No one can deny it: your dog has influenced your lifestyle.
Whether it be becoming more responsible with time management, organizing your house to protect your dog from hazards, or learning how to coexist, dogs change your behavioral patterns.
And, believe it or not, these changes in behavior ultimately lead to transformations in personalities! In other words, you can get a general understanding of the character of an owner just by looking at their dog breed.
The Character of a Dachshund 0wner
Brave
The bravery of Dachshunds is very difficult to go unnoticed. When it used to hunt badgers on the daily, they had to fight in the dark in small holes. They had to overcome the fear of the unknown and fight dirty.
Today, in homes, it’s difficult to see the badger hunters in action, mostly because we don’t have that many people that hunt badgers for the thrill.
In fact, hunting as a sport today is not optimized for a Dachshund’s physical attributes. Regardless, many hunters still take them as gun dogs because they’re so willing to fight for their owners.
Such forms of bravery tend to inspire their owners to be the same: watching dogs protect you, you will likely feel a similar obligation towards those who are deemed to be weaker or underrepresented ones of society.
In fact, Jack Black (yes, the celebrity!) is an example of Dachshund owners who are brave enough to stand up for minorities!
He famously contributed to UNICEF, Alzheimer Association, and countless other charity organizations not only financially, but also making time to visit the recipients of his social service.
Not every Dachshund owner might be like Jack Black, but he is the perfect example of a Dachshund owner being as brave as Dachshunds are!
Stubborn/Resilience
Perhaps this is the unintended side-effect of being too brave: they’re stubborn. They are quite unwilling to listen to their owners, especially if they were already adults before the owner and the dog met.
Adult Dachshunds, as a result of being brave, are difficult to teach as they tend to possess very independent, free-minded natures and aren’t scared most of the time.
Stubbornness is, usually, a trait that is countered by stubbornness. Imagine it! Your dog is stubborn to eat the balanced diet that it needs to maintain itself.
It forces you to be stubborn because you know that your Dachshund needs its daily dose of fresh fruits.
As a result, most Dachshund owners, because Dachshunds themselves are very, very stubborn, are also stubborn.
This is not necessarily a “born with” thing. It tends to be a result of the owner’s surroundings, especially being around obstinate creatures like their pets.
Moreover, this breed was built to never back down (even more so when they used to hunt badgers, slippery weasels that escape with ease). Their DNA spells stubborn.
As an example, I can use one of my very close friend’s Dachshund: her name is Brownie (because her fur is brown). My friend has been taking care of her since he and she were very young.
The fact that they have a strong bond goes without saying. However, despite this bond, Brownie never learned how to work with or react to my friend’s comments like “sit!” or “stay!”
Again, Brownie is just one Dachshund and may not represent the entire Dachshund population, but you can imagine how stubborn my friend has to be when it comes to raising Brownie.
It’s inevitable that raising such a headstrong companion has some effect on your personality!
However, solely calling this breed stubborn is only seeing the negative aspects of what Dachshunds really are: resilient.
Being stubborn, for them, is them being resilient to keep their individual identities and control over themselves. Again, this aspect is a result of the breed’s hunting background.
As badger hunters, they were forced to squeeze through small holes, dig up countless pits, and stick to the hunt until the slippery critters run out of energy to escape.
They have always been tasked with jobs that require long-term focus and learned to succeed by never backing down. The owners tend to be the same: they work hard to achieve their set goals! Just like their pets.
Personality
Own a German Shepherd, a breed known for their loyalty? You’re probably known by your friends for being a loyal individual. Own a Poodle, a smaller breed famous for its playfulness?
You’re also likely a cheery person! But what about Dachshunds owners? What kind of personalities do they likely develop as a result of Dachshunds?
To answer this question, let us briefly explore Dachshund as a breed and its history!
Family-Friendly
Dachshunds are very, very family-friendly. Sense of comradery is considered to be very important for most dogs of the breed, which is why they tend to stay loyal.
In fact, this loyalty made them even better hunting dogs: hunters trusted that their little partners will come back after successfully capturing targets. They were built to have strong bonds with humans.
The sausage-dog is known for the affection it shows for family members as a family dog and loyalty around other dogs. This breed is especially kid-friendly, as they are usually calm enough to avoid injuring children during play-fights.
Owners tend to be the same. They might not be the largest or toughest in stature, but they have such a big heart. Such characteristics become quite evident when they’re around kids or those who are in need of protection.
They tend to have very strong protective instincts and are people that are capable of sympathizing very well!
Though the dogs shouldn’t really influence a person to change in such a way, it’s fascinating to see that Dachshund owners develop similar traits with their companions.
Environment and the Past
We can gain lots of insight just by looking into what Dachshunds were like prior to becoming the social companion it is today.
Throughout human history, Dachshunds were great not only as companions at homes but also as hunting partners. The breed and the human race had a special business relationship: usually, Dachshunds hunted badgers with humans.
They have feet whose sole purpose is to dig up badgers, long, skinny bodies to be able to squeeze through tiny holes, and, most importantly, the tenacity, patience, and bravery of a hunter.
It is without a doubt that hunting dogs can be one of the most persistent breeds, as chasing preys down is what they are born, raised, and trained to do.
Because of the utility Dachshunds would bring onto hunting fields, they were in high demand.
The market, attempting to adjust to the high-demand, began to selectively breed these badger hunters to create the perfect archetype of a dog that hunts for small weasel animals.
In no time, most of the Dachshunds across Germany (and soon across the world) were not necessarily the most vicious breed, but the most determined when they have set goals.
This trait makes Dachshunds very, very intelligent. However, this doesn’t mean that they are easy to train. Its high intelligence is combined with its independent nature, making them stubborn sometimes!
To sum it up, the hunter instinct (not the vicious one, because Dachshunds are too adorable to be vicious!) that was passed on as a result of badger hunting and their intelligence coupled with their independent nature turned Dachshunds into the breed they are today.
However, there are some modern influences that have also changed Dachshunds into a breed that works better in households!
In this post, I strive to highlight all of the potential traits that Dachshund owners have by drawing connections with their companion’s character.
Why It’s Important to Know Your Dog’s Personality
Hopefully, by now, you understand why it’s important to know your dog’s personality. With their own traits, pets have the ability to change and influence you as a person, whether it be from a behavioral or personality perspective.
Obviously, knowing your dog’s personality well will allow you to become a better owner as you would know what your dog wants and needs.
But understanding of your dog’s temperament is what ultimately allows for you to connect and, from a broader perspective, give more meaning to your Dachshund’s existence.
Finally, it all comes down to your pets really being an accurate mirror reflection of yourself. Understanding your dog means understanding yourself.
If you recognize that your dog is way too stubborn, stubborn to a point where it is starting to become a weakness, you know that you yourself must be careful.
On the other hand, if you love how friendly your dog is to be people, take some notes! Of course, human interactions are vastly different from those of dogs. But there’s always more to learn.
Being cognizant of one’s strengths and weaknesses is an ability that’s rare and very useful when it comes to personal development.
You would know what areas you have to work on and what areas you should be proud of and emphasize more. Fortunately, if you have yourself a dog, then you don’t need to spend all the time thinking about who you are!
If you read this article all the way through and you’re a Dachshund owner, even better. Now you know more about yourself!