It depends on the children's ages, and the record is right to insist on the point: Better with older children. Read that as a breed for the second half of childhood rather than the first. The Dachshund is moderate in energy, stands 8 to 9 inches, and is rated Alert with strangers with strangers and Usually good with dogs with other dogs, a profile of a dog that is social on its own terms. A Dachshund raised with calm, dog-literate older children is typically a devoted family dog for its whole 12 to 16 year life. The sections below are specific about where the fit strains, because a family page that only flatters the breed is no use to the family reading it.
Owners who laugh at the stubborn streak and manage it with patience get one of the most entertaining companions in the dog world. Nobody told the Dachshund it is small. Puppies need gentle handling that supports the whole back, early socialization to prevent the breed's wary streak becoming snappiness, and patience with housetraining. Miniatures (under 11 lb) share the same character in a smaller size. German foresters developed the breed over several centuries to hunt badgers and other burrowing animals; dachs means badger in German.
The full record behind the headline runs like this. With children the Dachshund is rated Better with older children; with other dogs, Usually good with dogs; with strangers, Alert with strangers. Energy sits at 3 out of 5 and barking at 5 out of 5, which matters in family life more than any single score: a busy, vocal dog experiences a loud household differently from a calm one. Around people its record reads Alert with strangers for strangers; around dogs it reads Usually good with dogs. That combination, in a small dog of 16 to 32 lb from the Hound group, is the whole family profile in one paragraph: how much dog is joining the household, how loudly it arrives, and how it is disposed to behave once it is home.
Daily life with a Dachshund in an older-child household has a particular rhythm, and it works. School-age children and teenagers can be real partners to this dog: walking it, training it, playing the games its Hound heritage actually wants to play. Younger visitors are the managed exception rather than the daily rule: this is a small dog of 16 to 32 lb whose play, herding, guarding or hunting instincts, whichever its Hound background installed, are not calibrated for a three-year-old's unpredictability. Families who accept that shape honestly, rather than hoping the dog will round itself off, describe the breed as easy to live with.
For flats and small houses the Dachshund is nearly ideal in size and exercise needs, with one loud exception: the bark. Sound carries, neighbors hear it, and bark management matters more in an apartment than the dog's size does. Dachshunds are devoted to their chosen people, comic in their routines and deeply stubborn when their plans differ from yours.
No verdict lives alone on the record. Alongside Better with older children for children, the Dachshund carries Usually good with dogs for other dogs and a coat recorded as Smooth, longhaired or wirehaired, all in the same long, low shape. The record's color line reads: Red, black and tan, chocolate, dapple and more, in one or two colors. Food for a typical 24 lb adult runs about $19 a month on this site's cost record, and insurance is recorded at $45 to $80 a month, so the family dog is also a family budget line for 12 to 16 years. None of that alters the headline verdict, Better with older children; it simply reminds families that the dog is a whole commitment, not only a playmate.
Look sideways for a moment at the breeds this record finds most similar: the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, the West Highland White Terrier and the Cesky Terrier. Their children ratings differ in the details, which is the point: similarity of build and coat does not mean similarity of family style. The Dachshund's own verdict, Better with older children, was assigned on its own pattern of behavior, and it is the one to plan around, with the shortlist above serving as the comparison set if a second, different breed joins the home.
Management in this breed is about matching the dog's terms, and they are reasonable terms. No unsupervised time with children under eight or so, however gentle everyone seems, because the record's verdict, Better with older children, was earned on exactly that distinction. Give the Dachshund a retreat that children are taught, and reminded, is out of bounds. A Dachshund is not being unfriendly when it leaves a noisy room; it is being the dog its record says it is, Clever, brave, stubborn and devoted and self-possessed, and a family that respects the exit keeps the breed's goodwill intact for the people it actually lives with.
Adults enjoy a long prime, and the lifelong rules are weight control, muscle maintenance and no furniture launching. Keep youngsters slim and fit rather than round, because growth is when the spine is most vulnerable.
Keep the record's figures in view while you decide. Height 8 to 9 inches, weight 16 to 32 lb, lifespan 12 to 16 years, exercise 30 to 45 minutes a day. The Dachshund reaches senior status around age 10 years, and an older dog's family role softens with its joints, from playmate to supervisor to honored pensioner on the best rug.
The family record says Better with older children, and that is the heart of the answer; the rest of the record decides the workload. For the Dachshund specifically, a Hound dog whose exercise needs run 30 to 45 minutes a day, that plays out in daily routines rather than in occasional big outings. A first time family that follows a structured puppy course and trains a little every day will find the higher trainability scores forgiving, this breed's being 3 out of 5. Weigh the whole picture before deciding: 30 to 45 minutes of daily exercise, a Usually good with dogs verdict around other dogs and a bark level of 5 of 5 make the full household profile, and the family rating is only one panel of it. Expect a dog that burrows under blankets, patrols the garden with total seriousness and offers a running commentary in a bark several sizes too big for it.
What owners call jealousy is usually a dog whose world changed all at once: less exercise, closed doors, new rules arriving with the noise. In the Dachshund's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with moderate energy and a bark level of 5 out of 5, so its family life happens against a fairly specific home backdrop. Plan the change before the baby does, keeping the Dachshund's 30 to 45 minute routine intact and its place in the household visible. Introductions are calm, brief and entirely supervised, always, whatever the record says, and this breed's rating is Better with older children. Dogs read babies as a household weather event; families that keep the weather stable rarely see a storm.
Trust is the wrong frame, for this breed and every breed: supervised is the standard that never expires. With the Dachshund, whose typical weight runs 16 to 32 pounds and whose lifespan reaches 12 to 16 years, the honest answer also changes a little across the dog's life, from puppyhood to senior status at about 10 years. What changes with age is the dog's steadiness. A Dachshund is typically at its most reliable from about two years old, when adolescence is done and its training, rated 3 out of 5 in our record, has had time to set. The question families should actually ask is whether the setup is right for the dog, because the record's rating of Better with older children presumes adults who supervise, separate and step in.
Last updated: November 11, 2026