Small Legs, Big Personality

Kate MacDougall gets the lowdown on dachshunds and discovers why their tiny stature doesn’t impinge on a ‘sausage’ dog’s zest for life.

- Kate MacDougall

It wasn’t long after getting our now three-year-old miniature dachshund, Henry, that he tracked a muntjac in nearby woodland. We were on a family walk, children and an elderly Jack Russell in tow, when he suddenly darted forward, nose to the ground, tail thrashing wildly.

He wasn’t fast enough to get very close and the enthusiastic barking would have easily alerted most of the deer in the county, but his exuberance and sheer pluck were a real eye-opener. Not least to my husband, Finlay, who, up until that moment, had been distinctly lukewarm about Henry’s arrival, preferring dogs with a little bit more leg.

However, watching him weave his tiny body through the undergrowth in pursuit of an animal at least 20 times his size was a revelation. ‘Henry’s not what I thought he was,’ Finlay confessed, which, in many ways, sums up the breed perfectly.

Dachshunds are something of a paradox and often misunderstood. their diminutive stature, which lends them to the arms and bags of celebrities, leads some to dismiss them as lap dogs. Offered a lap to curl up on, the dachshund will, of course, happily cooperate, but it won’t stay there for long.

No matter how many Arran sweaters or Instagram followers a sausage dog has, the indomitable hound gene prevails. Dachshunds —‘badger hounds’ in German—are a classic example of this group: spirited, loyal and courageous, with an acute sense of smell and a passion for hunting. Smooth, long or wirehaired, miniature or standard, the dachshund is a big, bold dog in a very small dog’s body.