Miniature Dachshunds...

sillysally

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#1
I had a fantastic mini dachshund as a kid named Hans. He had a great temperament, plenty of energy, and was up for anything.

I've often thought about eventually getting another, but several members of my family have since had some that were weird, neurotic, fearful, and nippy.

Has that become normal for the breed or did they just get "off" dogs? What has been your experience with mini dachshunds? Can they do agility or is it too dangerous for their backs?
 

Barbara!

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#2
I know of some GREAT sporting mini dachshund breeders that have dogs with some really "wow" temperaments. There are certainly some great dogs still around... They've just been sucked into the "toy breed" crowd and end up being overbred and ruined by BYBs.
 

*blackrose

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#3
I have met a LOT of nasty, annoying Dachshunds. That being said, I have met a lot of nasty, annoying Labradors and I still love the breed. :) All comes down to the breeder and the line of the dog. I have met a well bred Dachshund that I absolutely ADORED. Very intense, great temperament, LOVED to tug and was super athletic. (Please note: well bred does not always equal show bred.)

Gracie is also a great little dog with a stable temperament, but she's on the non-playful side of the spectrum. She's a BYB dog, although I have seen a lot "worse" BYB dogs out there (conformation and temperament wise).
 

Saeleofu

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#4
I have a friend that has a BYB doxie, and he's a great dog. NOT nippy at all, but he is a little shy with strangers. He's not really the kind of dog for agility, but he is pretty darn healthy. His temperament is basically Gavroche wrapped in a weiner-shaped package ;)
 

~Dixie's_Mom~

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#5
Chloe's part Dachshund and honestly she's (IMO) the perfect dog! She is ready to get up and go, play, have fun, and is just as happy to hang around the house doing nothing. She is older and we got her as an adult though, so she may have been a little less willing to settle when she was younger, I don't know.

She's perfectly housebroken, has only had a handful of accidents since the day we got her 3 or 4 years ago, and all were for understandable reasons (sick/moved to a new house/etc).

She's never ever been snappy or aggressive. She's AWESOME with kids, and is very tolerant. She has been put through the ringer a few times with crazy kid guests, and has always been very tolerant. If she really wants to get away, she will run to my lap or hide under our bed (only happens when the kids are just persistently annoying and rough, otherwise she LOVES kids.

She's good with other dogs of all kinds, and is "livable" with small animals. She will leave them alone if you are in the room, and keeping an eye on her, but I wouldn't trust her alone in a room with a caged hamster/rabbit/guinea pig/etc. She's been around cats before and likes to chase them, but she really couldn't hurt one, they are twice her size.

She isn't yappy, but she will alert bark, and does like to run up and down the fence line and bark at/with the neighbors Weimaraner, and can get barky when playing with other dogs/when excited.

She is a great all around dog, not nervous-y or aggressive like some of the BYB dachshunds (of course she's gotta be the product of one, or an irresponsible owner). She DEFINITELY isn't fearful in any sense of the word. Nothing phases her.

I will say however that she fixates on food, and will stare at it and shake. She's obsessed with eating and will literally eat until her body is bloated and she can hardly walk. But I think it's a result of being underfed/living in a shelter for 3 months/etc. She was skin and bones when we got her. She could stand to lose a pound or so now, but is pretty healthy. We just have to limit what she eats because she has gotten onto the table before and eaten SO much that I actually thought I'd need to take her to the vet. Her stomach was 3x it's normal size and she could hardly walk. But the next morning she was back to normal, it was freaky.

Other than that though, she really doesn't have any issues at all. She's a sweet snuggly girl and I love her to death. :)

ETA: As far as agility goes, I bet she could do it, but she has much longer legs than most dachshunds because she is part Chihuahua. She loves to jump and will turn into pogo-dog when she's excited lol! She can jump into my arms from the floor if I'm standing! It's crazy.
 

MandyPug

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#6
There's a couple doxies that do agility here. They jump the lowest heights to keep their backs safe (6" for AAC, 4" for CKC), one is named Wesley and he's a dapple smooth and is awesome. They may not have the highest Q rate but man he sure has fun.
 

