If you’re keen on dachshunds, you probably love both mini dachshunds and standard dachshunds, and you might be wondering if the two can breed and what the pups will look like if so. After all, these dogs are super cute, so what happens when they mate?
The answer is that yes, you can breed mini dachshunds and standard dachshunds. They are close enough in size and genetics (since they are both just dachshunds) to successfully produce offspring. The puppies will be varied in terms of size, but just as healthy as dachshund pups whose parents match.
In fact, mini dachshunds can produce standard dachshund puppies even if they are bred with other mini dachshunds. Similarly, standard dachshunds can produce mini dachshund puppies even when they are bred with other standards. There is no guaranteeing the puppies’ size and both kinds can produce either.
What Happens If You Breed Mini Dachshunds With Standards?
If you breed these two kinds of dogs, you’ll get puppies that may vary in size. The only real difference between mini dachshunds and standard dachshunds is that mini dachshunds should weigh less than eleven pounds when fully grown, and standard dachshunds should weigh between sixteen and thirty-two pounds.
As you can see, the two kinds are very similar besides the small weight difference. They live for around the same amount of years, have similar temperaments, and require about the same amount of exercise (though mini dachshunds may be happy with slightly less).
Mini dachshunds are thought to suffer from fewer back problems on the whole, which gives them a slight advantage over standards. However, they may bark slightly more and might need more grooming, so owning one does have drawbacks too.
What Do I Need To Think About Before Breeding?
If you’re going to breed dachshunds, the most important consideration is the health of both dogs and their health history. Dachshunds are particularly known for being vulnerable to spinal problems, and IVDD is an inherited spinal disease that needs to be checked for before you breed either dog.
It’s important that breeders are responsible and look at how they can minimize health issues in the dachshund breed going forward. Get your vet to check over your dachshund before breeding it, and don’t breed it if any hereditary concerns are highlighted.
By only breeding healthy dogs, owners can improve the overall health of dachshunds going forward, giving better quality of life to potentially thousands of puppies in the future. Don’t breed your dog without getting its health checked out and confirming it is healthy enough to be bred.
Will The Puppies Be Medium Sized?
You might be wondering what size the puppies are likely to be. This isn’t really something you can know in advance. Since miniature dachshunds can produce standard dachshund puppies on their own, you have no way of knowing whether the puppies will be mini, standard, or somewhere in between.
Often, the size of the puppies is down to the size of the parents but also the grandparents, great grandparents, and possibly even further back than that. While you can make predictions – two very small dogs are less likely to produce large puppies – they will never be totally accurate, and you may be surprised by the size of the puppies.
You can’t put any guarantees on the size of the puppy, but you are more likely to get small pups if both your dogs have historically been bred with small dogs, and their ancestry contains a lot of minis. If there is a standard dachshund in their recent breeding history, you are more likely to get larger puppies.
Where Did Mini Dachshunds Come From?
Perhaps it has occurred to you to ask where mini dachshunds come from in the first place if they are so similar to standard dachshunds. The answer is that they really are just standard dachshunds, except that selective breeding has led to their smaller size.
Dachshunds, like any animal, can vary in size, and you will get smaller and larger ones within the scope of standard dachshunds.
Over the years, breeders chose consistently smaller and smaller dogs and kept breeding them with each other to constantly decrease the size of the dog. Eventually, they produced what is known as the mini dachshund.
Since all that divides the minis from the standards is size, and that reduction in size can be achieved even with standard dachshunds, there’s no way to guarantee your puppies’ size.
Can I Increase The Chances Of One Kind Or The Other?
There are some people who say that you can increase the chances of large puppies by feeding the mother plenty during the pregnancy. It is possible that ensuring lots of nutrients are available to the puppies will result in them growing bigger in her womb, but there’s no guarantee, of course.
It’s not a good idea to invert this strategy and hold back on food for the mother. This could result in weak puppies, a dangerous birth experience, and fatalities. Talk to your vet about providing a suitable diet while your dog is pregnant.
Apart from using the ancestry of both dam and sire to take an educated guess about puppy size, there isn’t really much you can do to predict whether you will get mini dachshunds or standard dachshunds, and there’s not much you can do to change it, either.
The puppies may come out small, or regular size, but either way, as long as they are healthy, they will make lovely pets. Dachshunds are smart, cute, beautiful dogs, and there is little difference – besides the size – between the mini dachshunds and the standard ones. It doesn’t matter too much what sort of puppy you get!
Conclusion
Mini dachshunds and standard dachshunds can be bred without issue, and you may end up with mini puppies, standard puppies, or something in between. There’s no predicting how the birth will go, but as long as the puppies and parents are healthy, you’ll have some lovely new dogs to find homes for or keep!