their name, Dachshund.

Dachshunds were bred to sniff out badgers and any other type of animals which live in burrows! These days, it might seem unbelievable to think of your sweet little Dachshund being capable of such ferocious hunting. A Dachshund is powerful and fearless enough to take on and kill an animal as aggressive as a badger.

Dachshunds are brave little dogs with a keen sense of smell and a great ability to fight their prey. Just as they would have done in nature as hunting dogs.

Dachshunds were specifically bred by German breeders who developed the Dachshunds long back through gene mutation, for hunting purposes. Their long bodies allowed them to be strong enough and heavy enough to chase their prey at a fast pace, while also being able to fight their prey with power. This means that despite their small legs keeping them close to the ground for diving into burrows, Dachshunds were also strong enough to capture the prey they were after.

The longer body was an intentional choice with many advantages for hunting. You may have heard of dogs being trained using liverwurst and dog owners obtaining amazing results. You may therefore wish to give it a try, but you need to know first whether liverwurst is good for dogs. If your dog has a swollen paw from a tight bandage, you are right to be concerned.

A too tight bandage may cut off circulation leading to potentially serious complications. Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Masucci shares information on dogs wearing bandages and the potential consequences from bandages that are too tight. There is belief that dachshund are descendants of the now extinct Saint Hubert hound.

After mixing a variety of breeds, therefore the dachshund was born. With a body low to the ground, developed senses and a brave temperament, the dachshund proved its worth in hunting badgers, but not only. These little dogs were also utilized to hunt rabbits, foxes and even wild boar.

The dachshund's body shape isn't the only thing that reminds us of their past as badger hunters. These dogs still as today still engage in behaviors that are reminiscent of their past. Doxies are avid diggers who love to dig given the opportunity. Watch for holes being dug in your beloved vegetable or flower garden. And when it's time to sleep, watch where you lie down; dachshunds love to dig "tunnels" in their blankets and burrow themselves under.

Dachshund are tenacious and courageous, up to the point of rashness, a quality that helped them become valuable hunters. Right now is all that matters. We just elected a 78 year old man to be president. I thought that was very nasty of them and also probably illegal for a non profit to discriminate like that.

Meridee Thompson. Some are more attached and guard one of the parents. Take comfort that your husband will always be protected.. Once your doxie decides on his main person, this person is the main person throughout their lives.

They will guard their person with their lives and not want to leave them even for a walk. If my husband tried to get him, he would bite. Once I learned that he was over protective of me, I would put the halter and leash on and hand him to my husband. And you will enjoy him the most then. You could put a small blanket where you sit on the couch so he will come over to your side.

If you get into bed second or later on you may get bit. Mine bite my husband several times. We finally had him sleep in his bed; he choose the floor and refused his bed. It was tough not to. You should be the one to give small treats. Be careful of people coming into your house. Have people ignore them at first until you know how he will act.

I suggest getting another doxie just for you. They are fiercely loyal. My little guy just died at I miss him terribly. Our other doxie loves both of us equally. I will get another doxie. Good luck. I hope this helps. That sounds a little scary Brenda. I have a little boy that was going to be put down because he kept trying to bite people during his intake at county.

Pretty quickly he bonded to me and started showing some similar behaviors to your dog. I eventually hired a trainer who made it clear that the issue was actually with me. After following through with what the trainer told me to do I went from having a dog that was very stranger agressive to a dog that is no longer dangerous and trusts me to keep us both safe.

Please hire a professional. Sometimes, putting them down on the ground and off the couch will help them calm down. Hope that helps! Hi Regina. The cause could be so many things.

You can find a lot of information about that online. Reading about it may at least tell you if that is the cause or not so you either have some potential solutions or can rule that out. If you do get any good advice please, please forward to me. I have just rescued a 13 year old deaf and cannot see good male dachshund that at thisoment had to be taken outside because he is trying to kill my husband. We had him about month and a half. I just need some good advise please.

Hi Terri. It sounds like your dog may be trying to resource guard you. That would at least give you a place to start.

A good one will be interested in keeping the dog in your home so they may be able to offer some tips and advice regarding his behavior. I agree.

I have three doxies and I had one before I got three more. T-Bone chose me for his owner. I was going to purchase another type of puppy, but when I walked by him, he literally stole my heart. KaySea is her name and they are brother and sister, just from a different litter. She tried to find his owner, however no one claimed him, so she put him online to give away. I immediately responded that I was coming to get him.

His name is Ryder. T-Bone was a short haired, red puppy. The three I have now are all long haired puppies. I think I will always own a dachshund. They love LOVE and the more you give them, the more they want. Each one have their own personalities and I adjust to each one individually.

I love dachshunds so much!!! I love my babies more than anything!!!! I have a doxie that came from 2 mini parents lbs and she is a standard size and around 24lbs. All the other puppies in the litter are small. Johnny is the only one who has growled for attention. He will come sit by my feet in the morning and growl until I show him some love. I can set my clock to him.

How funny! They also stare at things out of reach for ages sit and wiggle till we get the message to give it to them! Usually a toy lol. Based off of my personal experience, I feel that Daschunds tend to be verbal for just about any reason they see fit!

