Dachshund

“ When we came to the place we found the foresters watching the dachshunde. These I discovered to be long, flat, shallow dogs with stumpy legs—a dog which an American has described as “looking as if he was always coming out from under a bureau.” Very cautiously here and there the foresters uncovered a burrow, and a dachshund disappeared. Then from below ground came the sounds of fighting. The dachshunde had found their prey. The foresters ran about, stooping to locate the sound. When they discovered the spot a dozen of them at once began to dig as fast as they could. ”

“ With the Dachshund they approximate more closely than any other breeds to the shape of the badger, the weasel, and the otter, and so many animals which Nature has made long and low in order that they may inhabit earths and insinuate themselves into narrow passages in the moorland cairns. ”

“ The picture on the further side is still more suggestive—three roe-deer, hotly pursued by a dachshund; a pug-dog would have an equal chance of success. Cheerful pictures of this kind should hang in every room. I shall look at them whenever I feel jaundiced. Our tavern by the way is famous for its dachshunds. They have a couple of thoroughbreds, with faces like orchids, who eat and sleep most of the day and whose descendants are rapidly stocking the neighborhood. Their numerous progeny drop in for a visit from the remotest villages, and are coldly received by the parents. ”

“ It is plenty wide enough for the average dachshund and plenty high enough, too, but not more than about two-thirds long enough. If one were a dachshund one would either have to coil up or else remain partly outdoors. ”

“ Few people know how wonderful, intelligent, and sagacious a dachshund can become under proper treatment. But there must be system in the treatment. The whip must be hidden away out of sight entirely, the animal must be treated like a reasoning being, as indeed it is ”

“ Latterly he seems to have been displaced by the Pomeranian, Pekinese, and Japanese Spaniels. This brings us back to the adage that "every dog has his day." So with the Dachshund, yet the classes at the London shows are always well filled. The Terrier-type of Hound is usually smaller and built upon lighter lines. The legs are not so crooked, the head shorter, so are the ears.
In weight they are from 10 to 16 lbs. ”

“ It is no part of his calling to come to close grips, though that often happens in the confined space in which he has to work. In this position a badger with his powerful claws digs with such energy and skill as rapidly to bury himself, and the Dachshund needs to be provided with such apparatus as will permit him to clear his way and keep in touch with his formidable quarry. The badger is also hunted by Dachshunds above ground, usually in the mountainous parts of Germany, and in the growing crops of maize, on the lower slopes, where the vermin work terrible havoc in the evening. ”

“ Weight: English standard, 18 to 21 lbs.; German standard, three classes: A. 151⁄2 to 161⁄2 lbs.; B. 15 to 22 lbs.; C. Over 22 lbs.
It will be observed from the above that there is a difference of opinion between the German and English ideas as to the most desirable size of the Dachshund. This dog is of a long, low and graceful conformation. His figure though elongated should present a stiff and muscular appearance, notwithstanding his short and crooked front. He should not appear lean or weasel-like. His pert, saucy pose of the head is a desirable characteristic. ”

“ The drain-pipe order of body is not quite as exaggerated as it was before the reformation that occurred about 1898, but the black field spaniels and the Sussex dogs of the shows even now tend to a Dachshund formation. Still, the former are as handsome as dogs can be, and are in every sense spaniels to look at, although mostly too long and heavy for work, and suggesting hound cross by the high angle at which they carry their sterns. The truest bred spaniels when at work carry the stern at an angle of about 45 degrees with the earth, pointing downwards, and not much higher in kennel ”

“ Bernard and the toy terrier, the pug, the poodle, the Dachshund, and the spaniel, although differing as widely from each other in appearance and shape as if they belonged to different families, are yet identical in their possession of the virtues and methods of dogdom. Their habits may differ slightly, some seeming to find their chief happiness in lying asleep on a soft cushion, others in an incessant pursuit of rats and other vermin, some in accompanying their masters to the chase. ”

