About The Dachshund (Miniature)

The Dachshund is a short-legged, elongated dog breed of the hound family. The breed's name is German and literally means badger dog (der Dachs—badger; der Hund—dog). The breed was developed to scent, chase, and hunt badgers and other hole-dwelling animals. Due to the long, narrow build, they are sometimes referred to in the United States and elsewhere as a wiener dog, hot dog, or sausage dog. Although Dachshund is a German word, in German the Dachshund is known most commonly as the Dackel or Teckel.

Modern Dachshunds are characterized by their crooked legs, loose skin, and barrel-like chest, attributes that were deliberately added to the breed to increase their ability to burrow into tight spaces, as well as the long tail, which in hunting situations, is often used by the owner as a handle, to aid in extracting the Dachshund from the burrow hole after capturing its prey. They come in three coat varieties: Smooth, Longhaired, and Wirehaired; the Wirehaired variety is generally shorter in spine length than the other two. According to kennel club standards, the Miniature variety differs from the full-size only by size and weight, however, offspring from Miniature parents must never weigh more than the Miniature standard to be considered a Miniature as well.

Dachshunds have an enormous range of coloration. Dominant colors and patterns are red and black & tan, but also occurring are cream, blue, wild boar, chocolate brown, fawn, and a lighter "boar" red. The reds range from coppers to deep rusts, with somewhat common coarse black hairs peppered along the back, tail, face, and ear edges, lending much character and an almost burnished appearance; this is often very desirable and is referred to among breeders and enthusiasts as "stag", or an "overlay". Solid black and solid chocolate-brown Dachshunds occur and, even though quite handsome, their colors are nonstandard; that is, the dogs are disqualified from conformance competitions in the U.S. and of either kind usually sport light grey, light hazel, green or blue eyes, rather than the various shades of brown, they can also have two different color eyes, such as the dapple, can in rare cases have a blue and brown eye. Color aside, this eye condition has led to the double dapple coat being extremely disfavored among responsible breeders and owners.

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