How do you train a stubborn dachshund? Train a stubborn dachshund using short sessions (5–10 minutes), high-value food rewards, and consistent cues. Dachshunds aren’t defiant – they’re independent. They calculate whether a command is worth the effort. Your job is to make cooperation more rewarding than ignoring you. Punishment backfires; positive reinforcement builds the trust that makes training stick.
Introduction
Your dachshund heard you perfectly. They’re just deciding if it’s worth listening.
That’s not a character flaw – it’s a breed feature. Dachshunds spent centuries working underground, making their own decisions, out of sight of any hunter. That independence is built in. You won’t train it out, and you shouldn’t try to.
What you can do is learn to work with it.
This guide is for owners who’ve tried the usual advice and keep running into a wall. We’ll cover what stubborn dachshund behavior actually means, what works (and what quietly makes things worse), and how to handle the specific problems that dachshund owners run into most.
Is your dachshund stubborn – or just dachshund-shaped?
There’s an important reframe worth making before anything else: a dachshund who ignores a command isn’t defying you. They’re doing a quick cost-benefit analysis – and your command isn’t winning.
That’s useful information. It means the training isn’t failing because of the dog’s personality. It’s failing because the reward isn’t compelling enough, the timing is off, or the environment has better competition than you do.
Dachshunds are genuinely intelligent. They learn fast when the conditions are right. The trick is understanding what right looks like to a dog bred to chase badgers into holes..
Why punishment doesn’t work on dachshunds
This is worth saying plainly before getting into techniques: punishment-based training tends to backfire with dachshunds specifically.
Not because they’re sensitive (though many are). But because a punished dachshund usually doesn’t stop the behavior – they just stop doing it in front of you. They’re clever enough to figure out the pattern. The behavior continues; you just stop seeing it.
Punishment also creates stress, and stressed dachshunds are much harder to train. Fear responses look a lot like stubbornness from the outside, which leads owners to increase pressure, which increases fear – a loop that goes nowhere useful.
Positive reinforcement isn’t just the kind approach. It’s the approach that actually works with this breed.
The core rules of training a stubborn dachshund
Keep sessions short – genuinely short
Five to ten minutes. That’s it. Dachshunds have a finite supply of focus for repetitive tasks, and once it runs out, you’re not training – you’re battling.
Three short sessions scattered through the day will outperform a single 30-minute session every time. End each one before your dog gets bored, ideally on a win.
Use rewards that actually motivate your dog
Not all treats are created equal. A dry biscuit from the training pouch might work for basic practice, but for something harder – coming when called near a squirrel, staying calm at the vet – you need the good stuff. Small pieces of real chicken, cheese, or cooked liver tend to land differently than commercial treats.
Reserve the high-value rewards for the hardest behaviors. If your dachshund gets chicken for sitting in the kitchen, chicken won’t mean much when you need them to come back across a field.
Also worth knowing: some dachshunds are more motivated by play, sniffing opportunities, or access to an interesting environment than by food. Pay attention to what your individual dog actually wants.
One cue per command – household-wide
Pick one word for each behavior and use it every time. “Down,” “off,” and “no, get down” all mean the same thing to you. To your dog, they’re three different sounds they’ve never been trained on.
Every person in the house needs to use the same word. This is one of the most common reasons training stalls – the dog isn’t being stubborn, they’re genuinely confused.
Mark the moment
Whether you use a clicker or a consistent marker word (“yes!” works well), the goal is to signal the exact moment your dog does the right thing – before you reach for the treat. Dogs associate reward with what they were doing when the signal happened. If you’re fumbling in your pocket by the time you reward, you might be rewarding something else entirely.
Train before meals, not after
A dachshund who just ate is a dachshund who can afford to be selective about treats. Train when they’re a little hungry and the same reward will feel twice as valuable.
Socialization: the foundation under everything else
If there’s one investment that pays off across every training goal, it’s early socialization.
A dachshund who grew up experiencing different people, sounds, surfaces, animals, and environments is a more confident dog – and confident dogs are far easier to train. Fear looks like stubbornness. A dog who refuses to walk past a drain cover or freezes near children isn’t being difficult; they’re scared.
The window is roughly 3–14 weeks, but socialization is a lifelong practice. If your dog missed early socialization (rescue dogs often have), go slowly, pair every new thing with something good, and expect the process to take longer – but it does work.
Consistency and routine: the underrated backbone
Dachshunds are more comfortable – and more trainable – when their world is predictable.
A dog who knows when walks happen, when meals come, and what the rules are doesn’t need to test the system as much. The testing behavior that owners read as stubbornness often softens significantly once routines become reliable.
Rules need to apply consistently, not just when guests are watching. If your dachshund isn’t allowed on the sofa, that rule needs to hold 100% of the time. Occasional exceptions don’t teach flexibility – they teach that rules might not apply, so it’s worth checking.
Common Dachshund Training Problems (and How to Handle Each)
Excessive Barking
Dachshunds were literally bred to alert hunters. Barking is hardwired, and you won’t eliminate it – nor should you try to. But you can put it on cue.
Teach “quiet” by waiting for a natural pause in the barking, marking it immediately, and rewarding. With repetition, the pause can be extended. Avoid yelling – it sounds like you’re joining in, which reinforces the behavior.