“ Your father is a dachshund and dachshunds [36] were made to hunt badgers and rabbits and animals that live underground. Jack is a very fine dog, but he couldn’t dig out a badger or a fox or even a rabbit.”
“Oh,” I said, “could Father do that?”
“Of course, and so can I; and so can you when you grow up. That’s why you are made as you are. Badgers and foxes live in holes that they make far under the ground. The holes are small and they turn and twist, and that’s why your body is made so long and your legs so short; so that you can follow a fox or a badger into his hole.” ”

“ With the badger—always a formidable antagonist—these little dogs are said to be equally game, usually fighting to a finish. A few sportsmen have made use of Dachshunds for driving rabbits out of cover, but they have no particular qualification in this respect, and are decidedly inferior to the Beagle, or a pack of Beagles for this purpose.
[204]
It is a variety of dog not the easiest to rear, distemper being, as in most other breeds, accountable for the high mortality amongst them. ”

“ The game-keeper's duty is to destroy all enemies of the game entrusted to his care, consequently foxes, badgers, minks and other vermin are at all times subject to extermination, and the Dachshund is his untiring and able assistant in this work. ”

“ You’re probably going to get the greatest licking a dog ever got, for the griffon and the mastiff are always very chummy, [114] and he will be sure to tell of the treatment he has been receiving from you. A family dog will fight you far harder than outsiders like the Drive dogs.”
The Dachshund looked alarmed.
“I’m sorry for you,” I said, “auf wiedersehen.”
“I say,” he exclaimed hopping after me, “I don’t want to be torn to pieces.”
“How can you be,” I retorted, “you’re perfect—being a super-dog, you’ll find a way out.”
“If that mastiff hurts me, the police dog will kill him,” he said angrily. ”

“ That's a Dachshund. But you can't reckon on freaks; nothing but straight Dog. It works on wild animals, too—that is, on Wolves and Foxes and maybe other things," then changing the subject Beaver continued:
"Can you tell the height of a tree by its shadow?" ”

“ In addition to the difficulty mentioned, this breed is no doubt of a naturally weak constitution, and their organs of reproduction are very liable to disease. Of course there are many of what one may call accidental cases, as when a fox-terrier or dachshund has puppies by a dog the size of a collie. I have known many cases of this kind, and, as may be expected, the bitch has trouble in giving birth to such youngsters, though sometimes they are born without any difficulty at all. ”

“ In this case the badger is rounded up and driven by the dogs up to the guns which are posted between the game and their earths. For this sport the dog used is heavier, coarser, and of larger build, higher on the leg, and more generally houndy in appearance. Dachshunds are frequently used for deer driving, in which operation they are especially valuable, as they work slowly, and do not frighten or overrun their quarry, and can penetrate the densest undergrowth. ”

“ Dachshunds are, as before quoted, a bunch of useless, bandylegged, snip-nosed, waggle-eared——, anyway, and represent an amiable good-natured weakness on the part of Mrs. Kitty. (B) Dachshunds in general are not supposed to run wild all over the place, but to remain in their perfectly good, sufficiently large, entirely comfortable corral, Pete and Pup excepted. (C) Chickens are valuable. (D) Confound 'em! This sort of a performance will be a bad example for Young Ben. ”

“ When the dachshunds should pounce on their natural prey, the medium-size game, poor Tommy would be at the bottom of the heap. Several even started forward to restrain the dogs, but stopped as they realized the impossibilities.
[Pg 299] Tommy and the 'coon hit with a thump. The dachshunds took one horrified look; then with the precision of a drilled manœuvre they unanimously turned tail and plunged into the tall grass. From my elevated perch I could see it waving agitatedly as they made their way through it in the direction of the distant ranch. ”

“ In short, by much repetition, a legend had grown up around the [Pg 294] dachshunds, a legend of fierceness inhibited only by circumstances, of pathetic deprivation of the sports of their native land. If only we could have a badger, we could almost hear them say to each other in dog language, a strong, morose, savage badger! Alas! we are wasting our days in idleness, our talents rust from disuse! Finally, Uncle Jim remained the only frankly skeptical member.
At this time there visited the ranch two keen sportsmen whom we shall call Charley and Tommy; as also several girls. ”

