[lophuker]

I have always been an animal lover, having, snakes, lizards, fish, rabbits, and dogs. I had two dogs, one which died of cancer a few months ago, and I also have a husky/greyhound mix, which only has three legs, anyway that's not important, my questions are. I have just purchased a Daschaud last night, male 8 weeks old, he was so cute and lonely I just had to take hime home. But everywhere I read about them today is, they get "mean, growl, snap, and so on, and that it seems 90% of Daschaud owners spend big money on back surgery, am I looking into the future of a very expensive mean dog, I understand about being on a strict diet for weight, since there so long, but, I am a very good pet owner and have never had an animal, turn, or bite or anything like that, Is it the way their brought up or is it their breed.

[Saluki-Sue]

You have to remember what a Daschound's job was when they were invented. Their breed name translated from german is "Badger hound"... they were bred to hunt and kill badger and other smallish game... so they had to be very brave and have a strong hunting drive. The breed has changed very little over the years, so if you are not firm, make sure you do tons of training, stay on top of these little dogs, then you can run in to behaviour trouble. The big thing to remember is that you should NEVER treat your Dashound like a little baby dog... make them do everything a big dog does ( within phicial reason) it is when you baby and coddel a little dog that they become difficult to deal with.

As for the back problems... your on the right track by planning to keep his weight down. The other things you will want to think about is not letting him jump on and off furniture, it's easy for them to slip a disk jumping up and down, because they twist and can sometimes miss a step and pop goes a disk. Also watch when he plays with other dogs if you find that he is getting knocked around and steped on then stop the game... to rough play could end up creating a back problem as well.

Congrats on your new kid. Get both of you off on the right foot and get in to a puppy class as soon as you can.

Good luck

[bushg]

My sister has 3 daschunds ranging from 3 to 14 she has never had any aggression problems nor back problems... only anal glands with the 14 year old. Also another sister has a 14 year old and just this year he had to have some teeth removed.. no back problems and he is super friendly even with kids and other animals. By the way they way they are all males and not neutered ( my family don't neuter males, couldn't tell you why) they also live on farms. Indoor /outdoor. I have a spayed pom/daschund mix and she has no back problems or health problems other than flea allergies. And yes I have to be firm with her spoiled little butt (my fault). So don't let 1 persons opinion make you regret getting your new dog. Listen to the person above and you should be just fine with your new dog. But I will mention please neuter your dog. :) peace