About the Breed

A hound in a very particular shape

The Dachshund is a scent hound that was built to go to ground after badger and fox — the name is literally "badger dog". Everything odd about the shape is a working feature: the long body to fit a tunnel, the short powerful legs to dig, the deep chest for lung capacity, the loud bark so a handler could locate a dog that was several feet underground.

None of them do that job now, but the temperament that went with it is entirely intact. They are bold, independent, opinionated, and much larger in their own estimation than in fact.

Miniature versus standard. The two are the same breed at different sizes. A miniature is 11 pounds and under at twelve months; a standard runs 16 to 32 pounds. Between the two sits an unofficial category the breeders all use and no registry recognises — the "tweenie", roughly 12 to 15 pounds. It matters when you are buying: a puppy out of a tweenie parent may well finish above the miniature line, which is why we say so on the listing where it applies.

The long coat. Dachshunds come in three coats — smooth, wirehaired and long. Ours are all long-haired, which comes from a recessive gene and gives the feathering on the ears, chest, legs and tail. It arrives properly at around four months, well after a puppy goes home, so expect your puppy to look considerably plainer than the adult you are picturing. The coat is silky rather than woolly and does not mat badly, but it needs brushing twice a week and it will find every burr in the neighbourhood.

Coats and colours

Dachshunds come in a wider range of colours than almost any other breed, and most of them are perfectly standard. Here is what you will see in our litters.

• Black & tan The classic: a black coat with defined tan points over the eyes, on the muzzle, chest and feet. Luna and Max are ours.
• Chocolate & tan The same pattern on a warm brown base, usually with lighter eyes. Milo and Cooper.
• Chocolate & cream Brown base with pale cream points, softer in contrast than the tan version. Teddy and Bella.
• Cream Pale throughout, without points. On a long coat it is a striking, feathery look. Daisy is a cream.
• Red From light gold through to deep rust — the most common Dachshund colour of all. Charlie is a red.
• Dapple A mottled pattern laid over a base colour, the Dachshund equivalent of merle. None in this season’s litters, though Cooper, Max and Luna’s sire is a blue dapple.
• Piebald Irregular white patching over a coloured base. Unrelated to dapple, and carries none of the same risk. None in this season’s litters, though Milo and Charlie’s dam is a sable piebald.
• Sable & brindle Hair-by-hair or striped patterning over a red base. Less common in the long coat.

A word of caution about dapple. Dapple is the Dachshund's version of merle, and breeding two dapples together produces "double dapples" — a pairing that causes serious deafness, microphthalmia and blindness in a large share of the puppies. It is the single clearest test of whether a Dachshund breeder is worth buying from. A responsible one pairs a dapple only ever with a non-dapple. Ours are paired that way, and if a breeder cannot tell you the dapple status of both parents, walk away.

Health: what a long back actually means

This is the part of the breed that deserves more than a footnote. A Dachshund's spine is long and its legs are short because of a form of dwarfism — chondrodystrophy — which is deliberately fixed in the breed. The same gene that shortens the legs also changes how the discs between the vertebrae age: they harden and become brittle years earlier than in other dogs.

The result is intervertebral disc disease, IVDD, in which a disc bulges or ruptures into the spinal canal. It causes pain, and in bad cases partial or complete hind-leg paralysis. It is usually treatable — with crate rest in mild cases, with surgery in severe ones — and many dogs recover fully. But treatment is expensive and the risk is real.

We are not going to give you a comforting number here. Published estimates of how many Dachshunds are affected in their lifetime vary widely depending on the population studied, and any breeder who quotes you a precise figure for their own line is guessing. What is not in dispute is that it is the most common serious health problem in the breed, that it is substantially genetic, and that no line is free of it.

What you can actually do about it:

• Keep the dog lean. This is the single biggest thing within your control. Every extra pound loads a spine that is already carrying an unusual amount of leverage. You should be able to feel the ribs easily.
• Stop the jumping. Off the sofa, off the bed, out of the car. The landing is what does the damage. Ramps and pet steps are cheap and they work, and a puppy taught to use one from the start will use it for life.
• Manage stairs. Carry them up and down while they are young. A gate at the top of the stairs is a reasonable permanent arrangement.
• Lift them correctly. One hand under the chest, one under the hindquarters, the back level. Never by the front legs, never under the armpits with the spine dangling.
• Harness, not collar. A Dachshund that pulls against a neck collar puts strain straight through the cervical spine, and neck discs are a common site.
• Insure early. IVDD surgery can run into thousands. Cover taken out before any symptom appears is worth having.

Beyond the back, the breed also sees patellar luxation, progressive retinal atrophy, and — in the older dogs — heart valve disease. Several of our parents carry OFA certifications for heart and knees, which is noted on the relevant puppy listings. Our basic care guide covers the day-to-day routine.

Is a miniature Dachshund right for you?

Probably yes if you want a genuinely characterful companion that suits a flat or a house, you are home often, you can commit to a ramp and a lean feeding regime, and you find stubbornness funny rather than infuriating.

Probably not if you want a dog that reliably does as it is told, you need a quiet dog for a shared wall, your household includes toddlers who will pick the dog up, or you were hoping for a running companion — the shape is not built for distance.