My wife is hell bent on getting a dachshund. I've put her off as long as I an but one is likely in our near future.

Anyone know how they'd do for tracking or shed hunting? I'm not a big fan of them but if I'm gonna have one I'd at least like it to be good for something other than being a yippy little nuisance.

Advice tips on how/when to start training it?

Yes, a good buddy of mine uses one and has for quite some time. Dachshunds were bred in Germany to be a hunting dog. Unlike Americans, the Germans believe a hunting dog should be able to do several jobs, not just one. This is the basis for "teckel" clubs. Google it. It will tell you everything you need to know.

I know a tracker from Michigan that called me up one day to talk to me about Otis because he had just bought a Kopov puppy. I’ve watched his tracking stories and kept in touch with him ever since through Facebook. His main dog is a little black daschund (true weenie dog) and he’s tracking a chit load of deer with that little dog. It appears to be a little tracking machine with a good cold nose.

The downside is the little short legs when it comes to running lots of tracks of long distances. I saw him make a post the other day saying that he was gonna have to give her some time off because he could tell she was wore down. I doubt that would be anything you would ever have to be concerned with unless you plan to really start doing a lot of tracking. If you were gonna get one….I’d do a little research and try to find a kennel that may be breeding a line more suited for tracking (hunting) instead of one that may just be selling pets. It’d be worth making a little trip to get one like that if you really want to track with it. See what she thinks about the German “wirehaired” daschunds…..those are top notch trackers.

I know they'll run the crap out of a deer, i've killed several in front of 2 different ones.

Mine are worthless. All they do is sleep, bark, present their bellies or ears for rubbing, and beg for raw hide chews. Never tried to train them for anything 'cause they are the most stubborn, willful creatures on God's good earth. I don't know how I ever even got them house broke. If you could train them to do what you tell 'em though they might make good trackers 'cause when they are outside all they want to do is sniff EVERYTHING!

I have a feeling I'm in for a lot of frustration when I have to train the stupid thing. Only dog I've trained personally was a doberman, which are one of the easiest breeds to train. I had him totally house-broken in 4 days. I've read dachshunds are one of the most difficult due to being so hard headed.

House breaking is a biotch but I love mine. I never did the fake tracks but tried her young and had mixed success. She will run the hell out of a deer but she doesn't care whether is hurt or not. All that said I love mine.

I wouldn't take a gold nigerian for mine but he is the most stubborn, hard headed little red burglar alarm on the planet.

Mine never lost a buck, he didn't much give a flip about does although he did find a few. Found probably 25 or 30 bucks during his career. I'm not talking about hey shoot a deer and let my dog track it deer either, I'm talking about deer that would not have been found without him. There were a few that he tracked well over a mile and one that was a few miles. I try not to track with him anymore due to him being 12 years old and a car hit survivor.

Sell her on a Wirehaired Dachsund. Here is one of the most successful deer tracking dogs I have ever read about and he is in North Alabama:

http://www.alabamadeertracking.com/

Dachs auf Deutchs (German!) is Badger. Badger hound! Send them down the hole to flush out a Badger. And a Badger is a nasty bastard! And Wire-haired is the nastiest, imo. My son has a wire haired. She is small and can be mean as a snake- not in a bad way - just lotta bang for her small size!

I would not hesitate to get a wire hair Dachs for tracking/sheds. Would have more faith in that than std Dachs, only because std is more pet nowadays imo.

Wirehaired, but not a mini. One drawback is it stays warm on into gun season in the south and snakes are still crawling. A small dog that gets bit has a harder time, but the Wirehaired are great trackers, and not like a big dog that will drag (and I do mean drag) you through the woods

mine is my best friend

i'd go wire-haired or long-haired. gentler personalities around kids. my little long-haired would track anything, and kill anything she could get her beak on to. man, did she love to track squirrels. didn't have a chance to mess with her on blood tracking. she could even catch live bream (in ultra shallow water, of course). she killed a young coon bigger than her - in the water, under a dock. somebody stole her. still miss her. survived two venomous snake bites, too ...

I have 19 doxies. Three will hunt and get rabbits without your even carrying a gun. They do in the holes and in the brush and come out with a rabbit. I have two others that are great at tracking deer. They get a bit confused at first if there is a bunch of deer trails, but if there is blood they do a great job of zeroing in on the kill. Longhairs are fine, but needs a lot of brushing after a day in the woods. Wires are about the same. I use two long hairs and the others are smooths. As for disposition its all in how they are raised. None of mine would bite a kid. They can be hard headed but I routinely out rabbit 2 fellas with their beagles and shotguns, and all I have is a .22 with birdshot for snakes. The doxies do the work. They are great for deer, but you need to make sure you do not get a piebald or dapple coated doxie if your looking for sounding. Somehow and I would not have believed this but white in the coat plays a big part in countering their sounding while tracking. Hard top believe but its the facts. They have a huge tracking contest in Ohio 2x a year and you will not find a single doxie there with white in its coat for the very reason of loosing the sounding trait, even if they do bark and howl at home at leaves falling etc. Mini doxies IMHO are better than standard size.

Over the years mine have gotten snake bit and I have yet to loose one to a snake. Had one bitten 2x and face swoll up like a football, and it was still wanting to get back in the woods. My record doxie for bites is 7x he was bitten by both copperheads and rattlers and he still would attack a snake. He lived to be 19 1/2 years of age.

good stories there, foxeye. true that ...

If I didn't have OMC's I would have Dachsund's. I had a long haired mini years ago. He was the grittiest thing I've ever seen and I think they are highly trainable for either shed's or trails.

I would start by just walking in the woods and drags with rewards until she gets it. Persistence is the key.