70 free Dachshund trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Dachshund trivia quiz digs into the badger dog from every angle: what the name means and why Germans say Dackel, the 18th-century 'badger crawler', the crook-legged ancestors that were twice the size of today's dogs, and the deliberately bred ears and tail. There are questions on the three coats and three sizes (including the FCI's rabbit-sized kaninchen and unofficial 'tweenies'), colours and dapple genetics, and the stubborn, rash temperament that E. B. White found untrainable. History and culture get plenty of room: Queen Victoria's fondness, 'liberty hounds' in World War I, Rommel and the Kaiser's pheasant-killing pair, Waldi at the 1972 Munich Olympics, wiener racing and earthdog trials, and the health facts every owner should know about backs and discs. Then the famous dogs and owners: Picasso's Lump, Chekhov's Bromide and Quinine, Warhol's Archie and Amos, Jack Ruby's Sheba, Grover Cleveland, Adele's Louie, Obie, Slinky Dog and Valerie of Kangaroo Island. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Basset Hound quizzes next.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The name Dachshund is German for what?
Badger dog
Dachs is badger and Hund is dog; ironically, modern Germans mostly use a shorter nickname.
Q 02In modern Germany, what short name is most commonly used for the Dachshund?
Dackel
Teckel is the name hunters tend to use for their working dogs.
Q 03The Dachshund was originally bred to scent, chase and flush out which animal from its burrow?
Badgers
The miniature version was developed for smaller burrowing game.
Q 04The miniature Dachshund was bred to hunt what?
Rabbits
The FCI even recognises a third, smaller size named after the German word for rabbit.
Q 05What is the Dachshund commonly nicknamed in the British Isles and Australasia?
Sausage dog
In the US and Canada the same shape earns it the name wiener dog.
Q 06Which British monarch was famously enamoured of Dachshunds?
Queen Victoria
The breed was kept in royal courts all over Europe, including the German Kaiser's.
Q 07Early 18th-century books gave the breed which name, meaning 'crawler after its quarry'?
Dachs Kriecher
The alternative name was Dachs Krieger, 'warrior'.
Q 08How heavy were the original German Dachshunds compared with today's full-size dogs?
Heavier, at 31 to 40 lb
They came in straight-legged and crook-legged varieties; the modern dog descends from the crook-legged type.
Q 09In packs, Dachshunds were known to hunt game as large as wild boar and as fierce as which animal?
The wolverine
They were also used to trail wounded deer and to hunt foxes.
Q 10The Dachshund's flap-down ears were deliberately bred in for what purpose?
To keep grass seeds and dirt out of the ear canal
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.
Q 11What is one practical purpose of the Dachshund's famous curved tail?
To help haul the dog out of a burrow
It also makes the dog easier to spot in long grass.
Q 12Which of the three Dachshund coat types is the oldest?
Smooth-haired
The smooth gave rise to both later coats; the rough coat was the last to develop, in the late 19th century.
Q 13The rough-coated Dachshund may have been crossed with which hard-coated breed?
The Schnauzer
The Dandie Dinmont Terrier and Scottish Terrier are also suspected contributors.
Q 21In the US and UK the Dachshund is classed among the hounds, but how does the FCI classify it?
In a group of its own
Its persistent, tunnelling personality makes a case for the terriers, but its scent-trailing ancestry argues for the hounds.
Q 22A Dachshund's front paws are disproportionately large and paddle-shaped. What are they suited for?
Digging
Its skin is also loose enough not to tear while tunnelling through tight burrows.
Q 23What is the most common Dachshund colour?
Red
Rough-coated dogs also come in a shade called 'wild boar'.
Q 14During World War I, US popularity of the Dachshund plummeted and the dogs were renamed what?
Liberty hounds
It was the same impulse that turned sauerkraut into 'liberty cabbage'.
Q 15Which German field marshal of World War II was known for keeping Dachshunds?
Erwin Rommel
Political cartoonists had used the breed to ridicule Germany since the Kaiser's day.
Q 16The Dachshund was chosen as the first official Olympic mascot for which Games?
Munich 1972
The marathon course was even designed to trace the mascot's outline.
Q 17What was the name of the Dachshund mascot of the 1972 Summer Olympics?
Waldi
An earlier candidate, also a Dachshund, had been called Lumpi; Schuss was the unofficial 1968 Winter mascot.
Q 18Which designer, also responsible for the Lufthansa logo, created the 1972 Olympic Dachshund mascot?
Otl Aicher
He based it on a real Dachshund named Cherie von Birkenhof.
Q 19Which two colours were kept off the 1972 Olympic mascot's stripes over Nazi associations?
Black and red
The 1972 Munich Games were styled as the optimistic 'Rainbow Games'.
Q 20The 1972 Olympic mascot represented three athletic qualities: resistance, tenacity and what?
Agility
More than two million pieces of mascot merchandise were sold worldwide.
Q 24Which coat variety is the most common in Germany?
Wire-haired
It was also the last of the three coats to appear in breeding standards.
Q 25Why did the Dachshund Club of America remove the term 'double-dapple' from its standard in 2007?
The gene commonly causes blindness and deafness
Double dapples carry the merle pattern plus white patches where the gene expresses itself twice.
Q 26What is the German name for the smallest Dachshund size, recognised by the FCI but not in the US or UK?
Kaninchen
It means 'rabbit', and the dogs weigh only 3.5 to 5 kg.
Q 27What are Dachshunds that fall between miniature and standard size unofficially called?
Tweenies
It is an increasingly common size for family pets but has no official standing.
Q 28How much does a full-grown standard Dachshund typically weigh?
16 to 32 lb
Miniatures come in under 12 lb, and the FCI's smallest size at 8 to 11 lb.
Q 29Some kennel clubs, such as Germany's, separate miniature from standard Dachshunds by measuring what?
Chest circumference
The AKC uses weight instead; Germany measures chest, height and weight.
Q 30Which essayist would 'rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club' than get his Dachshund Fred to obey?
E. B. White
Fred appears in many of White's famous essays.