Post date: Sep 29, 2012 3:14:25 PM
The inclusion of a high number of pet-owner reports in Dachs-Life 2012 has been a really useful addition to the overall picture we have obtained on the health of Dachshunds in the UK. You can read the full report here, or download a pdf copy here. Overall, pet owners reported 0.82 conditions per dog compared with 0.58 reported by show owners. In many cases there are no significant differences, but the main differences were as follows:
Pet-owners were nearly four times as likely to neuter male dogs as show owners, but only twice as likely to spay their bitches
Pet-owners were half as likely to breed from their Dachshund as show owners
Pet owners were more likely to have their dogs vaccinated annually
Show owners were more likely to report Mammary Tumours in their bitches and the majority of those were bitches that had been bred from
There was no difference in the incidence of heart conditions between pet and show-owned Dachshunds
Pet owners were twice as likely to report cases of Cushing's Disease and three times more likely to report Diabetes than show owners
Pet owners were twice as likely to report allergy-related problems
Pet-owned Dachshunds had twice as many back disease problems reported as show-owned Dachshunds
Pet owners were five times more likely to report Epilepsy than show owners
Show-owned bitches were twice as likely to have False Pregnancies reported than pet-owned bitches
Pet-owned male Dachshunds were twice as likely to be Monorchids
Pet owners were more likely than show owners to say that their Dachshund had some degree of behavioural or temperament problem
For those people breeding Dachshunds and selling them to pet homes, it is important to ensure potential buyers are fully aware of the health issues that can affect the breed and on how to rear them and keep them fit, healthy and mentally stimulated. It is also important that pet buyers understand that some Dachshunds can be difficult to house-train and that, temperamentally, they are probably not going to be as easy to train as a gundog.
The Breed Council has published several introductory guides which can be downloaded from our website, giving advice to current and potential Dachshund owners.