Pawscessories is reader-supported. When you buy via links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
Learn more.
Dachshunds are energetic, cute little balls of fun. You may have thought to yourself that dachshunds are pretty darn smart too… And you might be wondering, do they have what it takes to be a service dog?
Can Dachshunds Be Service Dogs?
Depending on the type of service required, dachshunds can make a great service dog. A few qualities that make them a good candidate for being a service dog is their desire to work, their ability to create a strong bond, their intelligence and calm demeanor.
In this post you’ll learn all the different ways a dachshund can make a great service dog, what services dachshunds would be really well suited for and a dachshunds superpower!
Let’s jump right in.
Table of Contents
Different Types Of Service Dogs
Therapy Service Dogs
Therapy service dogs are for people who suffer from chronic anxiety. Typically people who have gone through some form of trauma and need help calming themselves down.
This type of service dog doesn’t require a whole lot of training. Their major focus is to simply make a person feel better.
Research has shown that simply petting a dog helps lower a person’s stress.
A dachshund would be more than willing and able to take on the job of getting love to help a person feel better!
Emotional Support Service Dogs
Emotional support dogs are more focused on taking action when a person needs them to.
For example, if you’re about to have an anxiety attack, an emotional support dog would recognise this and come give you love and affection to help ease your anxiety.
Considering dachshunds are perfectly happy being a one-person-dog, they’d be a great companion for emotional support.
Physical Support Service Dogs
Physical support dogs help people who have a physical disability or condition.
Seeing eye dogs, guide dogs for people with hearing imparities, or warning/taking care of someone who has seizures are a few exmaples.
Since a dachshund isn’t the tallest of breeds, they may not suit the position of being a guide dog (whether for seeing or hearing).
But with the proper training would be perfectly capable of warning a person of an oncoming seizure, if their blood pressure was dropping, etc.
Vocation Service Dogs
Vocation type service dogs are related to military services, guard dogs, farming (herding or hunting), etc.
While dachshunds may not be best suited for military services due to their size, they wouldn’t be a bad choice for a guard dog.
Believe it or not, dachshunds are one of the most aggressive dog breeds.
With poor training this isn’t a good thing… But if you’re looking for protection and a dachshund is trained to know what is a threat and what isn’t, they won’t be afraid to protect you.
Also, for farming, dachshunds were actually bred to hunt. So this is a vocation that they are quite familiar with.
5 Reasons Dachshunds Can Make Great Service Dogs
You might think that a dachshund’s small size and shape might not make them the best service dog. But, they have quite a few qualities that say otherwise!
Here are the top 5 reasons why a dachshund could make a great service dog:
1) Have a Desire To Work
While breeds that are more laid back can still be trained to be great service dogs, ones with a desire to work take to their role much quicker.
Dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers as well as other tunneling animals.
This means they have an instinctive desire to take orders from their alpha and complete tasks given.
When given the proper training or guidance they can pick up skills/tasks well and repeat them often.
Because service dogs become so important in a person’s life who’s using the dog as an aid, you wouldn’t want a dog that would rather spend their time on their back getting belly rubs.
A dachshund will happily take care of their human and take their position seriously. A breed that thrives with a purpose is a great dog to have as a service dog!
2) Develop a Strong Bond
Considering dachshunds were bred to be hunters, they intuitively develop a strong connection with one person.
This doesn’t mean that they won’t be a good family dog, it just means they will hold one person a little higher in their heart than the rest.
This is a perfect quality for a service dog. A service dog needs to have a strong love and loyalty to their human for them to want to help and follow their past training.
When they sense something is wrong, whether it’s smelling something in the distance or hearing something, they will have a strong urge to protect you.
Instead of being distracted, they’ll remember their training and perform the tasks they’ve been taught to follow when certain things happen.
Love and discipline are great qualities for a service dog and dachshunds have both of those in spades.
3) Intelligent
This almost goes without saying but… Intelligence is a key factor for any dog that is to become a service dog.
Everyday pets don’t have to be super smart in order to be a loved member of the family.
But service dogs need to be able to learn and perform complicated tasks that some breeds simply aren’t well equipped to do.
Although dachshunds have been considered stubborn, and not the easiest to train, this doesn’t make them an unintelligent breed.
Many of the brightest people and animals simply just need the proper guidance to allow their intelligence to blossom!
Once a dachshund has been trained on their important tasks you’d be hard pressed to find them slacking off or not taking care of their guardian.
4) Can Be Beauty Or The Beast
Almost all service dogs will need to be in public at some point in time. And while it’s encouraged for people not to approach service dogs while they’re working, it’s important for a service dog to be friendly.
Dachshunds can actually go both ways with this.
If they’re introduced to people and other dogs at an early age, they won’t have a problem being around other people or animals as they get older.
However, if they only get to know their guardian they will become quite protective over them and not like strangers.
Depending on the service they need to provide, either of these character traits can be beneficial.
If your dachshund needs to be a guard dog and protector, they can fulfil this role.
If they need to be an emotional or physical support dog and be in public settings, if they’re accompanied by many people at a young age they will thrive in these settings.
A dachshund’s ability to be either beauty or the beast makes them great for a wider spectrum of service dog services.
5) Calm Demeanor
Being able to keep their composure and not get distracted by the world happening around them is an important quality in a service dog.
Now, this will definitely require training to help your dachshund know this is how they need to behave in public settings.
But dachshunds are generally a more moderate energy level dog.
This means while they can become excited, they don’t have an overflowing source of energy that needs to be expressed.
This helps make sure that when out in public a dachshund will be able to focus on things they have been trained to look out for.
Certain smells, cars driving by, your body language, etc.
If they were to get overwhelmed with all the things going on around them they wouldn’t be able to pick up on certain things in their environment that they need to.
That’s why a dachshund’s more calm demeanor is an asset to them when it comes to being a service dog.
Final Thoughts
Who knew the classic weiner dog would suit being a service dog!
They love to be a one-person-dog and take assigned roles quite seriously. Dachshunds have two of the most important qualities when it comes to being a great service dog, love and discipline.
With the proper training a dachshund can be of service for many different scenarios/conditions.
Other posts you might find interesting:
12 Best Dog Beds for Dachshunds
8 Ways Dachshunds Make Great Apartment Dogs + Tips
Can Dachshunds Climb Stairs? 4 Dangers + 7 Helpful Tips