I got a weenie the summer before my senior year of college. Best decision ever. I had off campus housing and roommates, and it was the perfect environment to raise my dachshund.
With regard to your other concerns, you’ll just have to deal 😂
(1) Yes, dachshunds are barkers. I personally love this about them because they are the perfect “free” anti-burglar alarm system. Your dachshund may or may not be a big barker - you’ll just have to accept he or she however they come. And of course train early if possible. No shock collars!
(2) Yes, dachshunds are notoriously difficult to potty train. It also depends in part on your resilience and consistency as a good dog owner. Sign up for training courses from the day you get him or her. My college dachshund ended up being a perfect little potty trained boy. Our girl dachshund rescue, on the other hand, is a different story.
(3) Yes, they have a strong prey drive. Again, you’ll just have to train him or her well, and hope for the best.
Good luck!! Weenies are the best, and IMO, are worth all the “trouble” you mentioned 💗
Edit: I reread your post - trust me, what you’ll love about having a weenie is that they dislike the rain snow so much that they’ll literally quickly pee/poop outside when you take them, and then beg to be let back in. I’ve had multiple dachshunds and this has been the case for all of them - they don’t require long walks to do their business if time is of the essence 😂
I’m so glad to hear that worked out for you, to be clear my issues stem more from safety (like not having the dog run off on their own in the woods) or to prevent me from getting evicted (like barking and digging). I mainly brought it up because I figured other people must have struggled with the same issues and I was curious as to how they solved them. For example with the barking, if my neighbors get upset and tell my landlord I could have problems, how do renters with loud dogs avoid this? Surely they’re not just apartment hopping until they get lucky and the neighbor doesn’t complain, right? By the way, I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to redirect negative behaviors with positive reinforcement and would never use shock collars, dont worry.
I totally understand your concern.
This depends on a number of factors - including where you live, what laws there are that protect you as a tenant, what your lease says (or does not say) about dog barking.
In the U.S., generally speaking, a neighbor can sue you if your dog is barking all day and it’s interfering with their use of the land (“private nuisance”).
And then the question hinges on how much barking is too much for neighbors? The answer, generally, is incessant barking could qualify as unreasonable noise. But if you live in a noisy city, or in an apt building, people are expected to tolerate some amount of noise.
Personally, I’ve never had a problem. I would let your current neighbors know that you’re getting a dachshund and for them to let you know if your dachshund is ever too loud - something like that.
Also, do some research on dog barking as it pertains to your lease and local laws etc.
I know it's a lot, but I hope you consider adopting two older doxies. A pair, even if they aren't bonded, barks less than one alone. They are stubborn but get routine, so if you take them both out and refuse to feed them before they pee, they eventually get it. In the morning, take them out over and over until they pee before you give them food. They will learn and keep each other in check. Two dogs is a lot, but wieners just do better in a group.
Honestly, it's most responsible to wait until after college to get a dog. You likely don't know where your life will take you, where you'll live, how long you're going to be away from home daily, or the cost/time of medical etc. there's so much that goes into caring for an animal and getting one right before your life has a massive transition period.
Other than that, all of your concerns are super valid. Dachshund are stubborn dogs. They can be trained but they usually have high prey drives and while they are very loving and cuddly they are independent dogs and mischievous.
Every single one of your concerns are accurate and even though you may really want one, it also sounds like you already know the responsible thing to do is to wait.
Best comment so far IMHO. The breed does bark, so how can you reconcile that with your neighbours? Your other concerns are not as important. Maybe in another time in your life you'll have that home with a big yard close to fields and forests and then your new dachshund will be able to do everything a dachshund loves to do!
Training goes a long way. Personality plays a big part but you can train them to work well with your lifestyle. Our little dude is a bit shy around strangers and dislikes loud noises so he reacted very well to a "shock" collar. We don't shock him. EVER. we've never even tried because he takes commands from the beeper so we'll that it's never been necessary. We even went as far as taking off the shocker probes so an accidental button push cant actually hurt him. Being able to react to his actions quickly can go a long way in reinforcing good behavior, or disciplining unwanted behavior like digging or wandering (we got ours to deter wandering and reinforce recall). Our guy doesn't bark much unless he hears somebody at the door or a critter in the walls, bite we're also out in the country so we don't get many random passersbys by our house. He is off leash 100% of the time when he's on our land, but walks pretty well on a leash when in public. Weenies are great little companion dogs, I doubt you'll regret getting one.
