How do dachshunds age

Have you always thought that one human year is equivalent to 7 dog years? The old formula was based on the assumption that dogs live to around 10 years old, and humans to about Since then, experts have learned a lot more about dog breeds and how they age.

Dachshunds are small dogs, so tend to live longer than larger breeds. In the first 2 years of their life they mature really quickly. From 2 years onwards, the increase is a steady 4 human years for every 1 dachshund year.

This chart is specifically for dachshunds. The human age conversion is different for larger dog breeds! So, there you have it. Dachshunds mature quickly in the first 2 years of their lives, and then things level off.

A Dachshund may just be gaining senior status at 10 years old, whereas a Labrador Retriever may be enjoying the end of their life by then. Senior status is a combination of both physical condition and age, just like humans. In the end, your Dachshund is considered a senior based on their physical state, mental state, and age. Note: this chart assumes your Dachshund is at a healthy weight. Being overweight is one of the medical conditions that can cause your dog to age faster.

A 15 year old standard Dachshund that weights over 21 lbs is equivalent to being about 83 human years old. Small dogs age slower once they reach five years old. A senior blood panel can give your vet a baseline that future blood tests can be compared to in order to help detect signs of disease in your pup, which can help you treat and possibly cure them before they become bigger issues. Many senior Dachshunds will sleep more than they did in their younger years.

Controlling health concerns quickly and early can keep your Dachshund living longer and healthier in their golden years.

And remember that proactive wellness checkups and vet visits throughout your Dachshunds life will help them maintain the healthiest life possible! That would at least give you a place to start. A good one will be interested in keeping the dog in your home so they may be able to offer some tips and advice regarding his behavior. I agree.

I have three doxies and I had one before I got three more. T-Bone chose me for his owner. I was going to purchase another type of puppy, but when I walked by him, he literally stole my heart. KaySea is her name and they are brother and sister, just from a different litter. She tried to find his owner, however no one claimed him, so she put him online to give away. I immediately responded that I was coming to get him.

His name is Ryder. T-Bone was a short haired, red puppy. The three I have now are all long haired puppies. I think I will always own a dachshund. They love LOVE and the more you give them, the more they want.

Each one have their own personalities and I adjust to each one individually. I love dachshunds so much!!! I love my babies more than anything!!!! I have a doxie that came from 2 mini parents lbs and she is a standard size and around 24lbs.

All the other puppies in the litter are small. Johnny is the only one who has growled for attention. He will come sit by my feet in the morning and growl until I show him some love. I can set my clock to him. How funny! They also stare at things out of reach for ages sit and wiggle till we get the message to give it to them! Usually a toy lol. Based off of my personal experience, I feel that Daschunds tend to be verbal for just about any reason they see fit!

My pup, Odie, likes to do the same thing that yours does, not to mention that he gets jealous and also barks whenever we are petting the other dogs and he has been waiting for his turn for too long lol. It can become a bit frustrating and sometimes saying no to them wanting affection feels wrong but I guess my advice would be to give your pup as much love as possible seeing as how he will beg for it anyway hah. I anticipate that he will want to be by me all the time and it took years for me to just give in.

He kept barking all those years? But he is much quieter now and we are all happier when I just accept what he wants. He deserves all the love he can get. Yours, too! I have a 12yo standard who is also an Odie! He sees a behavioural specialist vet because of aggression and anxiety that stems from our experience with domestic violence. With the right attitude and lots of love I believe that Dachshunds can prevail to live their best lives.

I hope each one of you gets the Doxie love you all deserve from being amazing and dedicated paw-rents! As a longtime and devoted Doxie Mom, I can tell you that the growling, howling, barking, and excitment from your dachshund when you come home from work is normal for my dachshunds. I have had these little dogs since I was I am an experienced doxie Mom. I have had all the coat types, male and female. Not so long ago I had 4 of these amazing dogs.

They are totally devoted and so full of love for you. Whether you are gone for 10 minutes or a full work day, they will greet you the same way. It makes them even more endearing. My wirehaired mini red dachsen Hans growls and howls at me when I come home. They also both talk back when spoken to with sqeeks howling grunting etc.

I can have very interesting conversations with great input with them??? My dapple has a specific bark pitched just for me, with a distinct repetition.

It sounds a like like MOM! It is so loud!! Yes I live alone with my 2 mini doxies. I was reading the reviews for some of the coats.

The Ultimate Winter Coat said it was waterproof but not in a downpour. Is there a winter coat that can handle freezing torrential rain and snow? I will say that the jackets still keep Gretel very warm even when they are wet. We carry on wonderful conversations! My father says my dog sounds like she is possessed. I think that noise is my dog name that she gave me. She only does it to find me. My boy Pablo is more like a cat. He loves his blankets and he is extremely picky when it comes to food.

