Any Dachshund owners?

[TheSiege]

I am going to be looking at one tonight after work. My kids and I really want a dog. The owners said that they have kids from age 5 months to 5 years and he has been around kids. Anyone have a reason to or not to get one? He is doggy door trained as well.

 

[PuppyBreath]

Cute! Just YouTube it. Good luck~

 

[Buckeye269]

I have one. He is getting close to 4 years old. Hardest thing about them is potty training but he sounds good in that department. Only thing bad about mine is he is starting to have back problems which is very common.

 

[pete6032]

Back problems
Can't take them up/down stairs if you own a house with basement or second level, they will just sit at the top/bottom of stairs and whine at you.

 

[Cuda1447]

I have two mini's. They are super cute, but also needy/cuddly. Always want to be on your lap. Obviously back problems are a concern. With mine, I can't stop them from jumping up/down the couch. They just do it... so it's concerning. They are stubborn though. Probably more difficult to train than your average 'family' dog, but not bad by any means. Mine are also very yappy, but I'm sure YMMV.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Make sure your kids are taught not to chase the dog as he/she can be defensive. Also, everybody needs to learn how to pick the dog up(supporting his/her back).

 

[StinkyPinky]

Had one as a kid. She died of tetanus when she was 9

Never had any back problems though.

 

[Meghan54]

They can be very yippie, nippie, barkie dogs. They also love digging as that's what they were bred for....digging out badgers. They can need a lot of training while young to overcome their barking and nipping tendencies. Can be great dogs, tho. Just have to work with them. They're hunting dogs by breed, remember.

 

[mnewsham]

Short hair, long hair, or wire hair?

My ex had 3 long hair and 1 short hair. Very nice dogs but tend to have back problems mid-late life so you should be prepared for complications related to that. Not sure how common it is but one of them had diabetes as well and needed insulin shots every night, very expensive and obviously a lot of work to do that every night.

 

[Number1]

I own a male and a female. The female is better around kids.
Their legs are so short that they both have a hard time in the stairs.
They are both happy to spend the day on your lap.
Not very energetic and they like to sleep a lot.
We have to brush their teeth every day otherwise their breath smells horrible.
We have to be very careful with the type of food we feed them. Right now, each dog has his own food. I just spent $500 at the vet on the female (pancreatitis) because while we were on vacation, the house keeper fed her too much people food.
They don't swim very well.
They like to lick a lot and it can be enoying at time.
They are easy to contain and a small fence in your yard would do the job.

 

[SearchMaster]

A friend has like 6 of them (she rescues them from the pound). She spends a lot of money on them at the vet it seems. They don't seem overly yippy - they'll bark for a few seconds when someone is at the door but otherwise they are relatively quiet.

I had one as a young child but he bit a kid who jumped our fence to play on our swingset so we had to get rid of him or get dropped by homeowners insurance.

 

[bunker]

Had one as a kid. He slept with me and wouldn't let my mom get anywhere near me when she tried waking me up.

Great dog

Had to put him down at age 9 due to back problems. His brother, who our neighbors bought, was in a doggie wheel chair for two years because of his back.

 

[Wyndru]

My mom has 3 of them. Sweet dogs, but very protective. They will snap at anyone they don't trust.

And back problems with two of them so she has ramps setup up all over the house since they want to jump on the beds and couches.

 

[smackababy]

Never liked them. Had a few friends throughout my life with them and they just were terrible dogs.

OP, get a Staffordshire Terrier instead. They are great dogs and wonderful with children / other pets in the house. You have to socialize them though, or they won't be as friendly to outside pets.

 

[Brovane]

Have had two Mini-Dachshunds for a little over 10-years now. The oldest I took in as a rescue and she is around 11 the younger is around 9. The oldest I think came from a puppy mill. She has had back issues for over 5+ years now. The oldest is extremely high energy and when she was around 3 we had to have her de-barked because she literally barks at anything. We live in a two story house but we have a swinging baby gate that blockes the dogs from going upstairs. Every-once a while the oldest will do something stupid like jump off the couch wrong etc. We used to take her to the vets and several hundred dollars later we would come out will pills to keep her calm for a couple of weeks and X-rays telling us she had de-generative back disease, it was like no shit sherlock. So now when she tweaks her back we just crate her for 3-4 weeks and she is back to her old self after we let her out. Saves a lot on vet bills. The younger one we got from a reputable breader and she has no back issues and is very calm. Actually she is calm to the point of being extremely lazzy. Literally her day is filled with snoozing under a blanket on the couch. Both of them are wonderful dogs and they grew up with or 2 kids and they both love them. Also being little dogs they live a longer time than older dogs. Anyway Senior Doxies rule.

