70 Fun Facts About Dachshund

The name Dachshund is German for what?

Dachs is badger and Hund is dog; ironically, modern Germans mostly use a shorter nickname.

In modern Germany, what short name is most commonly used for the Dachshund?

Teckel is the name hunters tend to use for their working dogs.

The Dachshund was originally bred to scent, chase and flush out which animal from its burrow?

The miniature version was developed for smaller burrowing game.

The miniature Dachshund was bred to hunt what?

The FCI even recognises a third, smaller size named after the German word for rabbit.

What is the Dachshund commonly nicknamed in the British Isles and Australasia?

In the US and Canada the same shape earns it the name wiener dog.

Which British monarch was famously enamoured of Dachshunds?

The breed was kept in royal courts all over Europe, including the German Kaiser's.

Early 18th-century books gave the breed which name, meaning 'crawler after its quarry'?

The alternative name was Dachs Krieger, 'warrior'.

How heavy were the original German Dachshunds compared with today's full-size dogs?

They came in straight-legged and crook-legged varieties; the modern dog descends from the crook-legged type.

In packs, Dachshunds were known to hunt game as large as wild boar and as fierce as which animal?

They were also used to trail wounded deer and to hunt foxes.

The Dachshund's flap-down ears were deliberately bred in for what purpose?

The curved tail is also functional: it is visible in long grass and gives a handhold to pull a stuck dog out of a burrow.

What is one practical purpose of the Dachshund's famous curved tail?

It also makes the dog easier to spot in long grass.

Which of the three Dachshund coat types is the oldest?

The smooth gave rise to both later coats; the rough coat was the last to develop, in the late 19th century.

The rough-coated Dachshund may have been crossed with which hard-coated breed?

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier and Scottish Terrier are also suspected contributors.

During World War I, US popularity of the Dachshund plummeted and the dogs were renamed what?

It was the same impulse that turned sauerkraut into 'liberty cabbage'.

Which German field marshal of World War II was known for keeping Dachshunds?

Political cartoonists had used the breed to ridicule Germany since the Kaiser's day.

The Dachshund was chosen as the first official Olympic mascot for which Games?

The marathon course was even designed to trace the mascot's outline.

What was the name of the Dachshund mascot of the 1972 Summer Olympics?

An earlier candidate, also a Dachshund, had been called Lumpi; Schuss was the unofficial 1968 Winter mascot.

Which designer, also responsible for the Lufthansa logo, created the 1972 Olympic Dachshund mascot?

He based it on a real Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof.

Which two colours were kept off the 1972 Olympic mascot's stripes over Nazi associations?

The 1972 Munich Games were styled as the optimistic 'Rainbow Games'.

The 1972 Olympic mascot represented three athletic qualities: resistance, tenacity and what?

More than two million pieces of mascot merchandise were sold worldwide.

In the US and UK the Dachshund is classed among the hounds, but how does the FCI classify it?

Its persistent, tunnelling personality makes a case for the terriers, but its scent-trailing ancestry argues for the hounds.

A Dachshund's front paws are disproportionately large and paddle-shaped. What are they suited for?

Its skin is also loose enough not to tear while tunnelling through tight burrows.

What is the most common Dachshund colour?

Rough-coated dogs also come in a shade called 'wild boar'.

Which coat variety is the most common in Germany?

It was also the last of the three coats to appear in breeding standards.

Why did the Dachshund Club of America remove the term 'double-dapple' from its standard in 2007?

Double dapples carry the merle pattern plus white patches where the gene expresses itself twice.

What is the German name for the smallest Dachshund size, recognised by the FCI but not in the US or UK?

It means 'rabbit', and the dogs weigh only 3.5 to 5 kg.

What are Dachshunds that fall between miniature and standard size unofficially called?

It is an increasingly common size for family pets but has no official standing.

How much does a full-grown standard Dachshund typically weigh?

Miniatures come in under 12 lb, and the FCI's smallest size at 8 to 11 lb.

Some kennel clubs, such as Germany's, separate miniature from standard Dachshunds by measuring what?

The AKC uses weight instead; Germany measures chest, height and weight.

Which essayist would 'rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club' than get his Dachshund Fred to obey?

Fred appears in many of White's famous essays.

Which breed did a 2008 University of Pennsylvania study rate the most aggressive, with 20% having bitten strangers?

The study noted that bites from small dogs rarely cause serious injury and are probably under-reported.

The AKC standard says a Dachshund is 'clever, lively and courageous to the point of' what?

The standard adds that any display of shyness is a serious fault.

The Dachshund's long spine makes it prone to which condition, affecting 20-25% of the breed?

Calcified discs at a young age are highly heritable, and both Finland and the UK now run screening programmes.

Which university's vet hospital developed percutaneous laser disk ablation for Dachshund back disease?

As of 2003 it was used in trials only on Dachshunds that had already suffered back incidents.

Brittle bone disease in Dachshunds is mainly limited to which coat variety, with 17% carriers?

A genetic test lets breeders avoid carrier-to-carrier matings, which give each pup a 25 per cent chance of being affected.

A 2024 UK study found what life expectancy for the Miniature Dachshund?

The breed overall came in at 13.2 years, above the purebred average of 12.7.

Where did the Dachshund rank among AKC breeds in 2024?

It ranks in the top ten in 76 of 190 major US cities, being popular with apartment dwellers.

