La razza
The wirehaired dachshund
Bred for work underground — and often long-lived, many reaching their mid-teens in good health.
Perché questo cane
The wirehaired dachshund is an old German hunting breed, selected for the work no handler could watch: badger, fox and rabbit, followed underground. In the tunnel a dog decides alone. Families meet that inheritance on the first day — a small dog with its own opinion of the moment, deeply attached to its own people.
The coat tells the same story. The harsh double mantle — wiry topcoat, dense undercoat, the beard and the brows — was developed to protect a working dog in thorny cover. Protection first, expression second; the face people stop for in the street began as equipment.
It is a robust breed, and often long-lived — many reach their mid-teens in good health. A dachshund is not a purchase for a season. It is a companion for a good part of a life, which is why the choosing deserves patience.
«All'età di 10 anni mi fu regalato un cucciolo di bassotto a pelo duro che mi colpì immediatamente per il suo aspetto simile ad un leoncino.»
“At ten I was given a wirehaired dachshund puppy, and it struck me at once — it looked like a little lion.”
— Francesca, on Favola, her first
The guides
Five questions families ask — answered the way the house answers them.
Bred here
The dogs behind these pages.
Almost forty years of one line, documented a generation at a time — the guides simply write down what the house already practises.
Come and see how the dogs live. Visits are by appointment.
Il libro
Intervista ai Bassotti del Wanhelsing
A book-length conversation with the dachshunds of the house — the breed, told from the inside.