06/04/2026
๐พ DachsLife 2018: ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ช๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐จ๐ฉ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐จ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐จ? ๐พ
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If we want to make better breeding decisions, we have to start with which health issues are most concerning in Dachshunds, not guesses, not one vets experience in practice, and not whatever gets argued about most online ๐ฌ
The DachsLife 2018 survey gave us that big picture by collecting health information on 2,564 Dachshunds and charting which diseases owners reported most often ๐ For a single breed, that is a very large sample size, far bigger than most veterinary studies ever manage in one breed, which is why this graph is so important.
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๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ก๐ก๐ฎ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐จ
In the bar graph, IVDD is shown as the most prevalent health issue in the breed ๐ฆด
Just behind it are conditions like:
โฅ Skin allergies and atopy (genetic predisposition to develop allergic diseases)
โฅ Cancers and tumours
โฅ Cryptorchidism (undescended testicle(s))
โฅ Several reproductive issues
โฅ Heart disease
Then we see:
โฅ Neurologic conditions such as idiopathic epilepsy
โฅ Immune mediated and inflammatory disease
โฅ Gastrointestinal issues like inflammatory bowel disease
โฅ Orthopedic problems including pes varus and other limb issues
Much further along the graph you reach the rarer conditions, this is where PRA appears down near the tail of the distribution alongside things like liver shunt, hip dysplasia, SARDS and Lafora. The exact percentages matter less here than the pattern. Most of the overall health burden in this breed is coming from spinal disease, skin and allergy problems, cancers, heart and endocrine disease, neurologic conditions like epilepsy and structural problems such as patellas and pes varus, with PRA and other rare inherited diseases sitting much lower in comparison.
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๐ ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ซ๐๐ฎ ๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐จ
This survey is not just a casual online poll ๐ซ
โฅ DachsLife 2018 was run by Dachshund Health UK and the UK Dachshund Breed Council, the main health body for the breed that works closely with the Kennel Club and the Royal Veterinary College on research and screening programs.
โฅ The same team has run multiple large surveys in 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2021, and the 2015 DachsLife data on IVDD have been published in a peer reviewed veterinary journal ๐
โฅ The Kennel Clubs own large health surveys show the same main themes for Dachshunds, especially around IVDD, skin disease, epilepsy and other chronic issues.
In other words, DachsLife 2018 is part of a consistent, multi year evidence base, not a one off outlier โ
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๐ฉโโ๏ธ ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐จ
It is completely reasonable to care deeply about specific conditions or to want your dog to be free of certain genetic and health risks ๐ The problem comes when breeders or puppy buyers focus almost entirely on a very rare disease while giving much less attention to the conditions that are far more common and often more devastating for the breed.
DachsLife 2018 gives us the context to:
โฅ See the rare conditions
โฅ Recognise that they should not take priority over major issues like IVDD, chronic skin disease, cancers, heart problems, epilepsy and serious structural disorders when we are setting health priorities.
For breeders, understanding this prevalence picture is essential for deciding which dogs to pair, where to bring in new lines and which risks can realistically be reduced over time. For pet owners, it is just as important when you are evaluating breeders and asking questions about testing and health history ๐
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๐งฌ ๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ก๐ก๐ฎ ๐ช๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ
แดสษช๊ฑ ษช๊ฑ แดกสแดสแด สแดแดสแดส แดแด๊ฑแดษชษดษข, ษขแดษดแดแดษชแด แดแด๊ฑแดษชษดษข แดษดแด
แดแดแด
ษชษขสแดแด สแด๊ฑแดแดสแดส สแดแด แด แดแด แดกแดสแด แดแดษขแดแดสแดส ๐งฉ
โฅ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ lets us screen the individual dog in front of us for many of the conditions that appear on this bar graph, including heart disease, eye disease, orthopedic problems like patellas and angular limb deformities, and endocrine or other systemic issues.
โฅ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ adds another layer for diseases where we have DNA tests available, such as Lafora disease, cord1 PRA, MMVD risk variants and some pigment related conditions that sit towards the right hand side of the bar graph ๐งช
โฅ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก and *honest* line sharing to connect all of that information across generations so we can see which families repeatedly produce epilepsy, heart problems, chronic skin disease, IVDD, pes varus, fertility issues and other patterns that we cannot yet swab for but still need to factor into our decisions ๐ณ
We are not going to eliminate every disease on this bar graph, but DachsLife 2018 gives us a clear, data driven picture of where health concerns lie for the breed ๐ง By taking this survey seriously, and by combining health testing, genetic testing and transparent pedigrees, breeders and pet owners can make choices that genuinely reduce risk in the conditions that commonly affect the Dachshund breed ๐ช๐พ
Original bar graph and data from DachsLife 2018 (Dachshund Health UK / Dachshund Breed Council). ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.
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