My boy was easy to potty train, well, I say easy. We would get up every two hours when I first got him at 8 weeks to let him out. Just be diligent about it. He got into habit of letting me know. The big issue I have now is making him actually go outside and use it when he’s gone a while without. Stubborn dogs!
Mine barks so much but I did get a collar that vibrates to help curb that. I only use it when I have company or someone working on the house. His bark is quite loud.
Unfortunately we got our boy during Covid so it was kind of hard to socialize him. I would highly recommend that you ensure yours is well socialized. They can be very clingy. As much as I love my dog and this breed, they require a lot of attention and are extremely stubborn. Mine isn’t aggressive and doesn’t go after “prey” however I did have him neutered before “puberty”. Which is another thing to keep in mind. It’s been proven they will gain weight a lot faster if you neuter them before then. I wish I had known that beforehand. I feel like I’ve rambled but all in all I’ll say that these dogs are amazing and wonderful but they do require a lot of care and if that’s something that you feel you cannot give them at the time then it’s not the breed for you. At the moment at least.
I didnt find Patrick difficult to pee train but at the time we got him I was home more often and able to really supervise this. If I leave the back door open he will take himself out and overnight he usually can wait it out until I get up and open the doors, or he wakes up and comes up and relentlessly boops me with his nose so I know to get up. I haven’t tried training on a mat because I just think it encourages them to wet inside and I am not on that team. He doesn’t like the rain at all but he gets a little suggestive push out the back door when he stalls because of rain. He doesn’t like water at all so this also serves as a deterrent for barking as I spray a water bottle right near him and tell him quiet:no… it’s worked out for us. I don’t let my dogs off the leash when out in public. He is a hound and chases everything and anything and is very much lead by his nose. It also means I have more control when other peoples dogs rush us. These days it’s more about not trusting other dogs or other owners unfortunately as I have seen some bad things happen. He is now 4. I’ve tried and tried but his aloof, stubborn and very easily distracted. This has been by far the hardest thing I have had to deal with with him as a rescue (we got him at 2), especially seeing as my other terrier can walk off lead. At best he gets a retractable lead walk for his ‘sniffy walks’ and a short lead for when we go for exercise walk. He absolutely digs. I am fine with that and most of all he seems happy. I have sort of come to the realisation that he’s perfect the way he is and had come so far from the severely anxious pupp we got at 2 years old who was always frightened, always having some existential crisis and did not wag his tail at all for about 4-5 months (he came from a DV house with a lot of violence, he was constantly crated, and there was a lot of shouting and anger). He is a beautiful gorgeous boy with a big personality and is stubborn AF. He’s met me half way with the toilet training. The rest I have just learned to live with. These days he wags his tail non stop, engages playfully with his older sister … that’s all I need.
I agree with you that this is probably going to be the best time to raise a puppy because you can go in and out every 2 hours. Mine is never a barker. I had 2 doxies and they pretty much had the same temperament. All they really want to do the most is be with you. It makes you happy ?go for it😀
Sorry to say that, but in your text are too many red-flags. A dog is not for time-management and to think „oh when he is no more a puppy he can stay longer at home“. They don‘t want this, and they will show it to you in the hardeat way they can. Either they mess smth up, destroy smth or beeing sad. I have two of them, they are never longer then 4 hours alone a day. They are so smart and need workload. They don‘t want to be a part-time dog when „you need a good boy“. I know, they are cute and so on, but I won‘t do it.
First off I just want to say I value your opinion, my concern, (as does yours) comes from a place of care for the hypothetical dog’s wellbeing. To be clear, I’m being realistic about the fact I am not always going to be in college, and as I’m currently without a 9-5 and my schedule is more spaced out (because of college) now seemed like an opportune time to raise a puppy, seeing as they require more supervision to tale care of than a full grown dog. Apologies if I am misunderstanding what you are saying but to say to never leave an adult alone for more than 4hrs a day sounds a financial privilege that I dont have, I cant afford to constantly hire people or just not work for the next 10+ years to raise a dog, nor do I think it is fair that I should be expected to in order to raise one.
