Dachshund Dogs & Puppies

Definitive evidence of the Dachshund as a breed isn’t found until the sixteenth century, when reference was made to a “low crooked legged” dog called a Little Burrow Dog, Dacksel, or Badger Dog. The modern name “Dachshund” means simply badger (dachs) dog (hund) in German.

The Dachshund comes in three coat varieties and two sizes. The original Dachshunds were smooth coated and arose from crosses of the Bracke, a miniature French pointer, with the Pinscher. Some evidence exists of longer-haired Dachshund-like dogs in sixteenth-century woodcuts. It is also possible that smooth Dachshunds were later crossed with spaniels and the German Stoberhund (a gundog) to produce the long-haired variety. Mention is made of wire-coated Dachshunds as early as 1797, but these dogs were not carefully bred and most modern wires were created around the end of the nineteenth century by crossing smooth Dachshunds with German Wire-haired Pinschers and the Dandie Dinmont Terrier.

Each of these varieties was best suited for hunting under slightly different terrain and climatic conditions, but all were tough, strong dogs capable of dispatching badger, fox, and other small mammals. Before 1900, very small Dachshunds were kept for going to ground after small quarry, such as rabbits. Although some were simply runts, others were intentionally produced by crosses with toy terriers or pinschers. Most of the resulting miniatures lacked Dachshund type, however.

By 1910, stricter criteria were adopted for type, and each coat type was crossed with different breeds to achieve the best results: smooths were bred with the Miniature Pinscher, longs with the Papillon, and wires with the Miniature Schnauzer. The Dachshund has since found its real niche as a family pet, steadily rising in popularity to hold a place as one of the most popular hounds in America.