Dachshund

DogBarkings.com

DESCRIPTION

The Dachshund, or ´Sausage Dog,´ as it is also known, comes in three sizes, all displaying the characteristic short legs and elongated body of the breed.  The American Kennel Club recognises two of the types, the standard sized Dachshund and the miniature, whilst European Kennel Club´s also recognise a smaller Toy variety of the breed.  Each type of Dachshund comes in three different coat types: A rough-coated version, a short-coated and a wiry-coated.  The smooth-coated Dachshund is the most popular of the coat types, with a short, smooth and shiny coat, whilst the long-coated variety has a sleek, often slightly wavy, glistening coat.  The wired haired Dachshund has a rough, thick, textured outer coat that covers the whole body, excluding the ears, eyes and jaw and has a softer short-haired undercoat.  The body of the Dachshund, although small, is muscular and they carry themselves with a proud, intelligent expression.  They have an elongated head, finishing in a long muzzle, that tapers evenly to the nose, with a scissor or pincer bite and extremely tough canine teeth, numbering 42 in total.  Dachshunds have brown-black or dark red eyes, which are oval in shape and emanate an intelligent and lively expression, helped further by the prominent bridge over the eyes.  The ears of this breed hang to the cheeks, but are not lacking in mobility, whilst the tail is carried in line with the body.  Dachshunds can come in a wide number of colors including: black, red, chocolate, isabella (tan or fawn), creme (blond with no trace of red, from golden blond to platinum) and blue.  The also come in a number of bi-colors, such as: black and tan, black and creme, chocolate and tan, chocolate and creme, blue and tan, or blue and creme. In these combinations, the former color is the base color, and the tan or creme appears on the face and points. Sable is a red base coat with a black overlay. In the wire-haired variety, there is also wild boar, unique in that the hair shaft itself is bi-colored red and black.  Even more colorings exist as tri-colors or patterns: brindle, where stripes cover the entire body and can be seen on any of the previously mentioned colors; Dapple, where lighter patched of color appear on a darker background; piebald, can be either bi or tri-colored and exist where the Dachshund has a white body with patches of one or two solid colors.  the Dachshund is completed by a strong breastbone and a tucked-in abdomen. Dachshunds move with a smooth and effortless gait.

TEMPERAMENT

A mischievous dog, the Dachshund is a proud, energetic and brave breed (sometimes to the point of recklessness).  They have an intelligent and bold disposition, although at times have been described as ´little clowns.´  Loyal and affectionate to their owners, the Dachshund is also a very vocal dog and has a surprisingly loud bark for a dog of its size.  It can become jealous of other pets, or dogs and will display this jealousy through lack of co-operation or even snapping in extreme cases.  They are relatively easy to train, although often the owner may feel the balance of power shifting, as the dog treats everything as a big adventure and game.  However, providing the handler knows how to properly communicate an ´alpha dog´stance to the breed, then there shouldn´t be too many difficulties.  Some Dachshund can be difficult to housebreak and patience and consistency is required.  There is a belief that the longer-haired variety may be somewhat mellower than their short-haired counterparts.

HEIGHT

STANDARD: 35-40cm (14-16 inches)
MINIATURE: 35cm (14 inches)
TOY: 30cm (12 inches)

WEIGHT

STANDARD: 5kg (12lbs)
MINIATURE: 4.9kg (11lbs)
TOY: 3.5kg (8lbs)

HEALTH

Dachshunds suffer from inter-vertebral disk disease (IVDD), due in part to an extremely long spinal column and short rib cage. The risk of injury can be worsened by obesity, which places greater strain on the vertebrae, therefore the Dachshund diet should be watched to ensure no overfeeding and weight gain takes place.  The breed is also prone to patella luxation whilst more rare issues include: epilepsy, granulomatous meningoencephalitis, dental issues, Cushings disease, thyroid problems, various allergies and atopies, and various eye conditions (cataracts, glaucoma, progressive retinal atrophy, corneal ulcers, non-ucerative corneal disease, sudden acquired retinal degeneration and cherry eye).  Having listed these however, many can be avoided by sourcing a Dachshund from a reputable and experienced breeder, who is aware of issues in the breed and takes care to make sure of a low incidence in their stock.

LIVING CONDITIONS

Due to their small size Dachshunds will do fine in apartments and although mischievous and fairly active indoors, they do not require vast spaces to move around.  However it is still important that they receive quality time outside of the home.

LIFE EXPECTANCY: 12-15 years
LITTER: 4-6 puppies

GROOMING

SHORT-HAIRED: Require the least amount of care, consisting of a regular rub down with a damp cloth and trimming of nails when necessary.  Inspection and cleaning of ears should also take place from time to time.

