Dachshund Grooming

About the Dachshund

The Dachshund is the clearest example there is of why coat matters more than breed. It comes in three coat varieties and they are not three shades of the same thing: they are three entirely different coat types on the same dog, with three genuinely different appointments.

A smooth Dachshund needs almost nothing: a rubber curry, nails and ears. A long haired Dachshund carries silky feathering on the ears, chest, legs and tail that mats and needs combing twice a week. A wire haired Dachshund has a harsh jacket with eyebrows and a beard, and it faces the same strip-or-clip decision every terrier does.

Two things apply to all three, and both come from the shape of the dog rather than the coat: the ground clearance, and the back.

Three coats, three appointments

Work out which coat you have first, because everything else follows from it and the breed name tells you nothing.

Smooth. Short, dense, glossy, lying flat. A rubber curry weekly, a bath a few times a year, nails and ears. There is nothing to cut and nothing that mats. This is among the lowest maintenance coats in dogs.

Long haired. A silky coat with long feathering on the ears, chest, the backs of the legs and the tail, and very little undercoat. The body coat is easy; the feathering mats. It needs combing twice a week and a tidy every couple of months, and it is groomed exactly like any other silky coat.

Wire. A harsh bristly jacket over a softer undercoat, with distinctive eyebrows and a beard. It can be hand stripped, which keeps the texture and the color, or clipped, which is faster and permanently softens and fades it. That decision is the same one every terrier owner faces and it only goes one way.

An hour to ninety minutes for the long and wire varieties. Considerably less for a smooth.

How often, and what happens if you stretch it

Eight to twelve weeks covers most Dachshunds, with the long and wire varieties at the shorter end and smooths at the longer.

On a smooth, stretching it costs you nothing on the coat and everything on the nails, which is the standard trap for short coated dogs: there is never a visible reason to book, so nobody does, and the quick grows longer the longer the nail is left.

On a long haired, the feathering mats first, in the usual four places: behind the ears, the armpits, the trousers and around the feet. The ear fringes are the worst of them because they hang and move constantly.

On a wire, stretching it means the dead jacket stays in rather than being stripped or cut, and the coat goes soft and shapeless. If you are rolling a stripped coat the interval is dictated by the coat cycle rather than the calendar, usually every four to eight weeks.

Ground clearance, and everything that comes with it

A Dachshund is a few inches off the ground and that changes what its coat encounters in a way no other small breed experiences.

The chest, the belly and the front of the legs sweep through everything: wet grass, mud, salt in winter, and whatever is on a pavement. On a long haired dog that means the belly furnishings and the chest feathering pick up and hold it, and on any variety it means the underside gets wet and stays wet.

Rinse and dry the underside after wet walks. It sounds fussy and it prevents the skin irritation that this breed gets on the belly more than anywhere else.

The ears are the other consequence of the build: long, low set, drop ears on a dog whose head is close to the ground and whose nose is in everything. They seal the canal, they trail, and they need checking weekly by lifting the flap and smelling.

And the paws pick up more than a taller dog's do, so hair between the pads on long and wire coats needs clearing regularly.

The back, and how a good groomer handles one

This belongs on a grooming page because it changes how the dog is handled, not because it is a grooming problem.

Dachshunds have a very high rate of intervertebral disc disease, and the long spine on short legs is the reason. Any competent groomer supports the whole body when lifting: one hand under the chest and one under the hindquarters, never lifted under the front legs alone, and never allowed to jump down from a table.

It also affects how the dog is positioned. Asking a Dachshund to stand up on its hind legs, or holding it in a way that lets the spine twist or sag, is avoided by anyone who works with the breed.

Tell the salon if your dog has had a disc episode or any back surgery. It changes how the whole appointment is run, and a groomer would far rather know in advance than find out.

The same rules apply at home. Ramps rather than jumps, a harness rather than a collar, and lifting with both hands.

What to tell your groomer

Say which coat you have, in those words: smooth, long haired or wire haired. It decides the entire appointment and the length of the booking.

If it is a wire, say whether you want it stripped or clipped, and ask before booking whether they strip at all, because far fewer salons do.

If it is a long haired, say what you want on the feet and whether the ear fringes stay long.

Mention the back, always. Any disc history, any surgery, or simply that the dog is getting older. It changes lifting and positioning throughout.

And say whether the dog wears a harness all day, because the mat underneath it on a long coat is hidden and they will check.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Dachshund