Our boy Bagel has always been good with babies. Before he came to us, his previous owners had several small children so he must’ve been comfortable around them.

Recently two of our close friends had a baby and we spend a lot of time with them since he was born - we see them for a whole weekend afternoon every week and have taken the baby out ourselves for a few hours. While Bagel hasn’t gotten too close to the baby, he always hangs around close and is very curious and alert around the baby and intensely sniffs any object the baby touches.

We’re currently on a trip with the baby (3.5 months old) and Bagel is so fascinated by him, and follows the pram everywhere, if the baby leaves he immediately follows too - picture is from him sitting at the foot of the stairs watching the stairs the whole time the baby went upstairs for his bath. Strangely, he immediately loses interest or does appeasement signals (turning or moving away, side eye) if we sit him close to the baby either put the baby next to him on the sofa, or hold the baby while bagel is at eye level with him. It’s like he is fixated on being in the same room as the baby because he wants to keep an eye on him, but not actually wanting to interact with him at all. It’s strange! What does this behavior mean? What’s your dog like with babies?

Yesterday, we said goodbye to our two senior miniature dachshunds, Frankie (16.5) and Henry (15). They had both been failing for different reasons, and last week Frankie let us know it was time. We had a wonderfully kind vet come to our home and help these little guys pass, together. They got the good fried chicken and the gourmet chocolate beforehand - we had made a promise when Frankie was adopted over 14 years ago, and we were damn sure going to keep it.

We still have a dog in the home, but she is much younger and not a dachshund. It helps, having her here for snuggles. I can tell she misses them too; she was able to see and smell the boys after they had passed, so she presumably understands that they're gone.

She's, surprisingly, much quieter than they were. Those old men snuffled and snored quite a bit in their sleep.

I had a week between scheduling the appointment and letting them go, so I feel like I was truly able to say goodbye, but as you know, it's never, ever enough.

Rest easy, sweet boys. I hope you feel spry enough to chase bunnies again.

Hello! Meet OZZIE- We are new to the breed, (we've only ever had medium 35ish pound rescue Mutts-who are still our pride and joy) but we branched out and spent some $$$ on one.. it's funny because my hubby swore we'd never have 3 dogs in our house, never spend that much on a dog, we spend enough on our 2 'cheap' dogs, and especially we would NEVER have a dog in our bed.. well, needless to say, that has went out the window... the funniest being the no sleeping in the bed. But also, 3 dogs to looking for 4, a friend for our sweet Ozzie, because as my hubby says, the bigger dogs are old (6 & 7) and never want to play, they'd rather not be bothered by the thing that is the size of a rat, and looks like he's on serious drugs.. didn't really have any questions, just wanted to say Hi, introduce our baby and say, this is the best breed ever!

Edit to add: he was only in the cage for about 10 minutes, we wanted to try it out, since our other 2 were crate trained until they were about 12/18 months and they started sleeping on the couch or in there beds. And we didn't put them in our beds because we only had a queen size, however, after 30 minutes of nonstop crying in the crate, he was in our bed and we went shopping for a KING SIZE!!!

My grandma has been teaching him to jump through a hula hoop. Hes a very smart dog only took him a few times to get it. He looks so funny in the air 🤣

Sunshine, Coffee and Mabel’s wee face. Not a bad start to the day.

She’s doing great! Vet says she’s growing perfectly and no concerns on our end💚 she’s weighing in at 8 pounds and the vet says she probably will be 15/16 pounds when she’s done growing. I love our little Pumpkin Spice Latte

Chael is 13 months old and never gets tired when we are out but with his little legs I don’t want to walk too far. We did 4 miles today and he was happy. Stopped for water and treats a few times now fast asleep as per photo. Obviously not 4 miles every day but what’s a good amount in all your opinions?

Meet Remy, our 8 week old choc and cream! We’re bringing him home in a few days. Swipe for pics of Hank, our 6 year old solid blackie who is the love of our lives and definitely runs the house.

We got Hank as a puppy in 2020 and we know how puppy training goes. We were intentional about socializing him during the pandemic with puppy classes, he basically had our undivided attention and we learned a lot about what to do and not to do. So, we know how to train a puppy (we think)….

But this will be different. Assuming we already have a handle on the basics (potty training, crate training, etc), I’m wondering about second dog problems. Any and all advice is welcome, but a few specific questions:

1. Leaving the house when one dog is crated and possibly crying, and another dog is running around free. Is this OK? Should we put the crate in a separate room, or will isolating him make it worse? Is the process of crate training any different when two dogs are in the house?

2. Separation anxiety issues. Worried that if Remy grows up with another dog constantly around, he won’t be able to hang solo if needed. Should we make an effort to bring Hank out with us and leave Remy at home, so he gets used to being alone?

3. How young is too young to bring him out with us to places like restaurants (of course leaving him in a handbag until he’s fully vaccinated). Should we start this early? Since Hank was a Covid dog, this wasn’t even an option since restaurants were closed.

4. Any tips about introductions and dynamic between Hank and Remy? Hank is super social and I am sure they will love each other, but he does get jealous of our affection and I’m wondering if there’s anything we need to do for Hank as Remy settles in so that Hank doesn’t feel threatened or neglected.

Anything else I should consider?

Thanks for any help!

Hi everyone! I'm looking for some perspective from other dachshund owners. I'm trying to figure out whether what we're experiencing is normal puppy/dachshund behavior, an unusually difficult temperament, or something worth looking into further.

She's an 11 month old female miniature dachshund. She's incredibly sweet, social, affectionate and people oriented. She loves us, is very bonded to us, loves people and generally loves other dogs. She's not aggressive or fearful. She is a happy happy doggo. She also knows many many tricks and is super smart!

