Dachshund Nine o’clock on a Tuesday night, and the couch cushion is moving. Not much, just a slow rise and fall under the throw blanket where a small brown lump has burrowed itself into a warm pocket of fabric.
You reach in to pet him. He growls. Not a real growl, more of a grumble, the kind that says you have entered my chamber uninvited.
And this is the moment where a lot of us make our first mistake. We laugh, we back off, and we file it under "he’s just being funny."
Six months later, nobody in the house can move a blanket without negotiating.
Dachshunds are professional negotiators. They are small, they are stubborn, and they have somehow convinced an entire species that badgering is a personality trait rather than a job description. Raising one well takes a specific kind of attention.
Here are the mistakes that trip up even devoted owners.
1. Treating the Back Like It’s Indestructible
That long spine is not a design flaw so much as a design specialty, and specialties come with maintenance requirements.
Intervertebral disc disease shows up in roughly a quarter of dachshunds at some point. The discs between the vertebrae degenerate earlier and faster than in most breeds.
The Jumping Problem
Off the couch. Off the bed. Down the back steps in one enthusiastic launch.
Every one of those landings sends a shock straight through a spine that was never built to absorb it. Ramps and pet stairs feel like overkill until the day they aren’t.
A dachshund who never learns to jump down from furniture is not a deprived dachshund. He is a dachshund with a longer, better back.
Start the ramp habit when they’re puppies. Retrofitting the habit onto a five year old who has been leaping off the ottoman since birth is a much harder sell.
2. Letting the Cute Override the Training
A German Shepherd who lunges at the mailman is a problem. A dachshund who lunges at the mailman is, apparently, hilarious.
That double standard is how bad habits calcify.
Small dogs get away with behavior that would never fly in a bigger body, and dachshunds are smart enough to notice exactly where the line is drawn.
Train the behavior you would want in a seventy pound dog. Then enjoy the fact that it’s happening in a fourteen pound one.
3. Skipping Early Socialization
Dachshunds were bred to work alone underground against an animal that fights back. Wariness is baked in.
Without deliberate exposure to strangers, other dogs, kids, wheelchairs, umbrellas, and the general chaos of the outside world, that wariness hardens into genuine reactivity.
What Socialization Actually Means
Not just seeing things. Seeing things and having a neutral or good experience with them.
Dragging a nervous puppy into a loud farmers market is not socialization, it’s flooding, and it usually makes things worse.
Go slow. Reward calm. Let the dog choose to approach.
4. Free-Feeding and Table Scraps
Weight gain is not a cosmetic issue in this breed. It’s a spinal one.
Every extra pound presses down on a structure that is already working overtime. A dachshund who is 20% overweight is carrying that load across an unusually long lever.
The problem is that dachshunds are exceptional beggars. They have perfected the upward stare, the single paw lift, the theatrical sigh.
Measure the food. Weigh the dog monthly. Adjust before it becomes a project.
5. Assuming They Don’t Need Much Exercise
Short legs mislead people. These are hunting dogs with hunting stamina, and a bored dachshund becomes a destructive dachshund with startling speed.
Two solid walks a day, plus something that engages the nose, and you have a completely different animal in the evenings.
Sniffing Counts as Work
A twenty minute walk where the dog gets to investigate everything tires them out more than a forty minute march at heel.
Scent work is the closest thing to their original job. Hide treats around a room. Scatter kibble in the grass. Buy a snuffle mat.
Mental tiredness beats physical tiredness in a breed that was designed to solve problems in the dark, underground, without supervision.
6. Underestimating the Digging
Yes, they will dig. In the yard, in the garden bed, in your laundry pile, in a blanket that cost more than you want to admit.
This is not naughtiness. It’s the entire reason the breed exists.
Fighting it head on rarely works. Redirecting it does: a sandbox, a designated digging corner, a pile of old towels they’re allowed to destroy.
7. Inconsistent House Training
Dachshunds have a reputation for being difficult to potty train, and honestly, some of that reputation is earned.
Small bladders, stubborn streaks, and a strong preference for not going outside when the grass is wet.
Why Consistency Beats Everything
A dachshund who succeeds nine times and gets away with it once has learned that the once is possible.
Crate training, scheduled trips outside, immediate rewards, and zero punishment after the fact. They cannot connect a scolding to something that happened four minutes ago.
Rain matters more than you’d think. Buy a small dog raincoat, cover part of the yard, or accept that you’ll be standing outside holding an umbrella over a very unimpressed sausage.
8. Missing the Separation Anxiety Signals
Dachshunds bond hard. Frequently to one person, intensely, permanently.
That devotion is wonderful right up until you need to leave the house.
Destructive chewing, howling, pacing, accidents in a fully house trained dog: these are not spite. They’re panic.
Build alone time early. Short absences that gradually stretch longer. A stuffed frozen chew that makes your departure predictable and slightly enjoyable.
9. Ignoring the Teeth
Small mouths crowd teeth, and crowded teeth trap plaque.
Periodontal disease in dachshunds is common enough that many will need extractions by middle age if nothing is done about it.
Brushing three times a week makes a meaningful difference. Dental chews help. Professional cleanings under anesthesia are worth budgeting for.
The Signs People Miss
Bad breath is not just a quirk of small dogs. It’s usually bacteria.
Watch for dropping food, chewing on one side, or a sudden reluctance to take hard treats.
10. Letting Them Run the Household
The blanket growl from the beginning of this article is a small thing. Dozens of small things stack into a dog who genuinely believes he sets the terms.
Resource guarding, refusing to move off furniture, barking until demands are met: these develop gradually, and each individual instance seems too minor to address.
The dachshund is not trying to dominate anyone. He is simply an excellent opportunist who has correctly identified which rules are negotiable.
Set expectations and hold them. Ask for a sit before meals. Practice giving up items on cue while the stakes are low, using a trade rather than a grab.
None of this requires harshness. Dachshunds respond terribly to heavy handed correction and beautifully to clear, boring, reliable structure.
Building the Habits That Stick
The pattern across all ten of these is the same: dachshunds are so charming that we let things slide, and the sliding compounds.
Pick two things from this list to work on this month. Not ten. Two.
Maybe it’s the ramp by the couch and a measured scoop instead of a poured one. Maybe it’s fifteen minutes of nose work before dinner and a trade game with a high value chew.
Small consistent adjustments beat sweeping resolutions that dissolve by the second week.
And your dachshund, being the opportunist he is, will adapt to whatever the new normal turns out to be. He would just prefer you didn’t tell him about it in advance.