Coat, Ears & Tail

AKC Hound Group · No. 5 in 2025

How to identify a Dachshund

The Dachshund is a long, low hound bred to go after badgers, ranked No. 5 by the AKC in 2025. The body is long and the legs are short, with a prominent breastbone. It’s the only breed in this guide with three coat types: smooth, wirehaired and longhaired.

Photo of a Dachshund
Photo: Katemil94 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Field marks

These four marks are the ones the game gives you as clues. They paraphrase or briefly quote the AKC Dachshund standard.

  1. “Low to ground, long in body and short of leg”
  2. Breastbone “strongly prominent in front,” with a dimple on either side
  3. Three coats: smooth, wirehaired (with beard and eyebrows), longhaired
  4. Patterns include dapple (merle), brindle, piebald, and sable

Tell them apart

Dachshund or Basset Hound?

Both are long and low. The Basset is a heavier hound with brow wrinkles, drooping eyes and very long ears that fold over the nose. A Dachshund has tighter skin, a prominent breastbone and much shorter ears. A wire or long coat rules out the Basset, whose coat is always short and smooth.

Dachshund

Dachshund

  1. “Low to ground, long in body and short of leg”
  2. Breastbone “strongly prominent in front,” with a dimple on either side
  3. Three coats: smooth, wirehaired (with beard and eyebrows), longhaired
  4. Patterns include dapple (merle), brindle, piebald, and sable
Basset Hound

Basset Hound

  1. “Extremely long,” velvety ears that “fold well over the end of the nose”
  2. Loose skin “falling in distinct wrinkles over the brow”; eyes show “a prominent haw”
  3. Short, heavy-boned legs, with height under 14 in
  4. Hard, smooth, short coat in any hound color

Dachshund or Pembroke Welsh Corgi?

Check the ears and the tail. A Pembroke Welsh Corgi has erect, pointed ears, a foxy head and a tail docked short or naturally 2 inches or less. A Dachshund’s ears hang, and it keeps a full-length tail.

Dachshund

Dachshund

  1. “Low to ground, long in body and short of leg”
  2. Breastbone “strongly prominent in front,” with a dimple on either side
  3. Three coats: smooth, wirehaired (with beard and eyebrows), longhaired
  4. Patterns include dapple (merle), brindle, piebald, and sable
Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

  1. Head “foxy in shape and appearance”
  2. Erect, medium ears “tapering slightly to a rounded point”
  3. Tail docked as short as possible, or naturally no longer than 2 in
  4. Red, sable, fawn, or black and tan, with or without white, on a long, low body

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