Dachshund history: The German Badger Dog
A dog bred to follow a badger underground needed more than a good nose. German breeders developed a short-legged, long-bodied hound to scent, chase, and flush animals from their burrows. Its name identified the quarry: Dachs means badger, and Hund means dog or hound. Dachshund history begins with that working purpose, which also extended to other burrow-dwelling animals. The miniature variety pursued smaller game, including rabbits. Behind the familiar long outline stood a hunter whose size and structure suited its work tunneling through tight burrows in pursuit of prey.
Books from the early eighteenth century contain the first verifiable references to the breed, calling it Dachs Kriecher, or badger crawler, and Dachs Krieger, or badger warrior. Earlier mentions of badger dogs and hole dogs probably identified jobs rather than specific breeds. The beginning of deliberate badger-hunting breeding remains disputed: the American Kennel Club places it in the fifteenth century, while the Dachshund Club of America points to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century descriptions. German, French, and English hounds and terriers contributed to the dogs developed by German breeders. No single agreed parentage settles all the stages of their beginnings.
Early German dogs were larger than the modern full-size variety, weighing about 14 to 18 kilograms. Breeders had both straight-legged and crooked-legged forms; the modern breed descended from the latter. Their assignments ranged well beyond badgers. They hunted rabbits and foxes, located wounded deer, and worked in packs against wild boar. Dachshund history thus includes tracking above ground as well as pursuing animals below it. A scenting dog could serve hunters in several circumstances, and the name preserved a particular quarry without limiting the animal's entire working life to the pursuit of that species.
The body carried useful equipment for underground work. Large, paddle-shaped front paws suited digging, and loose skin helped prevent tearing while the dog tunneled through tight spaces. A muscular body accompanied the short legs. Breeders deliberately favored flap ears that kept grass seeds, dirt, and other material out of the ear canal. The curved tail had a double purpose: it was easier to see in long grass and could help a hunter pull out a dog stuck in a burrow. Those features addressed the hazards of working close to the ground and inside narrow tunnels, where movement and retrieval mattered.
Coats developed along several paths. Smooth-haired dogs came first and gave rise to the long-haired and wire-haired varieties. Proposed ancestry for the smooth type includes different combinations of pointers, pinschers, and hounds, but its precise origin remains unknown. For long-haired dogs, one theory holds that breeders selected smooth-coated puppies with longer hair and bred them until the trait became consistent. Another proposes crosses with land and water spaniels. The wire-haired variety developed last, possibly through crosses with hard-coated terriers and wire-haired pinschers. Dachshund history expanded into visibly different coats without acquiring a settled family tree for each.
The varieties remain recognizable in their hair. Long-haired dogs have silky coats with feathering on the legs and ears, while the wire-haired type is the most common in Germany and the latest addition to breeding standards. Short-haired coats can have a silky texture or a coarser feel. Red is the most common color, alongside cream, brown, and combinations with tan points. Dapple, sable, brindle, and piebald patterns can appear over base colors. Even puppies in the same litter may have different colors, depending on the genetic makeup of their parents. Coat texture and color offer separate ways for the dogs to vary.
Size brought further categories. Standard and miniature dogs are recognized widely, while kaninchen, German for rabbit, is recognized by the FCI but not by clubs in the United States and United Kingdom. A mature standard typically weighs 7.5 to 14.5 kilograms; a miniature normally weighs less than 5.5 kilograms. Some kennel organizations classify size by weight, while others use chest circumference, and some in Germany measure circumference alongside height and weight. In everyday German speech the breed is commonly called Dackel; working dogs may be called Teckel. In the United States and Great Britain it belongs to the hound or scent-hound group.
Public life brought a different turn in Dachshund history. European royal courts kept these dogs, and Queen Victoria was particularly fond of them. The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1885. Its association with Germany later affected its American popularity during World War I, when it declined sharply and the dogs were often called liberty hounds. In Munich, that German association and the breed's local popularity contributed to a new role in 1972. A Dachshund named Waldi became the first official Summer Olympics mascot, placing the former burrow hunter before an international audience at the Games.