She is absolutely adorable! I've always thought I would like a mini dashshund but have concerns about back issues that I've heard and read about. I would assume that the various field trails are designed with particular breeds in mind based on the breeds' natural instincts and body limitations. I'm wondering how one might help prevent these injuries (obviously not jumping off high beds, etc. ) and if training and these exercises strengthen her body against possible injuries in the future?
You can’t really prevent disc problems in dachshunds, it’s bundled with the genes they get in being a dachshund.
That said, there are some things you can do to decrease the risk of the disc disease becoming symptomatic. Keep the dog lean and well muscled. Minimize high impact on the spine from jumping and twisting and frenzied activities. There’s some evidence out of Europe that spaying over the age of 4 years may have a protective effect- it’s unclear if this is a direct hormonal effect on the discs, or just a consequence of being better muscled. We have delayed spaying Phoenix for that reason.
Dachshund field trials and Earthdog are on flat ground, so there’s not much risk to the spine. The hunt performance tests are a little more free form, so in theory a dachshund could go flying off an embankment during one, so they entail maybe a little more risk, but they only have 30 min for the test and there’s only 4 tests per year, so it’s not tons of time. In her hunt performance test, Phoenix’s pack (actually not her pack, she was a substitute for a dog who couldn’t make it) did so great that the judges has us pick the dogs up after 15 min. They had performed so well that they passed all the elements of the test by that time, so there was no need to go on.
Nosework is intentionally low impact, it’s a sport specifically designed to be inclusive and fun for all dogs.
There are some sports that we don’t participate in, even though I know she would love it. Barn Hunt is a sport in which a rat is placed in a secure container amongst bales of hay and the dog’s task is to find the rat. Earthdog is similar except that the dogs must enter narrow underground tunnels and the tests are only open to dachshunds and small terriers. Barn Hunt is open to all dogs and as such does not take the dachshund back into consideration. I know for a fact Phoenix would be so excited in Barn Hunt that she’d repeatedly fling herself off hay bales. That’s just too high for her, and she’d be so ramped up that even if she was hurting herself, she’d be so full of adrenaline she wouldn’t feel pain. So we probably won’t ever participate.
I don’t want her to have a disc herniation of course, and not all disc herniations can be successfully treated. But it does help that I’m a veterinary neurologist so if I have the resources to treat her if she does have a disc problem. That helps.
I am actually much more scared of a coyote attack than a disc herniation. Coyotes are hunting those same rabbits that the dogs are working in the field trials. Coyote attacks on small dogs are commonly either fatal or very severe injuries.
Also I work with sick animals every day and I could go on and on about the terrible diseases that dogs get- purebreed and mixed breed alike. I could decide to get some other kind of dog and then worry about other types of illnesses. Or I could just get the dog I like and deal with medical problems if they arise.
My childhood dachshund died of renal failure at the age of 13, never had a back problem.
For the dachshunds I owned as an adult, #1 died of renal failure at 15, never had a back problem. #2 died in her sleep at the age of 12, but was paralyzed when I got her at the age of 4, I did back surgery on her and she made a full recovery and never had another problem. Phoenix is dachshund #3.
For a point of comparison, my Gordon Setter died of an insulinoma at the age of 10. They do all die from something eventually.