AmandaNola

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#7
I have a 2 1/2 year old smooth red sable working line Miniature Dachshund. She's 9lbs of incredible dog! Smart, funny, loving, aloof (but not snippy, aggressive or shy), a quick thinker, great problem solver, great traveler. She's just incredible. Her name is Mia Bella Nola CGC, or Nola for short. :p This is her list of cues and tricks:

Sit
Down
Stay
Come
Off
Wait
Leave it/No
Let's go (basically a loose heel on either side)
Focus (look at me)
Hold up (stop pulling on the leash)
Stop! (drop on recall)
Up (both onto something and to put her paws on my leg)
Over
Load up (get in the car)
Touch
Here (during off leash walks, if I stop and say "here" it let's Nola know to stay close to me and stop walking ahead)
Spin (spin counterclockwise)
Turn (spin clockwise)
Take a bow
Bang
Shame! (cover her eyes)
Go get it (retrieve something)
Hold it (take and hold something in her mouth)
Paw
Wave
High five
Give kiss
Move your ass (scoot over)
Fist bump
Back up
Door (shut a door)
Bedtime (go under the covers)
Where's your ball? (go find your basketball)
Where's Mommy? (find me)
Where's Sweetie? (find her "grandma")
Where's Sugar? (find her "grandpa")
Photo shoot! (come running and pose at my feet)
Go find (follow an easy scent trail)
Who's that? (bark)
Hup'up! (jump into my arms)

I'm working toward Rally-O and Agility titles with her.

Here she is going over my backyard agility jumps:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiFm7yFJPbA[/YOUTUBE]

And of course some pictures!
 
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#9
We have a byb doxie, about to be 2 byb doxies. Both are double dapples but are smart, friendly and lots of energy. We have had some issues with potty training Olive, but its hard to teach her to ask to go out when she is deaf and mostly blind. She is getting better. But both dogs are a little aloof with strange dogs, but love every person they have ever met. They are great with our kids too
 
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#10
One BYB here. We don't actually know fully where he came from, or where he was purchased (could have been direct, or through a pet store, we'll never know), and since his AKC papers were lost by his last owner, all I remember is that his Dams name was "Slinky" with some roman numerals (I want to say either 6, or 16, not sure? I never got to see the papers, was just told what was on them). Quite honestly he's a good dog, he has his moments, worst is nail trims they're near impossible, but overall he's not a constant biter/nipper, nasty, harassing, or mean dog. He DOES try to push Jinj out of his food bowl, thank heavens I fixed Jinj so many years ago or Noods would have lost his face by now, but again he's not mean, he just stands there, inching closer and closer, till Jinj turns away and he swoops in for the win! Needless to say he gets a stern yelling when he's caught.

I know he's HEAVILY water down! He is far more like a toy breed than anything else, oh he does hunt! Birds, screw rodents it's all about the flyers, gotta watch him with the chickens. Agility isn't something I would recommend for the breed overall, every time I tell Enda's trainer some cute little story that ends with "he could be a really good agility dog" she gets the most mortified look, but really I never tell her about him jumping on our furniture (or how high it is), I know everyone would have a heart attack if they knew, maybe we're just being ignorant but for the most part I don't believe the breed is or has to be as fragile as people make them out to be, they were originally bred to hunt substantially sized game. But again, I wouldn't press a Dachsie to be "an agility dog" for major competition.

 

AmandaNola

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#11
She's adorable! She looks like a little firecracker! What is a "working line" dachshund--where would one find a breeder?
Oh she is, for sure! She's a real handful (think a Border Collie packed into a 9lb package), but I wouldn't change her for the world. She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!:p

Working line is like any other working line breed.:) Nola is technically from working and performance lines. Her breeders hunts and tracks with their Dachshunds, but also does Agility, Earthdog and Rally-O with their dogs, very successfully I might add! Nola seems to have gotten the more performance type, but still has her hunting moments (like the time she snatched a cardinal out of the air in mid flight).
Nola's grandparents were also German imports.

I found her breeder almost by accident; I handled for a Bloodhound breeder who also did tracking and SAR with her dogs, and she knew Nola's breeders. One thing led to another, and her she is!
 

milos_mommy

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#12
I've dealt with a few mini dachshunds, and most of them have been great little dogs.

If you keep in mind that they aren't going to be as biddable as a border collie or a lab, they're very intelligent and can be extremely trainable...if you figure out how to deal with them. IME they don't work to please you, they work to get something out of it - but they're also really affectionate with their families, so many will work for attention and play.

Prone to some health issues, obesity a main one, plus back issues. My ex's dog had seizures, but I don't know if that's a breed thing. The healthy ones live a long, comfortable life.
 

~Dixie's_Mom~

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#13
My ex's dog had seizures, but I don't know if that's a breed thing.
It may be, Chloe's had several seizures. I'm convinced that feeding grain-free helped but it may just be a timing thing. (She had seizures when we got her, I started feeding grain-free, she stopped. We ran out of food and started feeding her stuff that wasn't grain-free, she has 2 seizures in 2 days. I started her back on grain-free and she hasn't had one since.)
 

milos_mommy

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#14
Giselle's seizures were also diet related - I think it was if she had too much fat in her diet, which is a pretty unusual cause of seizures as far as I know.
 

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