Why Is My Dachshund So Hard to Potty Train?

By Jessica Ennis, DVM, CVA

Breed care · September 4, 2026 · 4 min read

Your dachshund isn't broken — small bladders, hound instinct, and weather aversion are working against you, not stubbornness alone.

Start here: if your dachshund is still having accidents at five, six, even nine months, that is not unusual, and it is not a sign you’re doing something wrong. Set the schedule first, then troubleshoot the rest.

Rule out the medical stuff before you blame the dog

Before you touch the schedule, book a urinalysis. A urinary tract infection, crystals, or even early signs of intervertebral disc disease (dachshunds are the poster breed for it) can all look exactly like “won’t hold it.” I’ve had clients spend three months white-knuckling a training plan for a dog who had a treatable UTI the whole time. Rule out medical causes first. Only once your vet clears the dog do you troubleshoot behavior.

A client brought in her 4-year-old mini dachshund, 11 pounds, after six months of near-daily indoor accidents despite what she swore was a tight schedule. We ran a urinalysis at that first visit. It came back clean. What changed things wasn’t a new command or a stricter timer — it was moving the crate from the laundry room to the bedroom and cutting the overnight water access by two hours. By day 10, accidents had dropped from daily to twice a week. Nothing about her training method was wrong; the dog’s environment was working against her the whole time.

Why dachshunds specifically lag behind

Three things stack against you here, and none of them are about intelligence.

First, size. Small dogs have smaller bladders and faster metabolisms than big dogs, so they need more frequent breaks and often show smaller, easier-to-miss “gotta go” signals. Research summarized by Companion Animal Psychology found small dogs (under roughly 20 pounds) are significantly less completely house-trained than big dogs, and part of that gap comes down to owners simply not noticing or not investing in training the way they do for larger, harder-to-miss breeds.

Second, temperament. The American Kennel Club describes dachshunds as clever and independent, bred to work underground on their own judgment without waiting for a handler’s cue. That self-reliance is exactly what makes a dog decide the couch is a perfectly fine bathroom when the yard is 40 degrees and wet.

Third, weather and comfort. Dachshunds are famously unwilling to linger outside in cold or rain, and a dog that cuts its potty break short because its feet are cold is going to finish the job indoors ten minutes later.

The routine that actually moves the needle

Do these in order, not all at once:

1. Crate or confine when unsupervised. A properly sized crate — just big enough to stand, turn, and lie down — leans on the instinct not to soil a den space.
2. Take him out on a clock, not a whim. Every 2 hours for adults, more often for puppies and after meals, naps, and play.
3. Reward within 3 seconds of finishing outside. Not after you’re both back inside — the timing window is short.
4. Manage the weather problem directly. A coat, a covered potty spot, or even a litter-box-style indoor option for genuinely miserable days keeps the schedule intact instead of breaking it.
5. Log accidents for two weeks. A pattern (always at 6pm, always near the back door) tells you more than guessing does.

Where this gets complicated: the edge case owners miss

Here’s the wrinkle that changes the plan for a lot of households. A 2-year-old standard dachshund, 24 pounds, had been reliably house-trained for over a year when accidents suddenly restarted — three weeks after a move to a new apartment. The owner assumed regression meant the training had failed. It hadn’t. The dog was marking territory in an unfamiliar space, a distinct behavior from a housetraining lapse, and it called for a different fix: blocking access to the previously soiled corners and re-establishing the outdoor routine in the new location, not restarting crate training from scratch. Confusing the two wastes weeks.

If you’re also deciding between a standard and miniature dachshund before you’ve even started this process, worth reading up first — bladder size and stamina differ enough between the two that it changes how often you’ll realistically need to be home. See our breakdown on Standard vs Miniature Dachshund sizing. And if the accidents are tangled up with separation anxiety or a generally anxious household, it’s worth comparing temperaments against Best Calm Dog Breeds for a Relaxed Household to see whether some of what you’re calling stubbornness is actually stress.

The counterargument I take seriously — and why I still don’t recommend giving up on the schedule

Some trainers argue that a rigid clock-based schedule is overkill for an adult dog and that trusting the dog to signal (a bell, a stare, a scratch at the door) respects their intelligence more. I don’t disagree that signal training is a good long-term goal. But for a breed already working against small-bladder biology and weather aversion, dropping the schedule too early is how relapses happen. Layer signal training on top of the clock once you’ve had 30 straight accident-free days — don’t replace one with the other.

Key Takeaways

• Rule out UTIs and IVDD-related issues before assuming a behavior problem.
• Small bladders, hound independence, and weather aversion are the three real drivers — not “stubbornness” alone.
• Crate confinement plus a strict 2-hour outdoor schedule outperforms free-roam training for this breed.
• A sudden regression after a move is more likely marking than a training failure — treat it differently.
• Don’t drop the schedule for signal-based training until you’ve logged 30 accident-free days.

So — has your dachshund actually been given a fair schedule to work with, or has the training plan been fighting biology the whole time?