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Essentially an underground dog, the dackel was and is used to hunt badgers, rabbits, foxes into their earths. The dackel likes to hunt. Diving into a badger's burrow, it will come up covered with blood and with a demoniac gleam of triumph in its eye. Keen-scented, persistent, a good underbrush worker, it is used in the western U. S. not only to hunt burrowing animals but also to start deer.
Possibly because they mistranslated the word hund (dog), English fanciers bred the dachshund away from the terrier and toward the hound type. Three types are now recognized: hound, terrier, toy. A full-sized dog weighs 14 to 18 lb., stands 8 to 10 in. high. The toy, a perfectly-formed miniature, of which there are some 20 specimens in the U. S., weighs from 4 to 6 lb. Ordinarily smooth-haired, a wire-haired dachshund has been developed by crossing the Dandie Dinmont terrier, a long-haired variety, with the cocker spaniel.
The dackel is a stubborn, self-willed dog. Affectionate and easily wilted by a master's scolding, it is ferocious with intruders. It resents bigger dogs, continually seeks quarrels with them. When a fight is going against it, the dackel will roll over, fight like a cat. It is an excellent watchdog. Two qualities which especially fit it for households: it lacks a doggy smell, rarely has to be washed; it can sleep under bureau or bed.