Dachshund Why does a dog small enough to nap inside a shoebox act like taking orders is beneath him?
That question gets asked in obedience classes, in muddy backyards, and at 6 a.m. in the rain by people holding a leash attached to nothing but a small, defiant sausage. Dachshund owners ask it constantly.
And they usually ask it while the dog is doing something genuinely impressive that nobody taught him, like opening a low cabinet or excavating the exact couch cushion where a treat fell three days ago.
So the reputation is real. Ask around and you will hear that dachshunds are hard to train, that they are stubborn, that they will housetrain eventually if you are patient and slightly lucky.
The truth is more interesting than that, and honestly, more flattering to the dog.
The Honest Answer: Yes, But Not For The Reason You Assume
Dachshunds are harder to train than a golden retriever. That part is not a myth.
What is a myth is the idea that they are dim, or that they refuse to learn. A dachshund learns constantly. He learned which drawer holds the treat bag, which chair gets him onto the counter, and exactly how long you will tolerate barking before you give in.
He is not failing to learn. He is declining to comply, which is a completely different problem with a completely different solution.
Blame The Badgers
Everything confusing about dachshund behavior makes sense the second you remember what this breed was built to do.
Bred To Ignore You On Purpose
Dachshunds were developed in Germany to go underground and confront badgers. A badger is a large, furious animal with claws designed for digging through packed earth, and it does not appreciate visitors.
Once that dog was down a tunnel, no human could see him, reach him, or advise him. He had to decide on his own whether to press forward or back off.
A dog that waited for instructions in that scenario was a dog that got hurt.
Independence was not a personality flaw in the breeding program. It was the entire point of the job description, and it lives in your dog’s head today whether or not there is a badger in the yard.
Now take that hardwired confidence and put it in a living room, and ask it to sit politely while a doorbell rings. You can see the problem.
The Nose Files A Competing Claim
Dachshunds are scent hounds. The nose is not a hobby, it is a governing body.
When your dog goes deaf on a walk and drags you sideways toward a hedge, he is not being rude. He has received information that, from his perspective, outranks anything you are currently saying.
This is why recall training is so much work with this breed. You are not competing with distraction, you are competing with a whole sensory world you cannot perceive.
"Stubborn" Is Usually The Wrong Word
Stubborn implies the dog understands and refuses out of spite.
More often, one of three things is happening: he does not fully understand the cue in that specific context, the reward is not worth the effort, or something in the environment is paying him better than you are.
Reframe it that way and training stops feeling like a battle of wills. It becomes a negotiation, and you are the one who controls the budget.
The Three Hills Dachshund Owners Die On
Every breed has predictable sticking points. These are the ones that fill dachshund forums at midnight.
Housetraining
This is the big one, and it is genuinely harder with dachshunds than with most breeds.
Part of it is bladder size. Part of it is that they are low to the ground and deeply unenthusiastic about wet grass, cold air, and rain. A dachshund who dislikes the weather will hold it outside for ten minutes and then relieve himself the instant he is back on warm carpet.
Consistency wins here, but so does removing the excuse. A covered potty area, a small patch of pea gravel, or a sheltered spot near the door can cut your training time dramatically.
Crate training helps enormously, assuming the crate is sized correctly and introduced as a good place rather than a punishment. And accidents need enzyme cleaner, not regular soap, because a lingering scent mark is basically a signed invitation.
Recall
Coming when called is the skill most dachshund owners quietly give up on.
Do not give up on it, but do be realistic. A hound following a fresh trail is running on a very old set of instructions, and no amount of shouting overrides that in the moment.
Train recall on a long line for months before you trust it in open space. Pay outrageously well every single time. Never call your dog to end something fun, or you have just taught him that his name means the party is over.
The Barking
Dachshunds bark. They were bred to bark underground so the hunter above could locate them, which means the volume coming out of that little chest is a feature and not a defect.
You will not eliminate it. You can absolutely reduce it.
A dachshund who barks at everything is often a dachshund with nothing better to do. Boredom is loud, and the fix is usually a job rather than a correction.
Teaching a "quiet" cue works, but only if you first acknowledge the alert. Look toward whatever he is announcing, thank him, then cue quiet and reward the silence. Ignoring him entirely just makes him escalate, because as far as he knows, you have not heard the intruder yet.
How To Train A Dog Who Negotiates
Here is where dachshund owners either succeed or spend a decade frustrated.
Raise Your Pay Rate
Dry kibble is not currency to a scent hound standing in an interesting backyard.
Bring the good stuff: chicken, cheese, freeze-dried liver, whatever makes his eyes go wide. Save the highest-value rewards exclusively for the hardest skills, like recall and leaving something on the ground.
You are not bribing him. You are making cooperation the most profitable choice available, which is exactly how you get a dog to volunteer.
Keep Sessions Absurdly Short
Three minutes. Maybe five.
Dachshunds get bored, and a bored dachshund starts inventing his own agenda. Two or three tiny sessions a day will outperform one long one every time.
Always stop while he still wants more.
Let The Nose Do Some Of The Work
This is the trick most owners miss entirely, and it changes everything.
Scent games are effortless enrichment for this breed. Scatter treats in the grass, hide food under cups, build a snuffle mat, or teach a simple "find it" cue.
Fifteen minutes of nose work tires a dachshund out more thoroughly than a long walk, and a satisfied dog is a far more agreeable student.
Manage What You Cannot Train Away
Some things are not training problems, they are architecture problems.
Block the couch jumps if his back is at risk. Use a harness rather than a collar. Gate off the room with the tempting rug. Ramps are not an admission of defeat, they are protecting a spine that was never designed for repeated impact.
Good management is not cheating. It is the difference between a dog who practices bad habits daily and a dog who never gets the chance to build them.
What Progress Actually Looks Like
Forget the fantasy of a dog who performs flawlessly on the first ask.
With a dachshund, progress looks like a two-second pause before he decides. It looks like him glancing back at you on a walk without being called. It looks like the barking stopping after four rounds instead of twenty.
Those are enormous wins, and they compound quietly over months.
The owners who succeed with this breed are the ones who stop measuring against retrievers and start appreciating what they actually have: a small, funny, wildly clever dog who was built to make his own decisions, and who will happily make them with you once you give him a reason worth considering.