I Love my
Dachshund
Not human bean, more than a human been!
Hair care
Longhaired and grayish wirehaired varieties have been bred by crossing the short-haired variety with spaniels and terriers.
Longhaired Dachshunds require daily brushing to keep them free of mats and tangles. Short haired versions will require weekly brushing and wire haired varieties need to be trimmed at least twice a year. This breed is an average shedder; rubbing them down occasionally with a damp towel will help keep the hair at bay.
As far as grooming is concerned, the Dachshund is relatively easy to take care of. The short haired types simply need to be groomed once a week, or biweekly with a rubber brush. This will remove any dead hairs, and keep their coat looking glossy. Long haired Dachshunds should be groomed daily to keep tangles and mats out of the hair.
Coat
varieties of Dachshund
There are three coat varieties of Dachshund.
The Smooth Coat - Short, smooth, shiny coat. Should not be long or
thick. Their tails should taper gradually without too much hair.
The Wirehaired Coat - This coat consists of a uniform tight coarse outer
coat with a finer softer undercoat. This variety of Dachshund has a
beard and eyebrows. Hair is shorter and smooth on the ears. Their tails
are thickly haired and taper to a point.
The Longhaired Coat- This variety has sleek hair that often has a slight
wave. It is longer under the neck and on the fore chest, the underside
of the body and on the ears and behind the legs, but they should not
have long hair all over the body, nor should their hair be overly curly.
Their tails have the longest hair and are carried somewhat like a flag.
Cllipping
Clipping is possibly the least desirable way to groom your wirehaired
dachshund, but the quickest (approx 20 mins). It rarely gives a clean
finish to the coat and the reasons are to do with the way dog hair
grows.
Dog wirehair grows from the inner skin layer and out through follicles
in the protective outer layer. Each hair follicle has a primary or guard
hair that makes up the outer wire coat, and several softer secondary or
accessory hairs that make up the under coat.
Clipping removes the bulk of the dead hair but leaves the thin dead hair
base in place. This detracts from the appearance of the coat. The tops
of young hairs may be removed and this is a problem for coats with multi
colored hairs.
Stripping comb
The use of stripping comb to remove the old wirehair coat of a small dog is relatively quick (approx 90 mins) and straight forward, but has the disadvantage of breaking many new hairs in the process. The stripping knife or comb has a small handle and a small thick serrated blade or a guarded razor blade. The hair is grasped by the thumb against the blade and pulled with a twisting motion. The dead hair comes out and the live hair is trimmed. With small dogs such as the mini wire it is important to only grasp a little hair! Some wire coats have different colors along the hair, Bonnie's coat is made up of mostly black tipped white then brown hair and this gives her a silvery appearance. A stripping comb will break off the black hair tips and alter the coat's natural appearance.
Hand Plucking
Many grooming guides don't really tell you the truth about the effort
required to get a wire coat to looking great and it is only achieved
with a hand strip. This is definitely not enjoyed by the dog for a
start, and will feel difficult for you the first three or four times.
After that you both get more used to it and it gets a whole lot easier
once your dog isn't searching for an escape route every few seconds.
Hand stripping wirehair brings out the clean sheen of a dachshund wire
coat and the clean body line. It is worth the time it takes to do it
(approx. 4 x 60 mins.). There are several techniques, the quickest is to
firmly pinch a small amount of long/dead hair between thumb and finger
and pull it quickly with the direction of the hair, TIP: use a good pair
of Marigold gloves then it is much easier for your dog and you! start at
the head and move towards the tail. Hold your dog in your lap and under
one arm. At first do several short sessions to get your dog used to the
procedure and make sure you win a struggle. If you accidently pull too
much hair it can cause your dog to yelp, but carry on with smaller
amounts of hair.
We have noticed that Bonnie is more sensitive the first time each
individual hair is stripped, even now occasionally we find long hairs
which are sensitive and haven't been stripped before. Generally though
she can relax and stand or lay facing outward on my lap.
A slower method to get your dog used to being stripped, is to hold a
line of hair between two fingers like a hair-dresser would, and quickly
pluck the longest hairs out of the line. To completely strip Bonnie
takes about a week because we have whole day breaks which she prefers. I
think her skin gets a little sore if stripping is done in one go.
N.B. Remember to keeping some feathering on the back of your dogs legs.
Comb hair to the side and cut to a finger width.
If a coat needs just a tidy up you can also use a stripping comb to comb
the coat. Some people use talcum powder or rubber gloves to improve grip
on the coat. Wash your dog after stripping is finished to clean the
coat.
