Tenacious teckel

Dachshunds may be small and slightly comical but don't be fooled: these fierce little dogs have almost endless sporting potential

- STEVEN MCGONIGAL

ON FIRST appearances teckels give all the impressions of a lapdog: small in stature with an almost comical look about them. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking they were nothing more than a companion dog. However, delve a little deeper and you may be surprised. To clear up any ongoing confusion, a dachshund is a teckel, and a teckel is a dachshund. They are the same thing. There are working and showing types but they are all teckels or dachshunds.

Although a German breed by origin, they have a long-established British connection going back as far as 1840 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were gifted some top-quality smooth-coated dogs by Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. These not only worked but had the pleasure of the Royal Kennels. Dachshunds have long enjoyed a relationship with the German aristocracy but it is thought that prior to the breed's establishment there they were in the hands of French migrants who brought them to Germany, where they found favour among gamekeepers and foresters as well as the nobility.

Dachshund (pronounced 'daks hund' rather than the commonly and incorrectly used 'dash hound') translates literally as 'badger hound, and they were originally bred for the pursuit of badgers below ground. This continues today in parts of Germany and beyond where it remains a legal and important type of pest control. The dachshund has a stout heart but prefers brain over brawn and will rarely engage in a fight but rather 'box' his opponent and keep enough distance to stay out of harm's way. This is never more evident than in the pursuit of wild boar to guns in Europe. The dachshund's nimble nature and low set allows him to avoid the often treacherous tusks of an opponent sometimes five times his height and regularly well over 200lb in weight.