Dachshund Ask ten dachshund owners why their dog blows off a recall, and nine of them will reach for the same word: stubborn. That single label is the most damaging misconception in the breed, and it quietly sabotages more training progress than any other factor.
Stubborn implies your dog understands the request perfectly and is refusing out of spite. What is actually going on is far less personal and far more fixable.
Dachshunds were built to go down a badger tunnel alone, in the dark, with no handler shouting instructions from above. Independent decision making was not a personality flaw; it was the entire job description. A dog bred for centuries to solve problems without input is never going to check in with you every four seconds the way a border collie does.
The myth sticks around because the honest version is less flattering to us. "He’s being stubborn" is a much easier sentence to say than "my treat was worth less than that squirrel."
Once you stop framing these behaviors as defiance and start framing them as unmet needs or unclear communication, the fixes get surprisingly fast. Here are the five that push owners closest to the edge.
1. Barking at Absolutely Everything
Doorbell. Delivery truck. Neighbor sneezing two houses down. Leaf.
Dachshunds have a bark that seems physically impossible for their body size, and that is not an accident. Field dachshunds needed a voice loud enough to travel through packed earth so the hunter could locate them underground.
You are not living with an oversensitive small dog. You are living with a purpose built alarm system that has no off switch and no context for suburban life.
What actually stops it
Yelling adds volume to the situation, and your dachshund hears backup, not correction. Instead, teach a "check in" pattern: the moment barking starts, say a marker word, then walk to the fridge and deliver something excellent.
Repeat that for a week and the trigger changes meaning. Truck arrives, dog looks at you, cheese happens.
Manage the environment too. Frosted window film on the front window and a white noise machine near the door will cut the raw number of triggers in half, which gives the training room to work.
A dachshund does not bark to annoy you. A dachshund barks because nobody ever told it the job was finished.
2. Housetraining That Just Will Not Stick
Ask any longtime owner about house training and watch their eye twitch. Dachshunds are widely considered one of the slower breeds to reliably train, and there are real reasons behind it.
Small bladders, low ground clearance, and a deep hatred of wet grass all conspire against you. A dachshund standing in cold rain at four inches off the ground is having a much worse time than a labrador in the same weather.
Add a dog that is very good at slipping behind the couch unnoticed, and accidents multiply.
Tighten the schedule, shrink the space
Go back to basics without shame. Out first thing, after every meal, after every nap, after every play session, and before bed, on a leash, to the same spot every time.
Reward within three seconds of the last drop, not when you get back inside. Timing is doing almost all the work here.
Then take away the freedom to make mistakes. Baby gates, closed doors, or a leash clipped to your belt loop for two weeks will do more for you than any spray, pad, or gadget on the market.
Clean past accidents with an enzymatic cleaner, because regular cleaners leave a scent marker your dog reads as a bathroom sign.
3. Destructive Digging and Tunneling
Blankets shredded. Couch cushions excavated. A fresh crater in your raised beds where the tomatoes used to be.
Digging is not misbehavior in this breed; it is instinct arriving right on schedule.
Give the instinct a legal address
Fighting the drive rarely works. Redirecting it works almost immediately.
Build a dig zone: a cheap plastic kiddie pool or a corner of the yard filled with loose soil or play sand. Bury a few treats and one favorite toy just under the surface, then bring your dog over and start digging with your hands like a lunatic until they join in.
Most dachshunds catch on within two or three sessions. Praise every dig that happens in the right place and calmly interrupt digs that happen anywhere else.
Indoors, hand your dog a snuffle mat or a towel rolled around kibble. Ten minutes of hunting for hidden food burns more mental energy than a half hour walk, which is why so much household destruction quietly disappears once you add it.
4. Velcro Dog Syndrome and Separation Panic
Bathroom door closed for ninety seconds. Screaming. Frantic scratching. Neighbor texting to ask if everything is alright.
Dachshunds bond hard and fast, and that loyalty is genuinely one of the best things about them. The flip side is a dog who treats a closed door as abandonment.
Real separation anxiety is a clinical condition and deserves a vet or behaviorist. Garden variety clinginess, though, responds well to boring, repetitive practice.
Make your departures forgettable
Stop the big goodbye. No sad voice, no long cuddle, no apology at the door, because all of it tells your dog that leaving is a significant event worth panicking about.
Practice fake exits instead. Pick up keys, sit back down. Put on shoes, watch television. Open the door, close it, do nothing.
Then build duration in tiny increments: thirty seconds, two minutes, five, ten. Leave a frozen stuffed toy that only appears when you go, so your absence becomes the best part of the day rather than the worst.
Confidence is not something you comfort into a dog. It is something you build in small, unglamorous repetitions.
5. Snapping, Guarding, and the Couch Cushion Standoff
Reaching for a chew and getting a growl feels shocking, especially from a dog that spent the morning asleep in your armpit. Resource guarding is common in the breed and it is frequently mishandled by well meaning owners.
Punishing a growl is the single worst response available. Growling is information, a warning label, and dogs who get scolded for it often skip straight to biting next time because the warning stopped working.
Trade, never take
Change the math. Walk toward your dog holding something better than whatever they have, drop it nearby, and walk away.
Do that thirty or forty times over a couple of weeks and your approach starts predicting an upgrade instead of a loss. The guarding usually softens on its own.
For furniture guarding, teach an "off" cue paired with a treat tossed onto the floor, so leaving the couch pays. Some households find it simpler to make the couch invitation only for a while.
If teeth have already made contact with skin, skip the self directed program and call a certified behavior professional. That is not failure; that is triage.
The fastest fix is almost never the loudest one.
The Pattern Underneath All Five
Notice what these five behaviors have in common. Every one of them is a working instinct running with no outlet, or a communication gap the dog never got help closing.
Nothing on this list requires dominance, alpha rolls, or a battle of wills. It requires better management, clearer timing, and rewards worth more than the alternative your dog is currently choosing.
Give a dachshund a job, a schedule, and a reason to check in with you, and the "stubborn" reputation starts looking a lot like a very smart dog waiting for better instructions.