LONG-HAIRED: Daily brushing should take place with a slicker brush and any matts should be combed out with a metal comb, taking care not to hurt the dog.  Like the short-haired variety clipping of nails and cleaning of ears should take place from time to time.

WIRE-HAIRED: A hard bristle brush should be used daily to brush this Dachshund variety, especially when they are shedding profusely.  Beard and eyebrows should be trimmed once a month with blunt-nosed scissors.

All types should be bathed every two months and can have their eyes cleaned with a vet approved solution.  Regular oral exams are also required for this breed.

HISTORY

The first accounts of Dachshunds come from paintings and historical accounts made around the 15th Century, depicting dogs with elongated bodies and short legs being used to hunt for badgers.  This connection today´s Dachshund is even more convincing when we consider that the German word for badger, is in fact ´Dachs.´  It was their tenacious, terrier like spirit coupled with their hound like scenting abilities that probably made this dog such a popular choice for this particular form of hunting.  As the breed progressed through the ages, it began to be more commonly referred to as the Dachshund (although this covered only the smooth and long-coated types, with the wire-haired version not being recognised until the 19th Century) and a ban on breeding between different types was implemented.  The dog´s size determined its quarry with the larger types hunting badgers and sometimes boars, whilst the smaller types hunted rabbit and foxes.  The American Kennel Club has records of Dachshunds being imported to the USA in 1885 and it was in this year that it was recognised by the AKC, although mistakenly the breed was classified as a hound breed due to a mistranslation of the German ´hund´ part of the name.  Hund actually means just ´dog´ in German and not hound, hence ´badger dog.´  Today the dog is one of the most popular dogs in the United States and worldwide.

Original article with pics and more – Dachshund

Tom Oakes

Our dachshund keeps waking up my parents, help is needed!

He/she is only doing this because it knows it gets a response. Your parents need to be trained not to cave in to the commands of a dog!!

Even human baby’s do this they cry for no reason as they have learnt quite will if they cry enough people will come running and give them attention.

Ignore the dog and it will soon get bored and go back to sleep, if it scratches and such then crate it till it has learnt it can’t get it wants!!

The beagle is an oxymoronic dog. They rank fifth on the 2007 AKC list of breeds – and yet have fallen off the top ten list in many cities, remaining third in Providence, R.I. There are good reasons – this isn’t a breed for everyone. More importantly, it’s a breed that needs understanding.

The origin of the Beagle, like many hounds, can be blurred. Packs of hounds have long been used in England, dating to Roman times. Both sight and scent hounds were used and it’s not uncommon to have hunted in packs. In the 1800s in the US small hounds called Beagles were used in the southern part of the country. They appeared more like a Dachshund or weak headed Basset, and were high endurance dogs without type. In the 1860s the English hounds were combined with these small dogs. In 1888 the Beagle club was formed and began holding trials. Two types – one under 13 inches and one that was 13-15 inches.

From a show dog standpoint they are competitive but have not been changed as much as some other breeds. Perhaps it’s the “hound stubborn” of the beagle that refuses to change.

These dogs need understanding on several fronts. Their size is a small dog but their nature is a hound through and through. The “Beagle bawl” is unlike any other small dog – their function as a hunting dog has instilled a unique bay that carries. This is, perhaps, a reason they have fallen in favor in cities – their willingness to ‘give voice’ is not encouraged in urban areas! Furthermore, there has been an increase in the “Puggle” – a crossbred of the Beagle and Pug – in many of these city areas.

This tendency can be tempered in hounds but not truly erased. They are what they are. They have flaws – but for those who are willing to make an effort, have the patience for training and are looking for an awesome small dog…give the Beagle another look!

These are incredible small dogs. They are very intelligent, although like many hounds, should not be trusted off leash as their nose overrides human commands and can get them in trouble. This is true even of part Beagles! They are some of the kindest, biggest hearted dogs of their size that you can find.

The Beagle loves to please. If you find a way to use their natural tendencies you will have a friend for life. As they are hunted in packs they are incredibly social, happy dogs. A single Beagle penned up alone without company is almost surely to bawl, howl, whine and bark his displeasure. Heavy handling or a dominant dog will make them miserable and can create a very unhappy dog. They are not fighters.

The Beagle is still very widely used for hunting, with field trials and especially rabbits their specialty. But there are other uses for those instincts!

