Dachshund My first dachshund trained me long before I ever got around to training her.
She figured out that one dramatic sigh from the hallway rug would get her lifted onto the couch. She decided that barking at the mail carrier was the reason he left, which made her, in her own estimation, the only competent security system in the house.
By month four I was hand-delivering rotisserie chicken to a dog who still would not come when called. That is not a training plan. That is a hostage negotiation with better snacks.
Here is what nobody tells you at the breeder’s house or the shelter. Dachshunds are not stubborn in the way people usually mean it. They are independent problem-solvers, bred to squeeze into a dark tunnel and make life-or-death choices without a human yelling suggestions from above ground.
That badger-hunting brain is still fully installed behind those soulful eyes.
Which means the standard advice written for golden retrievers lands about as well as a screen door on a submarine. Ask me how I know.
The good news? A genuinely well-behaved doxie is absolutely within reach. You just have to stop fighting the wiring and start using it.
1. Give That Nose a Real Job
A bored dachshund is a self-employed dachshund, and the job it invents for itself is usually something you will not enjoy paying for.
Digging up the yard. Redecorating the baseboards. Shredding one specific throw pillow with a level of focus that borders on artistic.
Scent work fixes an astonishing amount of this. Hide five treats around the living room, say "find it," and watch a dog who was climbing the walls three minutes ago turn into a tiny, satisfied bloodhound.
Why sniffing beats sprinting
Ten minutes of nose work tires a dachshund more thoroughly than a half hour walk, and it does not grind on a long back the way endless stair climbing does.
A dachshund without a purpose will simply write its own job description, and the pay is always in furniture.
Snuffle mats, cardboard box puzzles, treats rolled inside an old towel: all of it counts. None of it costs much.
2. Reward the Quiet, Not the Noise
Dachshunds bark. That is not a bug, it is the original feature request, and pretending otherwise will only make you miserable.
The mistake most of us make is responding only when the barking starts. You shush, you look over, you get up. Congratulations, you just paid for a bark.
Try flipping it. The instant your dog goes quiet, even for two seconds, mark it and treat it.
The two-second window
Timing is everything here. Wait five seconds and your dog thinks the treat came from staring at the window, not from being silent.
Say "yes" the moment the noise stops. Then deliver.
Do this for a week and you will notice something strange: the barking bursts get shorter, because your dog has quietly worked out which behavior actually opens the treat vault.
3. Build a Crate They Actually Like
Plenty of doxie owners skip the crate because it feels mean. Then they end up with a dog who cannot be left alone for eleven minutes without a full emotional collapse.
A crate is not a punishment. It is a bedroom, and dachshunds are burrowers by design, so most of them take to it faster than you would guess.
Feed every single meal in there with the door open. Toss a chew inside and walk away. Drape a blanket over the top so it feels like a den instead of a display case.
The goal is not a dog who tolerates the crate. The goal is a dog who wanders in on their own when the house gets loud.
Never, and I mean never, use it as a time-out after something goes wrong.
4. Train Recall Before You Desperately Need It
Recall is the one command where a dachshund’s independence becomes an actual safety issue.
Once that nose locks onto a scent trail, your voice becomes background noise. Distant. Optional. Roughly as compelling as a podcast you forgot to turn off.
So build it early, indoors, with zero competition. Say the word, run backward a few steps, and pay outrageously when they arrive.
Make the payment absurd
Kibble will not cut it for recall training. Use the good stuff: cheese, hot dog slices, freeze-dried liver, whatever makes your dog lose composure.
And here is the rule I break least often. Coming when called must always be the best thing that has happened all day, even when your dog took forty seconds and stopped to sniff a leaf on the way.
If recall ever predicts a bath, a nail trim, or the end of the fun, you have poisoned the word and will need a new one.
5. Set the Furniture Rules on Day One
Dachshunds are opinionated about real estate. Give one an inch of couch and they will file a claim on the entire cushion by Thursday.
This matters for two reasons, and only one of them is behavioral.
Repeated jumping down from tall furniture is genuinely rough on a long spine, so ramps and steps are worth the money regardless of what you decide about access.
The behavior part is simpler than people think: pick a rule and keep it identical every day. Sometimes allowed is the most confusing message you can send to a dog who is constantly running experiments on you.
Want them on the couch? Fine, but teach an invitation cue so it happens on your terms.
Want them off? Give them something better at floor level: a bolster bed, a blanket nest, something warm they can burrow into without negotiating.
6. Keep Training Sessions Short and Slightly Ridiculous
Long training sessions are where dachshund enthusiasm goes to die.
Five minutes. That is the sweet spot. Three sessions of five minutes will outperform one grim twenty minute slog every time.
End while your dog still wants more, which feels wrong and works beautifully.
Read the disengagement signals
Watch for the tell: your dog looks away, sniffs the floor, suddenly discovers a fascinating spot on their own leg. That is not defiance, that is a brain that has hit capacity.
Stop there. Trying to push through it teaches your dachshund that training sessions are something to be endured rather than enjoyed.
And keep it light. Silly voices, a little clapping, treats tossed for them to chase: goofiness is not unprofessional, it is fuel.
7. Stop Repeating Yourself
Watch a frustrated owner at any dog park and you will hear it. "Sit. Sit. SIT. Sit down. Sitsitsit."
What that dog has learned is that the real cue is not "sit" at all. The real cue is the fourth "sit," delivered at a slightly unhinged volume.
Say it once. Then wait, count silently to five, and let your dog actually think.
Silence is a training tool. Filling every gap with repeated commands only teaches your dog that the first one never mattered.
Dachshunds are processors. That pause you are tempted to fill is the exact moment they are working out what you want.
If nothing happens after five seconds
Do not repeat the word. Go back a step instead: lure with a treat, help them into position, mark it, pay it.
Then reset and try the cue again fresh. Same word, same tone, same single delivery.
You are not being ignored nearly as often as you think. You are usually being considered, which is a very different thing, and honestly a bit flattering once you make peace with it.