THE HISTORY

The dachshund was bred in Germany centuries ago to hunt badgers. "Dach" means badger and "hund" means dog. 

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One of the most varied among purebred dogs – so much so that the Fédéracion Internationale Cynologique devotes one separate group to it – the Dachshund comes in three coat types. The smooths are believed to be the original dogs. Theories offer a long list of possible ancestors – various pointers and terriers as well as bloodhounds and bassets, which might have contributed the Dachshund’s particularly keen sense of scent – but no definites.

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Longhairs resulted from selective breeding of smooths with varying coat lengths. The addition of rough-coated terriers much later on, in the 1800s, led to the wirehairs.

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Size is another area where Dachshunds diverge. In the 1800s, a boom in Germany’s rabbit population led to the development of the miniature Dachshund. In addition to standards and minis, Europe’s previously mentioned FCI recognizes a third category of “Teckel,” as the breed is called in Germany: the “Rabbit Dachshund,” which is somewhere in between the two. In the United States, there are only standard and miniature Dachshunds, the latter of which are defined by their weight.

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