“ Why she inflicts it upon herself is known to Heaven alone. For our part, let us keep perfectly quiet, nor tempt the incalculable impulses that rule her in these matters.”
I have never been addicted to dachshunds, but I must make mention of one, Koko; incomparable as a lady of fashion, as a fag at lawn tennis, and as a thief. She also had a gift, not without its uses, of biting beggars. Her owner, my cousin Doctor Violet Coghill, who was in Koko’s time a medical student, had a practice in dogbites more extended than even her enthusiasm desired. ”

“ Walking along the galleries, which are very spacious, you can look over and see all the dogs below and the people as well.
The entries this year are exactly thirty-three in advance of 1872. Take it altogether, it is the best entry, as to numbers and quality, they have ever had. The total entries in the sporting classes were 557; viz.:—10 bloodhounds, 23 deerhounds, 19 greyhounds, 4 otterhounds, 11 harriers, 8 beagles, 127 fox-terriers, 85 pointers, 87 setters, 78 retrievers, 82 spaniels, 15 Dachshunds, and 5 in the extra class for any foreign breed of sporting dogs. ”

“ You cannot imagine, worthy Mr. Superintendent, too, what funny things there are too—the War Lord's dachshunds, for instance, all jaws and stomach. They look like those yellow-skinned truffle Leberwursts held up by Frankfurters, and—what do you think?—have been taught to snap and nibble the calves of people of quality only.
Mine they leave severely alone, thank God; but I told Fraulein not to put on too many "lugs," lest they mistake her for a "von."
Of course I can't swear to it, but they do say that "Uncle Majesty" has a way, by a mere look, of setting the dachshunds on people he dislikes ”

“ White on the body is objectionable, less so on the feet.
The so-called "Tiger Dachs," or steel-blue and tan-colour is uncommon, though it gives the animal a very handsome appearance. At the London Kennel Club shows there is a class for dappled dogs and bitches. As a rule, the crossing of a black-and-tan Dachs with a red one, produces puppies true to type, i.e., some are black and tan, others red, and not a mixture of these two colours. A red dog and bitch, will, however, sometimes throw a black-and-tan puppy; or a black-and-tan sire and dam produce a whole-red puppy. ”

“ My husband knew at once that the dog was going to suffer, and that instinct had taught him to come to us for help. Rover would lie down beside the general until his hour of distress, and then solicit the ever-ready sympathy with his mournful eyes. The general rubbed and cared for him, while the dog writhed and foamed at the mouth. He was always greatly touched to see the old hound, when he began to revive, try to lift the tip of his tail in gratitude.
With the stag-hounds, hunting was so bred in the bone that they sometimes went off by themselves, and even the half-grown puppies followed. ”

“ What an excitement it is when the trained ducks mix with the wild birds! and when they tempt them into the right canal, and to dress their feathers on the bank till the dog appears! Then all take to the water, of course. The question is which way will they turn. The trained ducks once more lead; and having been daily fed at the place where the nets are now laid, at the head of the decoy, they tend that way now, followed by scores of new friends. As often as there is any lingering, or appearance of turning back, the dog appears again, and perhaps man or boy, looking through the fence. ”

“ Although my canoe was within six feet of the bird, it never moved, and it was only by the closest scrutiny that I detected its presence.
With a good silent dog playing in front of a blind these ducks in the early spring will come within short range, as will the black duck and gray goose. They have keen eyesight and will work in from a quarter of a mile to investigate the dog. The dog of best color to attract ducks is yellow or yellow and white. A pure white is better than a dark colored, which latter only appears to scare them away. ”

“ The principal things to be observed are, a strict silence, and to keep the dog constantly in motion, and all the time in sight of the ducks. The little animal should be encouraged to skip and bound over the rocks and stones in front of the screens, and to flourish his tail about with playful vivacity. He must never bark, for that would alarm the fowl and cause them to fly away immediately.
Red or chestnut coloured dogs with long bushy tails are best for the purpose of "toling"; the nearer they approach a fox in colour and appearance the better." ”