Guys, what Ryan has stated is completely spot on. These dogs bred from hunting stock are NOT your typical Dacshund. They are hunters. Their abilities can at times seem almost too much to believe, but they are high maintenance dogs that require alot of work. Anyone interested in getting one of these little guys needs to keep this in mind. I had one from Laurel too, that was bred from a Jeanneny dog. His name was Snuffer and he was an excellent tracker, as well as a great buddy. Unfortunately, and accident occured where he got out of my front door (the front yard was not fenced) and was struck by a car. I was heartbroken and I miss him alot. At that time, I was not married and I had two roomates. Between the 3 of us, there was nearly always someone at home, which helped tremendously with training. Snuffer never ever bit anyone, but he was VERY possesive when he found a deer. Like was mentioned above, I never let anyone other than myself try to get him away from the deer after he found it.
These dogs are very intelligent, which is not normally thought to be true when thinking of dacshunds bred to be simply pets. I'll give you an example. I trained Snuffer on many artificial blood trails. It did not take much training at all. He was a natural from the day I brought him home. However, Snuffer also had a big interest in squirrels. If the artificial trail was too easy for him, he would become bored and would start sniffing around for squirrels. He knew that I could not always tell if he was on the blood trail or not. Sometimes I would realize he was messing around, and would yell "Snuffer...find the deer". He would hightail it back to the trail and quickly follow it to the end. Like Ryan said, you have to stay on top of them, because they will manipulate you to get what they want sometimes. They are funny little guys!
His blood trailing ability was borderline unreal. A friend of mine shot a doe once and told me that he was pretty sure the shot was not lethal, but he wanted to put Snuffer on it anyway. He had lost the trail after about 50 yards when the blood ended. I put Snuffer on it, and he took us for a ride. We had gone an honest 500 yards with No visible blood when we started to wonder if he was really on the trail or not. After another 40 yards or so, my buddy looked down on the ground and found one drop of blood. The deer was in fact not mortally wounded, but I was very impressed with Snuffers ability.
My advice to anyone thinking of getting one of these dogs is this: Think about it and make sure you will be dedicated in your training efforts. You will need to get them on as many real blood trails as possible. This often means sacrificing your own hunting time. It also may mean many late nights of tracking someone elses deer when you may have to be at work the following morning.
Start with firm discipline with positive reinforcement the day your puppy comes home with you. These little guys can be quite stubborn and they are smarter than you think they are.
Snuffer used to sleep in bed with me, but to be honest I don't think this is really a good idea. The dog needs to know that you are his master, and that he is not your equal. They look at your family like a pack, and the male dogs especially will always want to elevate their position in the pack. Never let them believe that they have risen beyond your position, or you will have a difficult time with discipline.
Do not use force on these dogs. NEVER strike them when they do wrong. They will not respond well to this. They respond much better with positive reinforcement. Reward them when they do the right thing. Lastly, I would say don't even consider buying one until you have read John Jeanneny's book.
Topic: Wirehaired Dachsund v. Bavarian Bloodhound (Read 2377 times)
