Paige and Rafe - The Mini Dachshunds

Despite their size, dachshunds are known for their courageous nature and will take on animals much larger than themselves. Some may be aggressive toward strangers and other dogs. As family dogs, dachshunds are loyal companions and good watchdogs. They are good with children if treated well.

True dachshund lovers know this breed wins for personality and flair. Between the iconically long silhouette and big-dog attitude, this breed takes the bacon when it comes to sheer doggy enthusiasm.

Lucky for dachshund owners, doxies are relatively clean and have little to no body odor. When you have a long-haired dachshund, they do occasionally need some extra TLC. Their glorious locks can get matted without good dog grooming.



The dachshund was developed in Germany and has existed since at least the 16th century. The name dachshund comes from the German words dachs (badger) and hund (dog). Dachshunds first came to the United States in 1870, imported to hunt rabbits, and gained official recognition in 1885. During the late 19th century, German hunters desired smaller dachshunds to be used on European hares, which lived in smaller burrows than the dachshunds' historic quarry the badgers and foxes. At first, some of the miniature dachshunds were just runts of their litters, but later others were created intentionally by crossing dachshunds with toy terriers and pinschers. Most of the miniature dachshunds produced this way did not have the characteristics of the dachshund (particularly its hunting prowess), however, and this type of crossbreeding was abandoned by 1910 in favor of the more time-consuming process of reducing the size of the dachshund through many generations of selective breeding.

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