The hound nose and willingness to work until the job is done combined with intelligence and trainability – what better description of a dog to protect our country. While not chasing down bad guys they have a job they’ve done so well there is a name for it. Some dogs can learn nearly 50 different odors, and their small size makes them ideal for a special job with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspections.

The Beagle Brigade often uses dogs that have been taken from shelters. This very special group of dogs once trained inspect incoming baggage of international passengers at airports. When the dog sits by a package then the package is checked by hand more thoroughly. The Beagle’s keen sense of smell can get through packages much faster than humans can search it and more accurately than even high-tech machines. Their small size means they can get on top of luggage and inspect it as it moves on the conveyors without damaging anything and each bag, box and case is checked.

It takes 8-12 weeks of training to ready a Beagle for work, and another week with a trainer at their duty station. They wear distinctive vests which identify them as “Agriculture’s Beagle Brigade.” With on-the-job training and within a year on the job these incredible little dogs are identifying prohibited materiald correctly about 80% of the time – and this increases in time! They can work for several years at their job, with teams handling a half dozen flights per day.

The Border Beagle Brigade is an extension that works searching for prohibited ag products on the US borders. Other detector dogs have been trained to find termites, gas pipeline leaks, gypsy moth eggs and other items.

Beagles have also made major contributions as research labratory animals – and because of this more is known about problems that affect the breed than perhaps any other breed. Some lines were noted as being excessively aggressive, which is *not* a typical Beagle trait. Cancer, thyroid problems, deafness, vestibular disease, diseases of the lympatic systems, hemophilia, heart problems, immune system issues, skin and liver diseases, pancreatic issues, epilepsy and other neurological diseases, eye disorders, urinary and skeletal problems can be found in the breed. Researchers and veterinarians have learned much to help other dogs because of these dogs.

Beagles could easily sport signs that say “will work for food” – their chow-hound habits mean all food must be kept away from them. They need to be watched carefully so they don’t get too fat. Low blood sugar can also be an issue – and quick treatment with Karo syrup or honey is needed if this is the case. The dog will appear disorientated, wobbly, sometimes almost appearing to have a seizure but with more focus of the eyes.

While this sounds like an extensive list remember these are things that *can* affect the breed – it doesn’t mean all *do*. However, it bears notice not only in Beagles but in the crosses of them, for pet owners to be aware of the things that can afflict their dog.

One of the most noted and beloved of icons, Snoopy, was a beagle. Beagles have lived in the White House during Lyndon B Johnson’s time in office. In June 2006 a Beagle was hailed a hero as a man’s service dog when she bit his cell phone to call 911 after he collapsed in a seizure.

They are very smart dogs but often don’t do well in obedience trials as they are easily bored with the repetition. Their gentle nature makes them great candidates for pet therapy programs. Their appearance in films like Underdog, Cats and Dogs and Shiloh in starring roles show they enjoy the challenge of acting. Beagles have also appeared on the stage and several television shows. Barry Manilow, a famous Beagle owner, used one of his dogs on album covers.

This is a breed that can life to mid to late teens. Like most small breeds, litters are smaller sized of 3-5.

The Beagle is a wonderful small dog for a home that has the time and attention for him. They aren’t the perfect dog for every home – but they might be the perfect one for yours.

David Beart
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/beagle-breed-profile-732186.html

About a month ago, my girlfriend and I got a Dachshund from the shelter. He’s two years old and a great little dog, well behaved and very friendly with people. The only really bad (for me anyway) habit he has is needing to go to the bathroom in the early morning hours (usually 3 or 4 in the morning). Because he sleeps in the bed with us it’s difficult to ignore this habit. Any suggestions on how to break him of this habit that’s making it difficult for me at work and school?

Patience is going to help you a lot, and you need to keep in mind that, no matter what you do, it may take some time to fix this problem. My suggestion would be to get him on a scheduled feeding, feed ones in the morning, once in the early afternoon, depending on how much he eats. This will help regulate his bathroom schedule to more convenient timing for you. Also, about two hours before you go to bed, remove all food and water from his access. Make sure you take him out to go potty RIGHT before you go to bed. You could also try crate training him, making sure you have a properly sized crate, as dogs wont normally use the restroom in their own personal space.

Websites that don’t work can often be explained by examining the five categories of website performance presented here. But first my little story about a “dog” website.

Did you ever hear that idea of doing a website about something you just really like? Well, I’m crazy about Dachshunds, so I made a big elaborate site. Took me a long time.

As it turned out wiener dog words are cheap, so I flooded the site with a ten dollar a day budget and a few articles.

I had a signup rate of about 15%. The list really took off!

Let me tell you that a wiener dog site is easy to do! Wonderful pictures! I was optimistic.

