Dachshunds make great pets, but what are things you need to know about living with dachshunds? Here’s a complete guide.
Dachshunds were bred for hunting and in packs, so they tend to bond with one or two people. Yet they’re always wanting to cuddle. What else do you need to know?
Guide to Living With Dachshunds
A Dachshund will follow you from room to room, as they want to be wherever you are.
Living with dachshunds will keep you laughing as they are funny. They are funny looking when they run with their long bodies and short legs. They like to play fetch and they do funny things.
Living with dachshunds will keep you amused. They’re very affectionate as they want to sit on your lap.
They have a lot of energy and like to go walking, hiking, and some dachshunds like to ride on a boat.
For a little dog, they will keep up with you on a walk or hike as they scamper along.
Other Tips For Living With Dachshunds
One good thing about a dachshund is that they tend to live longer than many dogs as their average lifespan can be 12-16 years. By feeding them right, I have had all my dachshunds live to be 17-19 years.
The Dachshund is a good small breed for a person living in a small apartment, condo or house.
The dachshunds are considered hounds, and they like to sniff and hunt for small mice
The term dachshund was in Germany around the 1500’s with “dach” being the German word for badger and “hund” being the word for hound.
Other historical facts show they were bred to hunt badgers, and back then there was just the standard dachshund size,
Badgers are fierce animals, and I would think it would take a team of full-sized dachshunds to get a badger. A dachshund is fierce and won’t back down to any size dog or animal.
Dachshund Breeds & Sizes
The first dachshunds that were bred were smooth-haired dachshunds, and it was believed they were bred down from Bassett Hounds.
Afterwards came the wire-haired dachshunds, and it was mixed with a terrier dog for that wire coat.
So the wire-haired dachshund breed is a hound as well as some terrier bred in them.
Finally in around the 1900s came the long-haired dachshunds. It is believed they were bred with spaniels to get their long coat.
The dachshund comes in three sizes; the standard size (16-32 pounds) which were the ones used to hunt badgers.
The miniature (8-11 pounds) which bred to hunt rabbits.
And then the tweener (12-16 pounds), which is in-between the standard and the miniature.
Dachshund Features
Since they were bred to hunt badgers, their long wiener body and short powerful legs were ideal for burrowing into holes where badgers lived.
This makes them very tenacious and brave and not afraid of anything.
For this reason, dachshunds are notorious for barking at people, animals, and cars.
When walking your dachshund, you need to be careful when walking by other people with their dogs, as many dachshunds are protective and might want to bark and go after the other dogs.
Living with dachshunds can sometimes try your patience with their stubbornness and barking. But the bottom line is they are great affectionate pets with a lot of personalities.