Identify triggers and address them where possible. A dog who barks at the postman every day is being intermittently reinforced (the postman always leaves!). Management – blocking the view, creating distance – often helps more than training alone.
Pulling on the Leash
A dachshund on a scent trail is one of the more determined forces in nature. Leash manners take time to build.
Use a harness rather than a collar – dachshunds have long, vulnerable spines and the force of pulling on a collar creates unnecessary risk. The stop-and-go method works well with pulling on the leash: the moment the leash goes tight, you stop completely. You only move forward again once there’s slack. It takes patience, especially in the early days, but dogs learn the pattern quickly once it’s consistent.
Practice in low-distraction environments first and build up gradually. Expecting loose-leash walking in a busy park before your dog has mastered it in the garden is setting both of you up to fail.
Digging
If your dachshund is digging up your garden, they’re being a dachshund. The solution isn’t to stop the behavior – it’s to redirect it somewhere acceptable.
A designated digging spot with buried toys or treats is significantly more effective than repeated correction. Tire them out with mental stimulation and physical exercise, and the urge to dig from boredom decreases on its own.
Housebreaking Problems
House training dachshunds takes longer than most owners expect, and cold or wet weather makes it harder (these dogs have strong opinions about grass dampness).
Stick to a strict schedule: out first thing in the morning, after meals, after naps, after play, and before bed. Reward outdoor toileting every single time – the praise should happen the moment they finish, not once you’re back inside. Crate training helps significantly; dogs are reluctant to soil a space they associate with sleep.
If accidents keep happening in the same spot inside, clean with an enzymatic cleaner that breaks down the scent marker. If they can still smell it, they’ll use the spot again.
Separation Anxiety
Dachshunds bond deeply with their people. For some dogs, being left alone is genuinely distressing – not just inconvenient.
The fix is gradual desensitization: leave for one minute, come back. Then five minutes. Then ten. Build duration very slowly so the dog learns that your absence always ends, rather than practicing panic.
Avoid dramatic departures and returns. A calm “see you later” and a calm “hey” when you return takes the emotional charge out of the transition.
If separation anxiety is severe – destructive behavior, inability to settle – this is a case for a certified trainer or behaviorist. It’s not something most owners can fully resolve through general training advice.
Resource Guarding
Growling over food, toys, or sleeping spots is resource guarding, and it’s not something to punish. Punishing the growl removes the dog’s warning signal before the bite — it doesn’t remove the underlying feeling.
Build trust instead. Practice trading: offer something better than what they have, let them take it, then give the original thing back. Over time, your approach to their resources starts to predict good things rather than loss. For more serious guarding, especially involving children, get professional support.
When to Bring in a Professional
Most dachshund training challenges respond to the techniques above. But some situations are better handled with expert support:
- Aggression toward people or other dogs that isn’t improving
- Severe separation anxiety (destruction, self-injury, sustained distress)
- Resource guarding that escalates or involves children
- Fear-based behaviors that aren’t responding to gradual exposure
- Any situation where you feel out of your depth
Look for trainers certified by the CCPDT, IAABC, or APDT who use positive reinforcement methods. Avoid anyone who relies on punishment, dominance theory, or prong/shock collars.
FAQ
Are dachshunds really that hard to train?
Not exactly – but they’re not the easiest breed either. They’re smart enough to understand what you want and independent enough to decide whether they’ll do it. The owners who succeed tend to be consistent, patient, and willing to make cooperation genuinely rewarding for the dog.
What age should you start training a dachshund?
As early as possible. Puppies can begin learning name recognition, basic cues, and house training from their first week home (usually around 8–12 weeks). The early socialization window (roughly 3–14 weeks) is especially important and can’t be fully replicated later.
Why does my dachshund ignore commands they know?
Usually one of three things: the reward isn’t compelling enough for the environment, there’s too much competition from distractions, or they’ve never fully learned the behavior in that context. Dogs don’t generalize automatically – “sit” learned in the kitchen isn’t the same as “sit” in the park until you’ve practiced it in both places.
Can you train an adult or senior dachshund?
Yes, absolutely. Adult dachshunds can learn new behaviors; it often just requires more repetitions and more patience. Senior dachshunds benefit from continued mental stimulation – scent games and simple puzzles are ideal for older dogs whose physical activity is limited.
My dachshund does fine in training sessions but ignores me on walks. Why?
Outside is a much higher-distraction environment – scents, sounds, other animals, and movement all compete with you. Practice in the garden before expecting the same response in public. Bring better treats for outdoor sessions and work at a level of distraction your dog can actually succeed in, then build up.
Should I use a clicker to train my dachshund?
Clicker training can work very well with dachshunds because the click is precise – it marks the exact right moment with no ambiguity. That said, it’s a tool, not a requirement. A consistent verbal marker (“yes!”) works just as well if you prefer not to carry a clicker.
Final Thought
Dachshunds aren’t stubborn. They’re self-directed — which is actually one of the things that makes them so compelling to live with.
Training them is less about breaking that quality down and more about making yourself the most interesting option in the room. Get that right, and you’ll have a dog who cooperates not because they have to, but because they’ve decided it’s worth it.
That might take longer than it would with a golden retriever. It’s also more satisfying when it works.
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