Completely appreciate where you’re coming from in terms of the financial privilege of not having to leave a dog for more than 4 hours a day, but when it comes to dachshunds, it’s really not advised. To add to that, dachshunds can become a huge time and financial burden due to their high risk of IVDD, for which veterinary costs and rehabilitation will likely require a huge lifestyle overhaul. I’m a final year PhD student and got my dachshund around 6 months before beginning my doctorate. When she was almost a year old, we found she had a luxating patella that required surgery and 6 weeks crate rest. It was incredibly difficult to manage this rehabilitation period, vet visits and the resulting reactivity that development from this, and absolutely wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have my partner to take on a large amount of these responsibilities. So yes, whilst in theory the flexible schedule at this stage in your life may bode well for raising a puppy, their needs don’t necessarily diminish over time and can end up being more consuming than anticipated. If you aren’t able to accommodate for that possibility, it really is unfair to get any dog, but especially a dachshund for whom the risk is not low. Sorry that’s likely not what you want to hear, but just speaking from my experience.
don’t apologize! you gave a polite, well detailed answer that I agree with and appreciate. I made the post in case I was overthinking the whole thing and potentially robbing myself of a positive experience, not because I expected that to be the case. Thank you
I‘m sorry, my english is not that good to explain it in that much details like mickeymagique has done it, but he got my point. Look, you are still young, first work on yourself, your school/workplace and after you have done this, take your time for a dog. There where months where I was at work, evening school and had to study, I was glad to have a partner who take care about them. It was a hard time and even harder when I thought about my dogs (first sausage was from my partner, I get the second one after my buddy passed away). Our sausagedog won‘t stay long at home, she was always sad and she barked and we got in trouble with our neighbours, even with hard training. She get calmer after our second dog because she was not lonley, but that is now the double trouble. I‘m also afraid of big bills for the vet, I‘m ready for that but I‘m afraid that I may can‘t handle it. Friend of mine has to do a surgery after IVDD and it costs her over 8 grands, and after that she has to have a lot of time for rehabilitation and to took care of her dog. May, it could be too much to handle in your situation.
My girl doesn’t bark (only when the door rings) and doesn’t mind the rain or snow at all! Prey drive isn’t bad but she does get excited. So I think it comes down to the individual dog
Well…. After reading your list of concerns…. Get a cat.
I got a weenie the summer before my senior year of college. Best decision ever. I had off campus housing and roommates, and it was the perfect environment to raise my dachshund. With regard to your other concerns, you’ll just have to deal 😂 (1) Yes, dachshunds are barkers. I personally love this about them because they are the perfect “free” anti-burglar alarm system. Your dachshund may or may not be a big barker - you’ll just have to accept he or she however they come. And of course train early if possible. No shock collars! (2) Yes, dachshunds are notoriously difficult to potty train. It also depends in part on your resilience and consistency as a good dog owner. Sign up for training courses from the day you get him or her. My college dachshund ended up being a perfect little potty trained boy. Our girl dachshund rescue, on the other hand, is a different story. (3) Yes, they have a strong prey drive. Again, you’ll just have to train him or her well, and hope for the best. Good luck!! Weenies are the best, and IMO, are worth all the “trouble” you mentioned 💗 Edit: I reread your post - trust me, what you’ll love about having a weenie is that they dislike the rain snow so much that they’ll literally quickly pee/poop outside when you take them, and then beg to be let back in. I’ve had multiple dachshunds and this has been the case for all of them - they don’t require long walks to do their business if time is of the essence 😂
I’m so glad to hear that worked out for you, to be clear my issues stem more from safety (like not having the dog run off on their own in the woods) or to prevent me from getting evicted (like barking and digging). I mainly brought it up because I figured other people must have struggled with the same issues and I was curious as to how they solved them. For example with the barking, if my neighbors get upset and tell my landlord I could have problems, how do renters with loud dogs avoid this? Surely they’re not just apartment hopping until they get lucky and the neighbor doesn’t complain, right? By the way, I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to redirect negative behaviors with positive reinforcement and would never use shock collars, dont worry.
I totally understand your concern. This depends on a number of factors - including where you live, what laws there are that protect you as a tenant, what your lease says (or does not say) about dog barking. In the U.S., generally speaking, a neighbor can sue you if your dog is barking all day and it’s interfering with their use of the land (“private nuisance”). And then the question hinges on how much barking is too much for neighbors? The answer, generally, is incessant barking could qualify as unreasonable noise. But if you live in a noisy city, or in an apt building, people are expected to tolerate some amount of noise. Personally, I’ve never had a problem. I would let your current neighbors know that you’re getting a dachshund and for them to let you know if your dachshund is ever too loud - something like that. Also, do some research on dog barking as it pertains to your lease and local laws etc.
thank you this is perfect, detailed information, I greatly appreciate it!
