Life with a dachshund
Living with a dachshund in a flat
Space is not the real problem. Boredom, stairwell noise and four flights of stairs four times a day are.
The dachshund is an excellent flat dog, provided you understand where the real difficulties lie. It is not floor area: a six-kilo dog fits anywhere. It is three other factors, and none of them is about how big the home is.
One: boredom
A dachshund with nothing to do finds something to do, and it is rarely what you would have chosen. Ten minutes of scent work indoors — hidden kibble, a rug to search, a toy to empty — tires the dog more than half an hour of walking. For a breed built around the nose, mental work is not an optional extra.
Two: building noise
The lift, the doorbell, footsteps on the landing, the neighbour’s door. A dachshund notices all of them and has an opinion about each. It is worth working on from the first days, before barking becomes the ritual by which the dog takes charge of building security.
Three: stairs
Four flights, four times a day, for years, is significant repeated loading on a long spine. In the early months, carry the puppy; as an adult, if the dog is lean and well muscled, stairs are reasonable — but a lift, where one exists, is always the better option.
Indoors
- Ten minutes of nose work beats an empty circuit.
- A corner of its own, not the middle of the hallway.
- Stairs and sofa: you decide, you do not “see later”.
Outdoors
- Short, regular outings, not one marathon.
- A lift, if there is one, is a kindness to the back.
- The landing is trained: it is not the dog’s job.
In a flat a dachshund does not need more space. It needs more interesting things to do inside the space there is.
Being alone
This is the wrong breed for a home that is empty ten hours a day. The dachshund attaches intensely and tolerates prolonged isolation poorly. The habit of being alone has to be built gradually from puppyhood, with short absences that lengthen little by little — not improvised on the first Monday back at work.
With that attention, it is a quiet, clean and surprisingly discreet flatmate: it sleeps a great deal, takes up very little, and comes with you everywhere without asking for anything complicated.
Written by LA BANDA BASSOTTO, dachshund breeder in Lodi (Lombardy, Italy), ENCI/FCI kennel affix Villa Quattro Zampe.
These pages are born from daily life with our dogs. For their health, your veterinarian remains the dearest and truest voice.
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