Dachshunds can be hard to train

Dachshunds take more time and patience to train. Part of this is due to their stubbornness. A dog that was initially bred to go down a hole in the ground to fight with and kill creatures that could kill it does not take well to having somebody try to tell it what to do. I've seen other bloggers gloss over this fact. Some even going to far as to say Dachshunds really did not kill Badgers the human hunters did. These dogs originated in Germany. I am of German descent. Those old time Germans would not have tolerated a dog that would not kill a Badger.

People do not think of Dachshunds killing anything because they are just so darn cute and loving to their humans. I understand that 100%. Our Dolly is the cutest and most loving dog I have ever known. However..... after getting to know and understand this breed of dog I would not step into a yard with several angry Dachshunds in it. To them a stranger is the French army about to cross the Rhine River into Germany.

Given time and patience Dachshunds can be trained but they will do it in their own time and their own way. You will not get 100% obedience all the time. You can however make them feel very guilty for disobeying you. I use the guilty thing quite frequently. I also heap lots of praise when things go well. Another thing I do is if I tell Dolly NO and she immediately stops what she is doing I praise her.  Some folks keep on and on with what I  call the ass chewing. In my opinion she did what I wanted her to by stopping the unwanted behavior. If she goes back to doing that behavior I again tell her NO and she soon gets the idea. She still messes up on occasion.

On housebreaking I haven't a clue. She was already housebroke when she came to stay with us. I don't recall mentioning the incident that happened on her first night here. We overslept. She needed to potty. She found where we kept our trashbags, pulled one out with her mouth, and did her business on it. To be bluntly honest I still have trouble believing that happened even though the evidence was right in front of my eyes. No one actually saw this but the evidence points to it. Dolly has this habit of hiding intelligent behavior from humans. In the early part of her stay here she figured out how to get the back door open.  She can't even reach the doorknob. This stopped after I moved the cat litter box. The litter box was right next to the back door and it's one of those covered litter boxes. The cover stands fairly high and can easily support a Doxies weight.

I should also mention that a Doxie makes those people who write books on dog behavior look like a childless person who writes books on how to raise children. There are very few accurate books on Doxies out there and your best bet is to actually talk with SEVERAL people who own or have owned Doxies. If you, dear reader, know of any book that has actually worked for you in the past PLEASE post it in the comments section.

My only regrets about dachshunds is that I did not get to know the breed many years ago.