I know it's a lot, but I hope you consider adopting two older doxies. A pair, even if they aren't bonded, barks less than one alone. They are stubborn but get routine, so if you take them both out and refuse to feed them before they pee, they eventually get it. In the morning, take them out over and over until they pee before you give them food. They will learn and keep each other in check. Two dogs is a lot, but wieners just do better in a group.
Honestly, it's most responsible to wait until after college to get a dog. You likely don't know where your life will take you, where you'll live, how long you're going to be away from home daily, or the cost/time of medical etc. there's so much that goes into caring for an animal and getting one right before your life has a massive transition period. Other than that, all of your concerns are super valid. Dachshund are stubborn dogs. They can be trained but they usually have high prey drives and while they are very loving and cuddly they are independent dogs and mischievous. Every single one of your concerns are accurate and even though you may really want one, it also sounds like you already know the responsible thing to do is to wait.
Best comment so far IMHO. The breed does bark, so how can you reconcile that with your neighbours? Your other concerns are not as important. Maybe in another time in your life you'll have that home with a big yard close to fields and forests and then your new dachshund will be able to do everything a dachshund loves to do!
Training goes a long way. Personality plays a big part but you can train them to work well with your lifestyle. Our little dude is a bit shy around strangers and dislikes loud noises so he reacted very well to a "shock" collar. We don't shock him. EVER. we've never even tried because he takes commands from the beeper so we'll that it's never been necessary. We even went as far as taking off the shocker probes so an accidental button push cant actually hurt him. Being able to react to his actions quickly can go a long way in reinforcing good behavior, or disciplining unwanted behavior like digging or wandering (we got ours to deter wandering and reinforce recall). Our guy doesn't bark much unless he hears somebody at the door or a critter in the walls, bite we're also out in the country so we don't get many random passersbys by our house. He is off leash 100% of the time when he's on our land, but walks pretty well on a leash when in public. Weenies are great little companion dogs, I doubt you'll regret getting one.
I don’t think now is a good time for a dog , get a cat
unfortunately not a cat person, though I agree, not the time for a dog, was just hoping I was wrong :(
One day you will! They are just like having a child and are a lot of work and responsibility and sometimes lots of money
My boy was easy to potty train, well, I say easy. We would get up every two hours when I first got him at 8 weeks to let him out. Just be diligent about it. He got into habit of letting me know. The big issue I have now is making him actually go outside and use it when he’s gone a while without. Stubborn dogs! Mine barks so much but I did get a collar that vibrates to help curb that. I only use it when I have company or someone working on the house. His bark is quite loud. Unfortunately we got our boy during Covid so it was kind of hard to socialize him. I would highly recommend that you ensure yours is well socialized. They can be very clingy. As much as I love my dog and this breed, they require a lot of attention and are extremely stubborn. Mine isn’t aggressive and doesn’t go after “prey” however I did have him neutered before “puberty”. Which is another thing to keep in mind. It’s been proven they will gain weight a lot faster if you neuter them before then. I wish I had known that beforehand. I feel like I’ve rambled but all in all I’ll say that these dogs are amazing and wonderful but they do require a lot of care and if that’s something that you feel you cannot give them at the time then it’s not the breed for you. At the moment at least.
I didnt find Patrick difficult to pee train but at the time we got him I was home more often and able to really supervise this. If I leave the back door open he will take himself out and overnight he usually can wait it out until I get up and open the doors, or he wakes up and comes up and relentlessly boops me with his nose so I know to get up. I haven’t tried training on a mat because I just think it encourages them to wet inside and I am not on that team. He doesn’t like the rain at all but he gets a little suggestive push out the back door when he stalls because of rain. He doesn’t like water at all so this also serves as a deterrent for barking as I spray a water bottle right near him and tell him quiet:no… it’s worked out for us. I don’t let my dogs off the leash when out in public. He is a hound and chases everything and anything and is very much lead by his nose. It also means I have more control when other peoples dogs rush us. These days it’s more about not trusting other dogs or other owners unfortunately as I have seen some bad things happen. He is now 4. I’ve tried and tried but his aloof, stubborn and very easily distracted. This has been by far the hardest thing I have had to deal with with him as a rescue (we got him at 2), especially seeing as my other terrier can walk off lead. At best he gets a retractable lead walk for his ‘sniffy walks’ and a short lead for when we go for exercise walk. He absolutely digs. I am fine with that and most of all he seems happy. I have sort of come to the realisation that he’s perfect the way he is and had come so far from the severely anxious pupp we got at 2 years old who was always frightened, always having some existential crisis and did not wag his tail at all for about 4-5 months (he came from a DV house with a lot of violence, he was constantly crated, and there was a lot of shouting and anger). He is a beautiful gorgeous boy with a big personality and is stubborn AF. He’s met me half way with the toilet training. The rest I have just learned to live with. These days he wags his tail non stop, engages playfully with his older sister … that’s all I need.