 

[BoberFett]

Not personally, but my grandmother always had Dachsies. She was German after all...

The only thing about Dachshunds is that they can be high strung. It's quite common for them to be snippy, so you need to train them very early on, things like taking their food while they're eating. Otherwise you'll have a biter on your hands a few years down the road.

 

[Wyndru]

I'm pretty bummed out now...2 hours after posting about my mom's 3 dachsies I found out that her oldest (11) who has been battling corneal endothelial degeneration in both eyes is going to have surgery tomorrow morning to remove both of his eyes.

He is such a good little pup, so well natured and laid back, and the only boy out of the 3.

I love animals so much, but it's so sad when they have health issues.

 

[Cuda1447]

I'm pretty bummed out now...2 hours after posting about my mom's 3 dachsies I found out that her oldest (11) who has been battling corneal endothelial degeneration in both eyes is going to have surgery tomorrow morning to remove both of his eyes.

He is such a good little pup, so well natured and laid back, and the only boy out of the 3.

I love animals so much, but it's so sad when they have health issues.

I hear ya man. We have three dogs. I'm dreading when they have health issues, which always eventually comes. My wife will be devastated. She loves these little bastards.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I have two. Apparently the back problems are *generally* more of a genetic condition than actual stress caused by their physical structure. Their discs calcify and become brittle and then rupture. This happens in other breeds too but is most common in Dachshunds. I'm sure physical stress on their backs accelerates the rupture, but if they have the condition it will happen anyway. One of mine had this problem and had surgery to correct it ($5k!! gg pet insurance). After a year, she is only back to about 80% and has poor bowel control. She just started jumping on the couch again, though, so I guess she is still improving slowly.

The irony to all this is that Dachshunds live longer than other breeds.

They're good dogs, but they are extremely headstrong so you just have to be up to it.

Back problems
Can't take them up/down stairs if you own a house with basement or second level, they will just sit at the top/bottom of stairs and whine at you.

My male used to go up and down stairs until he fell down them once. After that he just sits at the top and whines. hahaha

 

[boomhower]

I had one before, good little dogs. I'll get another one at some point down the road, on a large breed kick right now.

 

[LittleTinGod]

Mine growing up was half Dachshund, half Jack Russell Terrier. He could jump like you can't believe. Amazing dog, he would bark at strangers alot but why shouldn't he that's what dog's do, but he would never attack or bite at anyone. He was all show I really recommend this mix and would love to have another some day.

 

[Thump553]

If it's your first dog I recccomend against them because of the training issues. Get an easier dog.

I visit a lot of people's homes and most of the dachshunds I encounter are much too aggressive around strangers. I wouldn't have them around children-odds are it will be fine with your kid(s) but how about visitors?

 

[midnight growler]

I am not a dog owner but

"Being the owner of dachshunds, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor. Every sentence is a riot. Some day, if I ever get a chance, I shall write a book, or warning, on the character and temperament of the dachshund and why he can't be trained and shouldn't be. I would rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club than induce a dachshund to heed my slightest command. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something he wants to do."

—E. B. White (the guy who wrote Charlotte's Web)

 

[McLovin]

Meet Gia - Brown (Giada) and Tessa - Black & Tan (Contessa). They are both about 13 weeks old and I got them from a lady on Craigslist who was moving to Hawaii and couldn't keep them.

CUTENESS OVERLOAD!





OP, I've had nothing but Doxies since I was a kid, maybe 10 or so, and only 2 of them ended up with back issues. One had to be put down, but the other was able to make a somewhat successful recovery. They love and need attention. If you aren't prepared tfor that, you will have a really rough time with them.

 

[Number1]

I have two. Apparently the back problems are *generally* more of a genetic condition than actual stress caused by their physical structure. Their discs calcify and become brittle and then rupture. This happens in other breeds too but is most common in Dachshunds. I'm sure physical stress on their backs accelerates the rupture, but if they have the condition it will happen anyway. One of mine had this problem and had surgery to correct it ($5k!! gg pet insurance). After a year, she is only back to about 80% and has poor bowel control. She just started jumping on the couch again, though, so I guess she is still improving slowly.

The irony to all this is that Dachshunds live longer than other breeds.

They're good dogs, but they are extremely headstrong so you just have to be up to it.



My male used to go up and down stairs until he fell down them once. After that he just sits at the top and whines. hahaha

My little male goes up and down the stairs no problems. He stumbles once in a while but it doesn't seem to bother him. The female on the other hand will stand at the top of the stairs, whines and howls until somebody goes up the stairs and stands beside her. It seems that she need somebody beside her to gather up the courage to go downstairs. LOL