Menu Close

How to maintain the coat of a Long Haired Dachshund

There are many occasion in your dachshunds life that it’s coat can be affected by change. There are also many things that responsible owners can do to ensure best possible coat quality.

Look to the parents

The quality of your Dachshunds longs coat is first determined by the quality of his or her parents – it’s in the genes! So you should always look to a puppies parents for an indication of coat quality. It is also, in our experience, true to say that male longhaired dachshunds can benefit from better coats than females.

Never over groom

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to over brush it. In early months, when the coat is establishing, it is important not to over groom. In fact, only brush the coat when it needs brushing and no more than once a week. Constant grooming doesn’t allow the coat to establish as the soft puppy hairs keep breaking. As the dog matures it’s easy to spot dogs that have been over groomed, their coat still has downy soft hair with adult hair over the top which can look irregular and even sometimes give a ‘tufty’ appearance. The quality of the coat is not consistent.

Use the correct tools

It is important to use the correct brush when grooming. Not a brush that strips the fur, often referred to as a Slicker brush, but rather a comb first to remove tangles and then a softer bristled finishing brush or just a wire pin brush.

But what are other factors that a longhaired dachshunds coat can suffer?

Seasonal Changes

You can see occasional changes in a dachshunds coat, usually when the weather changes seasonally. Particularly if the weather changes radically. If the dog is kept in a cooler temperature which is consistent all year round then their coat will flourish. Higher temperatures can affect growth and growth quality ( there is of course little we can do about the weather changes though ). We have noticed that when we have a particularly cold winter in Bulgaria the longs coats are better. The cleverness of nature!

Also for females the quality of their coat can suffer after seasons and post pregnancy and whelping. These hormonal shifts can lead to some hair loss. I remember losing a lot of hair myself several months after having each of my children. It’s no different for the female dog.

Neutering

However, the one thing that has by far the greatest affect on the coat of a long haired dachshund is when they are neutered. Another reason why girls and boys should only be neutered if absolutely necessary.

The coat of a long haired dachshund should be long and glossy. The coat of a neutered dachshund, often referred to as ‘spay coat’ is noticeably different. It’s fluffy. They have an excess of fluffy downy hair, not smooth strong hairs. The excess downy hair covers up the more coarse straight hair which results in a very different appearance. This is what happens as a result of the hormones being removed. It can happen with males and females. They can also experience severe hair loss particularly on the chest area.

Here’s an example of one of our Coots at Eversden boys.

In the first photo you can see Harry has a perfect chocolate dapple coat.

Now look at Harry in this second photo after he’s been neutered. He is very fluffy and gives the appearance of being also very overweight which he isn’t under all that fluff.

Understanding the implications of what can happen to your dogs coat is important when you own or are considering a longhaired dachshund to join your family.

For more info on how to groom your Longhaired Dachshund visit the owners area for a video of Marina showing you how we maintain show quality coats on our boys and girls.

For more info on other side affects of neutering, a video can also found in the Owners Area, called IVDD and the links to neutering.

cootsfest-2023
PUP10FF