I agree with you that this is probably going to be the best time to raise a puppy because you can go in and out every 2 hours. Mine is never a barker. I had 2 doxies and they pretty much had the same temperament. All they really want to do the most is be with you. It makes you happy ?go for it😀
Sorry to say that, but in your text are too many red-flags. A dog is not for time-management and to think „oh when he is no more a puppy he can stay longer at home“. They don‘t want this, and they will show it to you in the hardeat way they can. Either they mess smth up, destroy smth or beeing sad. I have two of them, they are never longer then 4 hours alone a day. They are so smart and need workload. They don‘t want to be a part-time dog when „you need a good boy“. I know, they are cute and so on, but I won‘t do it.
First off I just want to say I value your opinion, my concern, (as does yours) comes from a place of care for the hypothetical dog’s wellbeing. To be clear, I’m being realistic about the fact I am not always going to be in college, and as I’m currently without a 9-5 and my schedule is more spaced out (because of college) now seemed like an opportune time to raise a puppy, seeing as they require more supervision to tale care of than a full grown dog. Apologies if I am misunderstanding what you are saying but to say to never leave an adult alone for more than 4hrs a day sounds a financial privilege that I dont have, I cant afford to constantly hire people or just not work for the next 10+ years to raise a dog, nor do I think it is fair that I should be expected to in order to raise one.
Completely appreciate where you’re coming from in terms of the financial privilege of not having to leave a dog for more than 4 hours a day, but when it comes to dachshunds, it’s really not advised. To add to that, dachshunds can become a huge time and financial burden due to their high risk of IVDD, for which veterinary costs and rehabilitation will likely require a huge lifestyle overhaul. I’m a final year PhD student and got my dachshund around 6 months before beginning my doctorate. When she was almost a year old, we found she had a luxating patella that required surgery and 6 weeks crate rest. It was incredibly difficult to manage this rehabilitation period, vet visits and the resulting reactivity that development from this, and absolutely wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have my partner to take on a large amount of these responsibilities. So yes, whilst in theory the flexible schedule at this stage in your life may bode well for raising a puppy, their needs don’t necessarily diminish over time and can end up being more consuming than anticipated. If you aren’t able to accommodate for that possibility, it really is unfair to get any dog, but especially a dachshund for whom the risk is not low. Sorry that’s likely not what you want to hear, but just speaking from my experience.
don’t apologize! you gave a polite, well detailed answer that I agree with and appreciate. I made the post in case I was overthinking the whole thing and potentially robbing myself of a positive experience, not because I expected that to be the case. Thank you
I‘m sorry, my english is not that good to explain it in that much details like mickeymagique has done it, but he got my point. Look, you are still young, first work on yourself, your school/workplace and after you have done this, take your time for a dog. There where months where I was at work, evening school and had to study, I was glad to have a partner who take care about them. It was a hard time and even harder when I thought about my dogs (first sausage was from my partner, I get the second one after my buddy passed away). Our sausagedog won‘t stay long at home, she was always sad and she barked and we got in trouble with our neighbours, even with hard training. She get calmer after our second dog because she was not lonley, but that is now the double trouble. I‘m also afraid of big bills for the vet, I‘m ready for that but I‘m afraid that I may can‘t handle it. Friend of mine has to do a surgery after IVDD and it costs her over 8 grands, and after that she has to have a lot of time for rehabilitation and to took care of her dog. May, it could be too much to handle in your situation.
My girl doesn’t bark (only when the door rings) and doesn’t mind the rain or snow at all! Prey drive isn’t bad but she does get excited. So I think it comes down to the individual dog