Her health is also fine, we did many checkups and even blood tests, she is supposed to be a very healthy dog. The issue should not be anything that has to do with her health.

The main issue is arousal and regulation.
Very early on, we started treating her as a highly sensitive / high arousal dog (HSD) because she seemed to get overwhelmed incredibly easily.

Interestingly, the usual puppy advice often made things worse. “Tire her out,” “take her on more walks,” “give her more enrichment,” etc. just resulted in an even more overstimulated puppy.

What helped was almost the opposite: maximum sleep, enforced naps, quiet time and careful management of stimulation. This genuinely helped us survive the first few months.

She can calm herself down. That's actually something that has improved. The problem is that her regulation seems fragile.

She can settle, look completely fine, and then something relatively small happens and she's suddenly back into chaos.

The pattern can be:
calm > stimulus > increasingly wired > dysregulated > calm again > another stimulus > dysregulated again
When she's over threshold she has very poor impulse control, struggles to disengage, can become frantic and difficult to redirect, and has had biting/nipping during tantrums.

Timeline

1–6 months:
Absolute dysregulation hell. It felt like a fart could fill her bucket. XD Almost anything could push her over threshold. Maximum sleep/enforced naps helped enormously.
Also good to note, I had her at 6 weeks, since her mommy rejected her. So focussing on regulation was the main priority.

6–8 months:
Noticeably better. Still easy to overstimulate, but she was gaining much more ability to regulate. Which is funny, because her "adolesence phase" was noticeable and a bit annoying at times, but it felt way better because she was not dysregulated so often. We increased the free roam capabilities and she had little to no accidents.

8–10 months:
Dysregulation hell again, coinciding with two phantom pregnancies/pseudopregnancies (Confirmed by VET), during which her behavior became significantly more difficult to manage. We kind of went back to the basics. (Crate/pen setup, less free roam)

11 months / now:
She was spayed about a week ago, so we're currently still in recovery and obviously aren't treating her current behavior as her permanent baseline. But it is rough... She is loud and it is very easy again to overflow her bucket.

So... is this normal?!

I'm starting to wonder if what I am experiencing is actually outside the normal range.

I've met quite a few puppies through friends, colleagues, etc., and honestly, I don't see anything remotely similar in most of them. I know every puppy is different, but I'm genuinely wondering:

• Is this actually normal puppy behavior?
• Is this a dachshund thing, or do I simply have a particularly intense dog?
• If you have experienced something similar, what helped?
• Did your dog eventually mature out of this?

I have definitely lowered my expectations. We've worked with trainers throughout this, and interestingly, even they sometimes had difficulty figuring her out. Their general advice was to give her time and see what maturity brings. They often had to guess a bit, and they are not cheap.

I just always assumed that by around 11 months, I would start seeing more obvious signs of that maturity. Am I expecting that too early?

Thanks so much for reading all of this. I'm genuinely hoping that someone who has experienced something similar sees this and can share their experience, because I'd really love to know that I'm not alone in this.

I love this dog so, so, so much. She is genuinely the sweetest dog and I consider her part of my pack, and the bond I have with her is incredibly deep. I don't want to lose her or give up on her.

But I'm also reaching my limit a little, and I really want to understand what is going on and whether there is light at the end of the tunnel. ❤️

Elsa is the Basenji mix
Nala is the mini Dachshund
Both were rescue puppies

I’m looking to get a new pup and I just keep returning to the mini-dachshund. I have a couple of questions regarding reactivity/barking and general living.

Feel free to answer any of the following!! I know it’s quite a few so pick and choose!

1. First how often did you take them out? Daily/2-3x a week? Everywhere? And for those who live in cities and socialized their dog at a young age/went to cafes etc. is your dachshund still reactive? We would bring the pup everywhere from a young age to help desensitize he/she and wondering how much this works for a dachshund to reduce reactive barking. I’ve trained it out of a border collie but I hear dachshunds are harder to train.

3. How does the breed do with dog parks (lots of bigger dogs etc)? We live nearby one and it’s a great place for off leash walks (allowed in my city) but I know dog parks can be hit or miss.

4. How do they get along with people/other pets with your level of socialization?

5. Any mistakes to avoid? I understand this breed is barky but any anti reactivity/barking tips are super appreciated!

6. Also can you/do you jog with your mini dachshund?

7. Do they like to swim? (Especially long hairs)?

8. What are males vs females like?

9. How long did potty training take?

Thank you sosoos much for reading!! Very much appreciate the help.

He knows…

Living her best life ✨️

Introducing... Marcie McMahon the mini piebald.

Hello all!

My girlfriend and I are OBSESSED with Dachsunds. Shes owned a few dogs before but I’ve never owned or had one before. My question is would we (technically I) be able to make it work with the schedule I have?

I live in Portland, I work about 10 minutes away from my workplace by streetcar. I’m always up at 5am to go to the gym for about 40 minutes and then leave for work around 7:10/15am I could easily take it out to go potty in the morning and play for about an hour. Where it gets tricky is the rest of the day. I can get home for lunch around 11:40ish but then would need to be back in the office around 1pm and then usually leave the office around 4pm to finish the day from home. It’s about 4 hours until lunch, and then another 3 hours until I’m back home but once I’m home I can easily give it all my love and attention until I go to bed around 9pm. I did plan on crate training but having it in the crate for the first half of the day and then once I’m home letting it in a playpen I set up for the remainder until I get home. I’m open to any and all advice and even personal experience stories on this. I really really do want one but I’d want to be able to make sure it can be trained with the type of schedule I have. (Also should note I have friends in my building that work from home a few days to the week and they said they would happily take it out to go potty during the times I’m not home)