He loves having guests over, so instead of barking, he happily runs to greet them when the bell rings. He has never digged a hole in his life and most importantly, he was potty trained in less than a month. Yes, he absolutely hates the rain. Wow that is impressive! Pippin all my mini doxies named after lots of rings characters was the first but cage trained him so he did well for a while and did his business outside..

But as long as they get their walks everyday they r a ok at home.. But they would kill a cat???? Doxies are cute admirable stubborn loving and very very family orientated; no one could take our dogs as they hate strangers and if someone tried to catch them they would be off!

I am fostering a doxie for my daughter…. Hi Cecelia. My Gretel used to pull very hard. Now she just pulls kind of hard… most of the time anyway. Unfortunately, Dachshunds do not make good off-leash dogs. I definitely would NOT recommend doing that. I have seen Dachshunds over the years 6 years — run a dog club of members who were very good at following voice commands off leash. That took years of training though. I would suggest trying a no-pull harness. They make several different kinds but the simplest ones have a clip in the front that you hook the leash too.

They were created after a training technique. When the hook is in the front and a dog pulls, it forces their body to turn around to face you. Hopefully one of those will help. You can also work with a trainer but that will be much more expensive. They have a diva mentality; they are really competitive and actually easier to train with other dogs. My 6 yr old dox was a total lazy bug and then became the star of her obedience class.

She was food motivated but it seemed like she really just loved the attention that came from being top of the class. I have trained all my doxies since then with other dogs and found that their competitive nature spurs them to excellence when training with others. Doxie Kisses! Thanks for the insight about training. To be I think your comment if very encouraging though and may be helpful to some.

I have the perfect potty training trick which happened by accident! We got our little Dapple Doxie pup, Galaxy, as a Christmas present for our children. Since it was the holidays, we had a set of Disney Christmas bells that were hanging on the front door knob, and Galaxy learned within one week to go ring those bells when he needed to go out to potty. Needless to say, we keep bells on the door year round now. He is crate trained, and sleeps in his crate at night.

When he sees us getting ready for bed or getting ready to leave the house, he will actually go in his crate and close the gate behind him we have to lock it of course. And like many others, he growls when he is happy, hungry, or just wants attention!

Our family adores him, and he adores us. He has definitely been a blessing to our family. Any tips on potty training would be greatly appreciated.

If I take my eye off her she will go inside. She also still cries all night. We are crate training her and we are exhausted. I think she just hates the crate. Hi Sara. What kind of crate are you using?

Per crate-size recommendations, it was just bit enough for her to stand up and turn around. Oh my, the noise she made in there. After she broke a nail and busted the crate in half I was done with that.

I then started giving her a stuffed treat toy every time I put her in there. Now she sometimes even goes in the crate to sleep when we are home.

I hope you find a solution that works. Take your pup out every half hour whether they ask to go or not. Once there are no accidents in the house, start taking them out every 45 minutes. Repeat until they are going out every hours. I have 2 6mo dapples. One pees all over the bedding in the crate.

The other potty broke within a month. They have lots of toys but chew on my wood work, couch corners, even pinecones twigs, they have a hugh back yard they run non stop They fight about who gets my attention even if I play with them at the same time.

My boys love the rain, they look like drowned rats this week as they tried to catch the yard rabbits and birds for Hours outside. I just towel dry them when they come in. Sara, I am a well seasoned dachsie mom. These little darlings are really stubborn but they are trainable. It takes a lot of patience and consistency, especially if they are young. In the beginning, I would take my very young pups out to pottie every couple hours during normal daylight hours.

When they wake up for a nap, take them out immediately. That way, their own scent will be there. Keep that area clean of solid waste. I was lucky enough to be home in order to do this. I have never had to use a crate to potty train.

Also, I always adopted my Dachsies during warm weather. They hate cold wet weather, so they are more willing to go out to potty. By the time it gets cold here in New England, they are trained. If your winters get cold, put a nice warm sweater or coat on.

This is especially true for smooth coats. Another method I have used for very young pups is to use puppy pads. These pads have phermones embedded in them to attract the dog to the pad to do their business. Once the pup uses the pad consistently, take the used, but not with b. Hi Jessica. They definitely will eat anything and, sadly, that can result in their demise.