Why does the Dachshund Club of America oppose 'wiener racing'?

Despite the club's stance, races routinely draw several thousand spectators.

The Wiener Nationals, the de facto national championship of wiener dog racing, is held each December where?

It runs as part of the Holiday Bowl festivities, sponsored by the Wienerschnitzel chain.

How long is a typical Dachshund race?

Many entrants stop to visit other dogs rather than finish, and racing was first held in Australia in the 1970s.

In earthdog trials, Dachshunds enter tunnels to locate an artificial bait or which live, caged animal?

The tunnels have dead ends and obstacles to test the dog's persistence.

Which artist lived with a Dachshund named Lump and painted his portrait on a dinner plate at their first lunch?

Lump belonged to photographer David Douglas Duncan, but 'took over' the house at La Californie in Cannes.

The name of Picasso's Dachshund companion, Lump, is German for what?

Born in Stuttgart, he was originally bought as a companion for an Afghan Hound that treated him like a toy.

Which playwright kept two Dachshunds named Bromide and Quinine, now commemorated with statues at Melikhovo?

The names are a doctor's joke; Chekhov was a physician as well as a writer.

What were Andy Warhol's pair of Dachshunds, one of whom joined him in ads and on trips to Europe, called?

Duke and Baron were Lou Reed's, Stanley and Boodgie were David Hockney's, and Wadl and Hexl belonged to the Kaiser.

Whose dachshunds Wadl and Hexl killed one of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's golden pheasants?

It happened during a semi-official visit to the Archduke's seat at Konopiště castle.

Which US president kept a Dachshund in the White House?

John F. Kennedy bought a puppy named Dunker in Europe in 1937 but had to leave it in Germany after developing allergies.

What was the name of Jack Ruby's Dachshund, which he often referred to as his wife?

He owned four Dachshunds at the time of the shooting and had once had as many as ten.

A Dachshund named Maxie tried to wake his dead owner, actress Marie Prevost, inspiring a 1977 song by whom?

Maxie's barking eventually summoned the neighbours.

Which Danish royal, a lifelong Dachshund keeper, posed with her dog Lilia for her 80th birthday in 2020?

Several Danish royals keep the breed.

Adele's Dachshund Louie is named after which musician?

Lou Reed had his own pair of Dachshunds, Duke and Baron.

Valerie, an 8-pound Dachshund, made headlines in 2025 after surviving 529 days lost where in Australia?

The volunteer rescue took more than 1,000 hours, and she is thought to have lived on carrion.

Obie the Dachshund became famous for his obesity. What was his peak weight?

He reached his target of 28 lb in July 2013.

In which year did the Slinky Dog toy, later famous from Toy Story, first go on sale?

Helen Herrick Malsed of Washington state sent in the idea and earned royalties for 17 years without ever visiting the plant.

In The Secret Life of Pets, who voices Buddy, the laid-back miniature Dachshund?

Buddy lives in the same New York apartment building as Max the Jack Russell.

General Claire Lee Chennault's Dachshund Joe became the mascot of which famous World War II unit?

Joe later served the same role for the China Air Task Force.

The wife of Fallingwater's owner, Liliane Kaufmann, was a well-known breeder of which Dachshund variety?

Visitors to Frank Lloyd Wright's house can buy a book called Moxie about one of the dogs that lived there.

What did JFK name the Dachshund puppy he bought in Europe in 1937 for his girlfriend?

The puppy never left Germany because Kennedy started having allergic reactions.

Which newspaper magnate eulogised his dead Dachshund Helena in his own column?

The tribute ran in his 'In The News' column.

Which rock musician owned a pair of Dachshunds named Duke and Baron?

David Hockney, meanwhile, immortalised his pair, Stanley and Boodgie, in the book David Hockney's Dog Days.

What were the names of David Hockney's Dachshunds, painted for the book Dog Days?

Archie and Amos were Warhol's, Bromide and Quinine were Chekhov's, and Wadl and Hexl belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

What was the name of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable's Dachshund?

Kaiser Wilhelm II's Dachshund Senta, by contrast, is buried at Huis Doorn, his manor in the Netherlands.

Which social-media Dachshund wrote the bestseller Adventures of the Wiener Dog Extraordinaire!?

He also won a Shorty Award and was named People's Choice Animal Star of 2018.

In which Russian city do Dachshunds parade past a Dachshund monument every 25 July?

The parade marks the anniversary of the city's founding.

What term do German hunters mainly use for the working Dachshund?

It is sometimes wrongly thought to be a separate hunting breed or a mark of passing the VGP working-dog test.

Where did the Dachshund rank in the AKC's 2018 registration statistics?

By 2024 it had climbed to 6th, and it sits in the top ten in 76 of 190 major US cities surveyed.

Dachshunds are 2.5 times likelier than other breeds to develop which congenital heart defect?

Dilute-coloured dogs such as blues and Isabellas are also prone to colour dilution alopecia, a hair-loss disorder.

What did an analysis of 42,855 German Dachshund breeding records find as inbreeding rose?

Very young and older mothers also had smaller litters than middle-aged dams.

What unusual trait can the dapple gene give a Dachshund's irises?

Wall eyes are permitted by the Dachshund Club of America but undesirable under AKC standards.

On the intelligence-of-dogs ranking, Dachshunds obey a trained command what share of the time?

That puts them in the 'average working dog' band, though owners like E. B. White might dispute even that.