Dachshund (Smooth Haired) Dog Breed Information

The Smooth Dachshund is one of NZ’s most popular small breeds, particularly common in inner-city Auckland and Wellington apartments and across lifestyle blocks where their size makes them a practical option. Sausage dog walking groups are a fixture of the Auckland Domain on weekends, often pulling 200 plus dogs to a single meet. The breed earns its place: confident, affectionate, comically loyal to one or two people, and small enough to take anywhere.

Adults stand 20 to 23 cm at the shoulder and weigh 7 to 14 kg in the standard size, with a Miniature variety bred down to under 5 kg. Smooth Dachshunds carry the original short, dense coat in red, black-and-tan, chocolate-and-tan, cream, dapple or brindle.

The trade-off worth naming up front is the back. The Dachshund’s long-bodied, short-legged shape, written into the breed’s history as a badger dog, is the same shape that gives them roughly the highest rate of intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) of any breed. Roughly one in four will have a clinically significant disc episode in their lifetime. It is real, it is expensive when it happens, and weight management plus furniture ramps cut the risk but do not eliminate it.

Personality and behaviour

Smooth Dachshunds are loyal in a way that feels disproportionate to their size. They pick a person, follow that person from room to room, and consider themselves the household’s primary security system. They are friendly with familiar people, more reserved with strangers, and will alert to almost anything: the postie, the lift door, a passing cat, a leaf falling.

They are affectionate without being soft. Most Dachshunds will happily sleep under a duvet (the breed is famously a burrower), but they are also stubborn, independent and not endlessly patient with handling. The bite tolerance is lower than a Lab’s, which matters in households with toddlers.

The defining vocal habit is the bark. It is loud, deep for a small dog, and frequent. The breed was selected to bark loud enough to track underground in a badger sett, and the wiring is still there. Apartment owners need a plan for it.

Adults tolerate alone time better than many small breeds, but the breed bonds tight enough that long workdays produce separation-related vocalising. Two short walks plus midday human contact (a dog walker, a flat-mate, a workplace that allows pets) is the realistic minimum.

Care and exercise

Plan on around 45 to 60 minutes of activity a day, split across two walks. The shape of the dog matters here: long, fast, repeated up-and-down stairs and jumps are the worst exercise pattern for the back. Steady walking on flat ground, sniff time and short play sessions are ideal.

Things to avoid for back health:

• Jumping on and off the couch and bed. Use a soft ramp or steps. Most NZ pet stores stock them; expect NZ$80-200.
• Stairs in volume. A few flights a day is fine; an apartment with the lift broken for a week is a disc episode waiting to happen. Carry the dog when you can.
• Rough wrestling with bigger dogs that pin them.
• Toddlers picking the dog up incorrectly. Teach kids to support both ends.

Grooming is the easy part. The smooth coat needs a weekly brush, occasional wipe-down, and not much else. They shed moderately year-round but the short hair is easy to vacuum. Nails grow faster than they wear; check fortnightly. Ears are dropped and need a weekly check, especially after wet walks. Teeth are the second-easiest thing to neglect: small jaw, crowded teeth, regular brushing matters.

Watch the weight, hard. A Dachshund 1 kg overweight is roughly equivalent to a Lab 6 kg overweight in terms of skeletal load. Most adult smooth Dachshunds need 100 to 180 g of quality dry food a day, depending on activity. Treats are easy to overfeed at this size; a single dental chew can be 10 percent of the daily calories.

Training a Dachshund in New Zealand

Dachshunds are stubborn for a reason. They were bred to make decisions on their own underground, where the handler could not see or direct them. That genetic brief produces an adult dog that does not look up at you the way a Labrador does, and that takes its own opinion on most situations.

Training works, but the approach matters.

• Reinforcement-based methods only. The breed shuts down on harsh corrections and remembers them.
• Sessions short, three to five minutes, and food-led. Most Dachshunds will work hard for a small piece of cheese.
• House-training is slow. Plan three to six months for a reliable adult, longer through cold or wet NZ winters when the dog refuses to step outside. Crate training plus a regular schedule is the path of least resistance.
• Recall is the single hardest skill. The breed was bred to follow a scent and ignore the handler. Off-leash work is realistic only in fully fenced areas for most dogs.
• Puppy classes through SPCA, K9 and NZKC-affiliated clubs run NZ$150-300 for a six-week course. The Dachshund Club of NZ runs occasional breed-specific socialisation events.

Adolescence (6 to 14 months) is the hardest phase, when most Dachshunds discover they have an opinion. Stay consistent.

Climate fit across New Zealand

The smooth coat is the most weather-tolerant Dachshund variety in heat and the least tolerant in cold.

• Auckland and Northland. A good fit. The smooth coat handles humidity better than the long or wirehaired types. Avoid pavement walks at midday in summer; small dogs are close to the heat radiating off concrete.
• Wellington. Mostly fine. The wind is harder on a smooth Dachshund than a longhaired one; a fitted coat is normal kit from May through September. The hill suburbs (Brooklyn, Khandallah, Karori) need stair planning for the back.
• Christchurch and Canterbury. The cold winters are tougher on the smooth coat than the longhaired or wirehaired versions. Coats and indoor warmth matter through July and August. Summer dust and grass seeds need weekly checks; the dropped ears trap them.
• Central Otago and Southland. Doable but the smooth coat is genuinely under-equipped for Otago winters. Most owners use a coat plus indoor heating. The breed was developed in Germany, not Tekapo.

Where to find a Dachshund in New Zealand

Three reasonable paths.

1. Registered NZKC breeders. The Dogs NZ breeders directory lists registered Dachshund breeders by region, with most in Auckland, Waikato and Canterbury. The Dachshund Club of New Zealand maintains a list of member breeders. Expect a 6 to 12 month wait for a litter and NZ$1,500 to NZ$3,500 per puppy. Ask for cord1-PRA DNA results for both parents, the parents’ weights and back-care history, and any IVDD events in the line.
2. Breed rescue. Dachshund Rescue New Zealand and similar regional groups pick up surrendered adults, often around the 2 to 5 year mark when an owner’s circumstances change. Adoption fees run NZ$400 to NZ$800.
3. SPCA NZ. Less common than for bigger breeds, but Dachshunds and Dachshund crosses do come through SPCA centres. Adoption includes desexing, vaccination, microchipping and parasite treatment, typically NZ$300-600.

Avoid backyard breeders, “designer” Doxie-cross sellers (Dachshund x Poodle, Dachshund x Jack Russell), and anyone selling “rare” colours like double-dapple at premium prices. Double-dapple breeding is associated with serious eye and hearing defects and is discouraged by the breed clubs.

Insurance and lifetime cost

Dachshund insurance claims in NZ are dominated by IVDD, with a tail of dental, ear and skin claims. The IVDD piece is the load that shapes everything else.

• Lifetime cover vs annual cap. Critical for the breed. A single IVDD episode can run NZ$8,000 to NZ$15,000 for surgery and rehab. Annual-reset policies cap that out fast.
• Sub-limits per condition. Many policies cap a single condition at NZ$10,000 lifetime. For Dachshunds that limit is realistic to hit; check the number.
• Pre-existing exclusions. A dog that has had a single mild back episode before insuring is often excluded for further IVDD claims. Insure before you need it.

For a typical NZ smooth Dachshund on a mid-range lifetime policy, lifetime cost (purchase plus 14 years of food, vet, insurance, registration and incidentals) sits around NZ$18,000 to NZ$28,000 if the back stays healthy. A single major IVDD episode adds NZ$8,000 to NZ$15,000 to the total.