My pup, Odie, likes to do the same thing that yours does, not to mention that he gets jealous and also barks whenever we are petting the other dogs and he has been waiting for his turn for too long lol. It can become a bit frustrating and sometimes saying no to them wanting affection feels wrong but I guess my advice would be to give your pup as much love as possible seeing as how he will beg for it anyway hah.

I anticipate that he will want to be by me all the time and it took years for me to just give in. He kept barking all those years?

But he is much quieter now and we are all happier when I just accept what he wants. He deserves all the love he can get. Yours, too! I have a 12yo standard who is also an Odie!

He sees a behavioural specialist vet because of aggression and anxiety that stems from our experience with domestic violence. With the right attitude and lots of love I believe that Dachshunds can prevail to live their best lives. I hope each one of you gets the Doxie love you all deserve from being amazing and dedicated paw-rents!

As a longtime and devoted Doxie Mom, I can tell you that the growling, howling, barking, and excitment from your dachshund when you come home from work is normal for my dachshunds.

I have had these little dogs since I was I am an experienced doxie Mom. I have had all the coat types, male and female. Not so long ago I had 4 of these amazing dogs. They are totally devoted and so full of love for you. Whether you are gone for 10 minutes or a full work day, they will greet you the same way. It makes them even more endearing. My wirehaired mini red dachsen Hans growls and howls at me when I come home.

They also both talk back when spoken to with sqeeks howling grunting etc. I can have very interesting conversations with great input with them??? My dapple has a specific bark pitched just for me, with a distinct repetition.

It sounds a like like MOM! It is so loud!! Yes I live alone with my 2 mini doxies. I was reading the reviews for some of the coats. The Ultimate Winter Coat said it was waterproof but not in a downpour. Is there a winter coat that can handle freezing torrential rain and snow? I will say that the jackets still keep Gretel very warm even when they are wet.

We carry on wonderful conversations! My father says my dog sounds like she is possessed. I think that noise is my dog name that she gave me. She only does it to find me. My boy Pablo is more like a cat. He loves his blankets and he is extremely picky when it comes to food.

He loves having guests over, so instead of barking, he happily runs to greet them when the bell rings. He has never digged a hole in his life and most importantly, he was potty trained in less than a month. Yes, he absolutely hates the rain. Wow that is impressive! Pippin all my mini doxies named after lots of rings characters was the first but cage trained him so he did well for a while and did his business outside.. But as long as they get their walks everyday they r a ok at home..

But they would kill a cat???? Doxies are cute admirable stubborn loving and very very family orientated; no one could take our dogs as they hate strangers and if someone tried to catch them they would be off!

I am fostering a doxie for my daughter…. Hi Cecelia. My Gretel used to pull very hard. Now she just pulls kind of hard… most of the time anyway. Unfortunately, Dachshunds do not make good off-leash dogs. I definitely would NOT recommend doing that. I have seen Dachshunds over the years 6 years — run a dog club of members who were very good at following voice commands off leash.

That took years of training though. I would suggest trying a no-pull harness. They make several different kinds but the simplest ones have a clip in the front that you hook the leash too. They were created after a training technique. When the hook is in the front and a dog pulls, it forces their body to turn around to face you.

Hopefully one of those will help. You can also work with a trainer but that will be much more expensive. They have a diva mentality; they are really competitive and actually easier to train with other dogs. My 6 yr old dox was a total lazy bug and then became the star of her obedience class.

She was food motivated but it seemed like she really just loved the attention that came from being top of the class. I have trained all my doxies since then with other dogs and found that their competitive nature spurs them to excellence when training with others.

Doxie Kisses! Thanks for the insight about training. To be I think your comment if very encouraging though and may be helpful to some. I have the perfect potty training trick which happened by accident! We got our little Dapple Doxie pup, Galaxy, as a Christmas present for our children.

Since it was the holidays, we had a set of Disney Christmas bells that were hanging on the front door knob, and Galaxy learned within one week to go ring those bells when he needed to go out to potty. Needless to say, we keep bells on the door year round now. He is crate trained, and sleeps in his crate at night. When he sees us getting ready for bed or getting ready to leave the house, he will actually go in his crate and close the gate behind him we have to lock it of course.

And like many others, he growls when he is happy, hungry, or just wants attention! Our family adores him, and he adores us. He has definitely been a blessing to our family. Any tips on potty training would be greatly appreciated. If I take my eye off her she will go inside. She also still cries all night. We are crate training her and we are exhausted. I think she just hates the crate. Hi Sara. What kind of crate are you using? Per crate-size recommendations, it was just bit enough for her to stand up and turn around.

Oh my, the noise she made in there. After she broke a nail and busted the crate in half I was done with that. I then started giving her a stuffed treat toy every time I put her in there.

