"Dachshund Breed History"
The Dachshund was bred as a hunting dog and is known to
have existed before the 16th century. In Europe during
both World Wars, it was recognized as the national dog of
the Teutonic Empire and, because of its German ancestry,
was mistreated and even stoned in the streets. Today, the
Dachshund enjoys great popularity and is known for its
loyalty as a family pet.   

The name Dachshund (dachs, badger; hund, dog) at once
reveals and conceals the origin of the breed. In medieval
European books on hunting, dogs similar only in
possessing the tracking ability of hounds and the
proportions and temperament of terriers, because they
were used to follow badger to earth, were called
badger-dogs or dachs-hund. A parallel is suggested by the
current use of the name rabbit dog in various parts of this
country for dogs of various breeding, used to hunt rabbits.

Illustrations dating from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries show badgers hunted by dogs with
elongated bodies, short legs, and hound-type ears  some
with the bent front leg of a basset, some with the head of
terriers, and some with indications of smooth and long
coats. It is well to consider that these illustrations were
made before the days of photography that artist capable of
depicting dogs with anatomical fidelity have always been
rare, and that woodcuts do not lend themselves to fine
reproductions of coat distintions. At best, the pictures and
descriptive words can be interpreted with certainty only as
defining the functions of the dogs used on badger.    

The preponderance of available evidence indicates that
smooth and longhaired coats were separated by selective
breeding, long prior to recorded registrations; whereas
within such recorded history, the wirehaired coats was
produced for protection against briar and thorn by crossing
in harsh, wiry terriers coats and then breeding out
incompatible characteristics of conformation. Early in the
seventeenth century the name Dachshund became the
designation of a breed type with smooth and
longhaired-coated varities, and since 1890 wirehairs have
been registered as the third variety.   

The badger was a formidable twenty-five to
forty-five-pounds adversary. Strength and stamina as well
as keenness and courage above and below ground were
required of badger dogs. Weight of thirty to thirty-five
pounds was not uncommon. Such Dachshunds in packs
also were serviceable against wild boar. With this start the
breed was adapted to hunt other game. A smaller sixteen
to twenty-two pound Dachshund proved effective against
foxes and trail-wounded deer. Still smaller twelve pound
Dachshunds were used for stoat and hare. In the first
quarter of the twentieth century, for bolting
cottontail rabbits, miniatures with adult weights
under five pounds and chest girths under twelve
inches, but with plenty of hunting spirit, were
produced (rabbit teckels).

Before the German Dachshund or Deutscher Teckelklub
was founded in 1888, racial characteristics, or a standard
for the breed had been set in 1879; and German
registration of Dachshunds was included (not always with
complete generation data or systematic coat notations) in
a general all-breed stud book, the Deutscher
Hunde-Stammbuch, whose first volume, in 1840, recorded
fifty-four Dachshunds and the names of several
subsequently prominent breeders, and whose publication
continued until officially terminated in 1935.

Importation of Dachshunds into this country antedates the
earliest American dog shows or studbooks, and eleven
were included in AKC Stud Book, Volume 11 in 1885.
American dogs have found little employment in organized
hunting, as we lack in the badger and wild boar and do not
hunt deer with dogs, nor foxes with pick and shovel. The
true character and conformation of the breed have been
encouraged by frequent importation of German hunting
strains; and to encourage hunting capacity and exemplary
conformation and temperament, field trials under AKC
rules were instituted in 1935.
Micro Miniatures (Rabbit)         Miniatures           Standards
We breed only Micro's and Miniature Dachshunds
Read Where the Micro
(Rabbit Teckels) Mini's
originated from!     
5th Paragraph
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