My point is that doxie owners must be aware of anything in the path of their dogs, and there are a lot of poisonous house and yard plants sold with no warning labels. You have to educate yourselves. We loved Santana very much and had no idea those seeds are so toxic. His death broke our hearts. You are right though, a Dachshund will eat anything. Chester has had stomach surgery twice for a blockage. This hit home with me. Our first dachshund, Willy, got out the door when it was opened to receive a package, and no one noticed.

We got a call a few hours later by a neighbor who found him. He acted a little off that night, but he got worse the following days. After many vet visits, and a surgery it was discovered his bowels had huge holes in them. He died on the table. He was just 4 years old.

I think he either got into rat poison or ate a dead rodent full of it on his little trek out. Very devastating. They will eat anything, and bear watching. Do you have a Facebook or means of contact. I live in Ohio and would love to be a part of a group. I also just need to talk to other dachshund owners. I lost mine two days ago and my heart is shattered. Chrystal, My heart aches for you. It is the hard fact that to love is to lose is to hurt is to cry. So sad. We have 4 dogs.

A bichon, 8; a Havanese, 7; a Doxie, 6 and an 85 lb St. Bernard-coonhound mix. Bichon not interested. My husband wanted a big dog. Now he walks the little ones and I trained and walk Molly. Pippa and Havanese Titus play like crazy. Toby Bichon likes people and other white dogs. I hope your grieving eases into fond memories.

But their love is the best thing ever! I lost my 12 yr old Joey 3 days back…. So numb…cant function. My world revolved around him n now dont know wht to do…. Maybe that would remind you of your Joey too much. But perhaps you can volunteer to visit people at an old folks home. I am sure someone there would love to hear about your wonderful stories about Joey or just other things in your life.

Hi Chrystal. I think your comment got lost in this thread. Could you please clarify who you were asking about a group and which group you are referring to? Hello, my name is Erica. It was such a great surprise. My first dog, my first dachshund, and my first pet. Spike was at a humane society because his previous owner passed away.

If he was brought back, the people were going to put him down. He goes crazy for the ball. He becomes a whole different dog when it comes to the ball. He howls like crazy. But if he does, the hard food have to be little kibbles. I would love to know more about dachshunds so I can take better care for my Spike. What a wonderful story Erica. Thanks for sharing and giving Spike such a good life. It sounds like you are taking really good care of him but I love to hear that you are always seeking to learn more and do better.

Hi Lester. Both of my Dachshunds will sometimes stop playing and cough if they get too worked up or get a string from a toy in their mouth or piece of hair from the floor. I hope you can get it figured out. I have a mini-girl named Feather. She sounds like she is choking after drinking water. Actually, she just turned one and after watching closely her nose hits the water as well as her tongue. She coughs if she inhales the water through her nose. Hi Joyce.

Gretel coughs sometimes too if she drinks too much water too fast. My dashound chokes when drinking water.. Thanks for the tip Mary. The ice cubes probably slow down how much your pup is able to swallow at once. I have a very stubborn double dapple. There is no stopping him from what he wants. He was so fat at one point I had to put him on a diet.

He is difficult to train, but when we are consistent he does much better. I had had him over 8 years…he was a percent Heinz 57…I missed him so…. I fell in love with him…. I love that…. I was very sad last week and walked n my home and just cried…he laid his head on my lap and used those little legs to get to my face and licked my tears away….

I promise to keep you posted…. Thank you for giving Gus such a good life. Dachshunds are very social so not giving them the attention they crave can make them act out often. Again, thanks for loving him.

I have a double dapple. She is healthy and 14 years old. I love her so much. But my friend adopted a litter mate of my little Kaya, and he is deaf and almost blind. Another litter mate was adopted and returned for being blind. So be careful and adopt from responsible breeders or better yet, check the shelters. Yes, good advice. My little dachshunds is not socialized and he is 4yrs old.

Is he too old to they and make him less aggressive with other dogs and children? Hi Robin. Although your pup may never be as-well adjusted as if socialization had occurred within the first 6 months, the trainer should be able to help you make progress.

Gretel was 11 months old when she came to live with me and had very little socialization. She was so anxious, she was on Prozac. I had a double dapple, silver dapple. Adn rare. You just have to be careful about giving dogs a lot of bread. It expands in the bellies. Not only is it bad to give them bread, but also food with too much fat. I would love for my pup to sleep with me, but when she was younger like 8 was she would mess in my bed. I put her in the bathroom because of that. I put 2 pee pads down and her a bed in there.

Hi Janice. The only way you will know for sure is to try. My longhair standard Dachshund, Dodger, got 4 trucks titles: novice, intermediate, advanced, and expert. He also did agility including 12 weave poles. He was the first dog I ever really trained and I used a clicker.