Now she sometimes even goes in the crate to sleep when we are home. I hope you find a solution that works. Take your pup out every half hour whether they ask to go or not. Once there are no accidents in the house, start taking them out every 45 minutes. Repeat until they are going out every hours. I have 2 6mo dapples. One pees all over the bedding in the crate. The other potty broke within a month. They have lots of toys but chew on my wood work, couch corners, even pinecones twigs, they have a hugh back yard they run non stop They fight about who gets my attention even if I play with them at the same time.

My boys love the rain, they look like drowned rats this week as they tried to catch the yard rabbits and birds for Hours outside. I just towel dry them when they come in. Sara, I am a well seasoned dachsie mom. These little darlings are really stubborn but they are trainable. It takes a lot of patience and consistency, especially if they are young.

In the beginning, I would take my very young pups out to pottie every couple hours during normal daylight hours. When they wake up for a nap, take them out immediately. That way, their own scent will be there. Keep that area clean of solid waste. I was lucky enough to be home in order to do this. I have never had to use a crate to potty train.

Also, I always adopted my Dachsies during warm weather. They hate cold wet weather, so they are more willing to go out to potty. By the time it gets cold here in New England, they are trained. If your winters get cold, put a nice warm sweater or coat on. This is especially true for smooth coats. Another method I have used for very young pups is to use puppy pads.

These pads have phermones embedded in them to attract the dog to the pad to do their business. Once the pup uses the pad consistently, take the used, but not with b. Hi Jessica. They definitely will eat anything and, sadly, that can result in their demise. My point is that doxie owners must be aware of anything in the path of their dogs, and there are a lot of poisonous house and yard plants sold with no warning labels.

You have to educate yourselves. We loved Santana very much and had no idea those seeds are so toxic. His death broke our hearts. You are right though, a Dachshund will eat anything. Chester has had stomach surgery twice for a blockage. This hit home with me. Our first dachshund, Willy, got out the door when it was opened to receive a package, and no one noticed. We got a call a few hours later by a neighbor who found him. He acted a little off that night, but he got worse the following days.

After many vet visits, and a surgery it was discovered his bowels had huge holes in them. He died on the table. He was just 4 years old. I think he either got into rat poison or ate a dead rodent full of it on his little trek out. Very devastating.

They will eat anything, and bear watching. Do you have a Facebook or means of contact. I live in Ohio and would love to be a part of a group. I also just need to talk to other dachshund owners. I lost mine two days ago and my heart is shattered. Chrystal, My heart aches for you. It is the hard fact that to love is to lose is to hurt is to cry. So sad. We have 4 dogs. A bichon, 8; a Havanese, 7; a Doxie, 6 and an 85 lb St. Bernard-coonhound mix.

Bichon not interested. My husband wanted a big dog. Now he walks the little ones and I trained and walk Molly. Pippa and Havanese Titus play like crazy. Toby Bichon likes people and other white dogs. I hope your grieving eases into fond memories.

But their love is the best thing ever! I lost my 12 yr old Joey 3 days back…. So numb…cant function. My world revolved around him n now dont know wht to do….

Maybe that would remind you of your Joey too much. But perhaps you can volunteer to visit people at an old folks home. I am sure someone there would love to hear about your wonderful stories about Joey or just other things in your life. Hi Chrystal. I think your comment got lost in this thread. Could you please clarify who you were asking about a group and which group you are referring to?

Hello, my name is Erica. It was such a great surprise. My first dog, my first dachshund, and my first pet. Spike was at a humane society because his previous owner passed away. If he was brought back, the people were going to put him down.

He goes crazy for the ball. He becomes a whole different dog when it comes to the ball. He howls like crazy. But if he does, the hard food have to be little kibbles. I would love to know more about dachshunds so I can take better care for my Spike.

What a wonderful story Erica. Thanks for sharing and giving Spike such a good life. It sounds like you are taking really good care of him but I love to hear that you are always seeking to learn more and do better. Hi Lester. Both of my Dachshunds will sometimes stop playing and cough if they get too worked up or get a string from a toy in their mouth or piece of hair from the floor. I hope you can get it figured out.

I have a mini-girl named Feather. She sounds like she is choking after drinking water. Actually, she just turned one and after watching closely her nose hits the water as well as her tongue. She coughs if she inhales the water through her nose. Hi Joyce. For example, miniature dachshunds are believed to have been bred to hunt smaller prey, like rabbits. The different varieties of the breed reached refinement around the late s and early s, which was the time when breed standards were drawn and cross-breeding began to be discouraged.

But the same long body that makes your dachshund perfect for hunting can also lead to certain health-related challenges. Dachshunds are particularly prone to spinal issues, especially intervertebral disk disease or IVDD. IVDD, which affects the disks in the spinal column, causes pain for a prolonged duration and can lead to permanent damage to the spine and even paralysis. The disease can be treated in some cases with the help of steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Surgery might be required in more serious cases. It is also strongly advised to not use dogs that have developed the disease before 2 years of age in breeding as this is an inherited condition.

Apart from back problems, other bone related health issues seen in dachshunds include patellar luxation, which is the dislocation of the kneecap, and osteogenesis imperfecta, more commonly known as brittle bone disease. The potential issues related to the long body and the overall bone structure of dachshunds makes it necessary to take measures to prevent undue strain.