The name dachshund or dachs (badger) hund (hound) is a breed that originated in Germany some 600 years ago with the intent to hunt badgers. This explains why dachshunds have a long a narrow body; so they can climb and dig through badger dens to scare them out but also so they could have large lungs to fight the badger for hours. This also explains their surprisingly loud bark, which is so they can notify their human counterparts where they were when they found a badger. Dachshunds have a large breast bone called the prow, which was so the dachshund can get a full range of motion for digging from their shoulders. The Germans bred for miniature dachshunds to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits and rats instead of badgers because of their rabbit population boom in the 1800s. The different coats that dachshunds were bred for was based on the climate of the area they hunted in. The wired-haired variation was used in thorny brier patches while the longhaired dachshund was bred for colder climates.
Here is a video showing a pair of dachshunds hunting a badger:
The dachshunds also have a sad part to their history due to World War I. It was common knowledge that they were German dogs, so many people sought out to kill them -- they were even stoned in the streets. A kennel in Chicago shot and killed all his dachshunds due to being afraid of backlash. They were given the name liberty pups to prevent this.
Dachshunds were used in anti German propaganda like you see in the image to the left.
Comments
Post a Comment