ON FIRST appearances teckels give all the impressions of a lapdog: small in stature with an almost comical look about them. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking they were nothing more than a companion dog. However, delve a little deeper and you may be surprised. To clear up any ongoing confusion, a dachshund is a teckel, and a teckel is a dachshund. They are the same thing. There are working and showing types but they are all teckels or dachshunds.
Although a German breed by origin, they have a long-established British connection going back as far as 1840 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were gifted some top-quality smooth-coated dogs by Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. These not only worked but had the pleasure of the Royal Kennels. Dachshunds have long enjoyed a relationship with the German aristocracy but it is thought that prior to the breed’s establishment there they were in the hands of French migrants who brought them to Germany, where they found favour