He just turned 14 and is losing his sight, but still caught a rabbit this summer. Keep training and loving your pup! Way to go Dodger! I now have a sweet girl via rescue. Some barking but nothing extreme. However she has become obsessed with rabbits. When she sees a rabbit she shakes from head to toe and cries loudly. When this happens I let her out to run the yard. Any advise or should I not worry about her? I feel bad that she becomes so upset. That will discourage her obsession.

The only real reason it matters is because rabbits look like cats and other vermin so eventually she may get very amped up and uncontrollable any time he sees those things out in the world. Another idea is to enroll her in something like lure coursing, barn hunt, Earthdog, or nosework so she can use her natural instincts, get some satisfaction out of it, and burn some energy. My Gretel calmed down a lot when she turned 4.

Welcome to the world of Doxies! I think enrolling her in a class where she could use those strong instincts would be great for her. Thank you for your suggestions. I have two doxies one is Lucy the other Linus. My dogs are twins as well. Lucy is very independent while Linus is less and relies on Lucy. Lucy is the protector. She is very smart so is he but he is more reserved and fragile. Lucy follows me everywhere. Learns in an instant and yes they have a great sent.

But they are not stubborn as a matter of fact they both behave very nicely and do not bark at the door bell ringing or people coming in. Lucy will bark at other dogs when taking a walk. Linus on the other hand does not like walks. They are supper loving and loyal and Lucy is particularly very fund of me while Linus can be shared between my daughter my grandson and I.

Their training was not bad considering I have a miniature female pitcher who was older when they came to our home and she is the leader and has helped with training. However when I tend to not take Lucy out on trips with me she may decide to have an accident????.

They are loving the best I have ever had besides my min pincher. I just got a mini. This is the first dachshund I have ever owned and he was given as a gift…no research. I was wondering what you thought about raising them with rabbits. I know they would typically hunt them, but these are pets that live in the back yard.

I have successfully raised my Jacks around them with no problem. My little guy is only 6 weeks old and I have been taking him out regularly to spend time with the rabbits. The rabbits are and will be much bigger than he is. Do the rabbits stand a chance or should I keep the separate?

Hi Jackie. In my experience, there are always exceptions to the rule. I would be careful though. No matter how much training a dog has, their primitive instincts can take over. Welcome new doxy owner. I have had three doxies, the first two are deceased now and lived wonderful healthy lives.

The third is my only baby now, now 4 yrs old, and a typical doxy. I have always wanted a red doxy and maybe someday I will have one. For you, enjoy your doxy, and learn from all those people who offer you advice about doxies. I have a wirehaired doxie named dodger too…I love him. He is nine and still acts like a pup when we play.

So glad I found this discussion…feels like family. Doxie lovers united. I have a wire hair also, almost 5. What a funny, loving, devoted dog. Hello everyone.. I just adopted my first dashound ever.. He is also starting to bark at people in my apartment complex which is not good since I live in a senior building.. Hi Quita. A short-term solution might be a belly band that covers his pee pee.

Good luck on the barking. I have 2 chiweenies and 1 dapple Dachshund. I love Them all. If you are looking for a Dachshund, but concerned about the back problems maybe look for one that is a mixed designer breeds. I could Have a house full of them. The most difficult thing about them that I have found is the house training. My Full Dachshund is still a puppy and I am Trying the puppy pads this time. He has been pretty good about using them but occasionally he will still find a rug to pee on.

The 2 chiweenies were difficult to house train as well. They are 3 years old and still have accidents. I have Found that the chiweenies are a little bit more aggressive with strangers than what I have Seen from other Dachshunds. They are very protective of us, but they do eventually warm up to people and especially if someone were to sit on our couch, they would be right in their lap wanting their belly rubbed.

Actually, the length of the back has little to do with IVDD and back issues. IVDD is a genetic disease that is inherited from a parent. Some breeds are more prone to it than others: Dachshunds are 1 and French Bulldogs get it pretty frequently but I also know some Chihuahuas with it. As to mixed breeds, I love purebred Dachshunds but have definitely developed a love for mixes too.

I think my favorites are Chiweenies and Dachshund-terrier mixes. Hey jess, loved this article and can relate to most of the points! I wondered what you take is on letting dachshunds off their leesh? But on other occasions, he looks back constantly to check I am still close by. I think he tends to run off when he recognises the route and makes to find his own way home. Even if that means running out into a busy road!!!

Fairly inconsistent behaviour.. Those that do can be extended off-leash principles. They are not humans and just learn to accept a leash if we choose. With a cliff on one side and water on the other, there are only two ways she can go — toward me or away from me. Thanks Jess.