I had it all, I thought. I had affiliate offers, CPA offers, adsense and ONLY adsense paid. The adsense made 3 or 4 bucks a day and I was spending ten dollars on PPC.

People came to the site and liked it, but wouldn’t buy. I didn’t get it.

I declared the whole thing to be a great learning experience and shut it sown. Maybe I stopped too early and I could have prevailed…but I had all five of the criteria below going pretty well and it didn’t work.

I also had better ideas. Call me impatient but I bagged it.

Here are the five things I think can make or break a site.

Low Traffic – When your salespage has no traffic you are done right there!

Your website has to have visitors driven to the site! My preferred traffic generation method is Article Marketing.

The best ways to drive traffic to your offer (site) are PPC, Article Marketing, and Web 2.0 Social Networking.

I’m still old school. I don’t know social marketing yet.

PPC is not my first choice for driving traffic. Article marketing works all the time, but you have to get into it quite a ways before it kicks in.

I use articles to send people to my blog where I have several offers on webpages linked from the blog. It works but it’s certainly not spectacular yet.

Bad Site Design – If you have traffic to your site, the next thing to look at is how visitors perceive your site.

If it looks unprofessional, if it’s tough to navigate or is a little ugly… it’s unlikely that visitors will trust you. They just won’t give you their money.

Bloggers can look good through nicely designed WordPress themes and templates. There are many templates for websites, too.

But, I have to tell you, being able to build or at least modify your own HTML websites is an absolutely invaluable skill. Learn about it a little. It’s actually easy after you expose yourself to it for a while.

Bad Traffic = Untargeted Traffic – For example, if you have a Dachshund site, using “dogs” is a bad idea as a keyword in Adwords. You’ll pay for tons of traffic and very little of it will be interested in Dachshunds.

Targeted traffic is what you want, not “general’ traffic.

When selling specific items, send your traffic directly to the specific item’s page on your site that gives them what they are looking for.

Copy Problems – If you send traffic to a beautiful page that promotes a specific product and it isn’t working, you may want to consider your copy!

Is the copy full of grammatical errors and bad spelling? The kiss of death!

That’s how a lot of people judge you, or the image of you…by the words you use and the way you write. This includes spelling and grammer. You have to get it right.

Rewrite your copy to the best of your ability and then find someone to proofread it.

Copywriting, when it’s bad will kill sales, and when it’s good it will make sales happen. Tell the prospect how a product will improve their life by selling the benefits.

No E Mail Follow-Up marketing? What if you did it all right? When your traffic leaves without buying…it’s OK…If their name and email has been captured by your autoresponder. And if you follow up with an autoresponder series.

There is an accepted idea in email marketing that it takes, on average, seven contacts before a customer buys.

The lesson is this…If you want above average results, attempt to sell AT LEAST SEVEN times! Otherwise…accept low returns.

And, you can use your autoresponder for this!

So, EACH of the items listed above is critical to your online business success.

Here’s the nugget. Get the website, salespage, web page…whatever you want to call it… really looking good. Now, send it a lot of targeted traffic. Articles are my favorite. PPC is my next choice. And it’s faster.

Pay attention, bank the money and then…PAY ATTENTION AGAIN! You will learn and prosper!

Oh, by the way, reconsider your offering (product)…when it’s not good, all of the points above will still not produce sales! .

So, now you have it! Do all the above AND make sure it’s a killer converting product! That ought to work!

Now…go forth and prosper…and pay attention…you’ll get it!

Riley West
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/when-your-website-doesnt-work-look-at-these-five-points-688059.html

I’m getting a dachshund puppy in two weeks. I’ve already done a lot of research on them, but I wanted to see if anyone with experience had any tips for raising dachshunds. I want to give my Cricket the best environment possible when we bring him home, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

I had a mini Doxie puppy we called Peanut, she was so cute and TINY when we brought her home.She was a pretty easy puppy to train, the only problems I can remember we had with her was at night and electrical cords! She loved chewing on the cords so we had to make sure they were always picked up, or hidden away well where she couldn’t get to them.At night in her crate she would cry and cry as soon as the lites were off, she eventually out grew this, but while she was young and scared away from her mama and litter mates, I would leave the alarm clock close to her crate where she could hear it. It was the kind with the nature sounds, so I left it on the heartbeat, and she would go to sleep no problem, no crying.She lived to be 12 years old, and was a really good little dog, I just loved her!!They really LOVE their toys & eating, never had a problem getting her to eat, in fact she was always a little over weight when she got older! Good Luck to you, Have fun with your new baby Cricket, cute name!!