The short hair Dachshund — properly called the smooth-haired — is the original coat, the one most people picture, and by a distance the easiest of the three to live with. It is also the one that gets written about least, which is odd given it is the most common.
Here is what the smooth coat actually means day to day, how it differs from long and wire, and what to expect on shedding, grooming and cold weather.
What a smooth-haired Dachshund is
A short, dense, glossy coat lying flat against the body, with no feathering on the ears, legs or tail. The hair is fine and shorter on the ears than on the body. Smooth is the original Dachshund coat; long and wire were developed afterwards.
Genetically, smooth is dominant over long. That is why smooth puppies appear more often in mixed litters, and why long coats are less available.
Grooming: almost nothing
This is the smooth coat’s selling point. A rubber grooming mitt or a soft brush once a week lifts the loose hair, and a bath every couple of months is plenty unless something has been rolled in. No mats, no tangles, no feathering to comb behind the ears.
What still needs doing, on any Dachshund:
- Nails every three to four weeks. Long nails change how the dog stands and loads the spine.
- Ears weekly. Drop ears trap moisture whatever the coat length.
- Teeth. Small jaws crowd, and dental disease is common in the breed.
Do smooth Dachshunds shed?
Yes, moderately and year round. Nobody should tell you otherwise.
Short hair does not mean less hair — it means shorter, stiffer hairs that weave into upholstery and clothing rather than gathering in visible tufts the way long coat hair does. Many owners find long-coated shedding easier to clean up for exactly that reason.
No Dachshund of any coat is hypoallergenic.
The cold
A smooth coat is thin, there is no undercoat to speak of, and the dog sits three inches off the ground. Smooth Dachshunds feel cold sooner than long or wire coats, and they will tell you — shivering, refusing to go out, heading straight back to the door.
A fitted coat in winter is genuinely practical rather than decorative, and it matters for house-training too: a dog that will not stay outside in the cold long enough to toilet will do it indoors instead. Our guide to potty training a Dachshund covers that specific problem.
Temperament: is the smooth coat different?
You will hear that smooths are more aloof, longs are calmer and wires are the clowns. There is a grain of truth in the wire version — terrier was used in developing that coat — but for smooth versus long, the difference is largely folklore.
Individual personality and early socialisation matter far more than coat type. A smooth Dachshund is a Dachshund: bold, loud, scent-driven, strongly attached to its people, and stubborn in the specific way that training a Dachshund has to work around.
Colours in the smooth coat
Smooths come in everything the breed offers: black and tan, red, cream, chocolate and tan, blue, isabella, and the dapple, brindle and piebald patterns. Red and black-and-tan are the most common by some margin.
Because there is no feathering to break it up, patterning tends to read more sharply on a smooth coat — a smooth dapple often looks more defined than the same pattern on a long coat.
We usually have far more long coats than smooth ones, and right now Rain is the only smooth-coat puppy in our litters — an 11-week-old cream girl. If the low-maintenance coat described above is what you are after, she is the one to look at.
Smooth, long or wire — choosing
| Smooth | Long | Wire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grooming | Weekly mitt | Brush 2–3x weekly | Stripping a few times a year |
| Shedding | Moderate, year round | Moderate, more visible | Lower |
| Cold tolerance | Lowest | Better | Best |
| Availability | Most common | Less common | Least common in the US |
If you want the lowest-maintenance Dachshund, the smooth is it. If you want the look most people associate with the breed in photographs, that is usually the long coat.
Frequently asked questions
Do short haired Dachshunds shed a lot?
Moderately, all year. The hairs are short and stiff and tend to work into fabric.
Are smooth Dachshunds easier to look after?
Yes, on grooming. Identical on everything else — exercise, training, dental care and back protection.
Do smooth Dachshunds need coats in winter?
Most do. Thin coat, no undercoat, low to the ground.
Is a smooth Dachshund calmer than a long-haired one?
No reliable difference. Individual temperament matters far more.
Which coat is most common?
Smooth, because the gene is dominant.
Looking for one?
See which Dachshund puppies are available now — we currently have one smooth coat and nine long coats — or read about the breed generally. Questions welcome: get in touch.
