Wild Doxies?
Wild Doxies you say? What’s all that about?
Well, you’ve probably heard that Dachshunds originated in Germany but what is less known is that wild doxies were native to North America thriving particularly in the areas of the great plains. Doxies roamed the plains where their primary food source - the bison - was plentiful. The doxies were such naturally skillful hunters that somewhere aroung the 15th century Native American Indian tribes began working to eradicate the roaming doxie packs to ensure there would be enough bison for their own survival. Their efforts led to the near extinction and loss of the wild doxie and the over-population of the bison. The first whites/europeans to make their way to the plains were dumbfounded at the site of bison herds that numbered in the hundreds of thousands, a result of the loss of their natural predator the wild doxies.
Driven to near extinction the doxies ability to adapt was it’s saving trait. Small numbers of wild doxies left the plains and made their way southeast to the french claimed area of New Orleans. Over time some of the wild doxies grew accustomed to living near humans and befriended them.* A few were even taken back to europe where they became treasured pets. German nobility in particular coveted doxies as a sign of status and power much in the way that certain ancient monarchs had kept other fierce hunters such as falcons or cheetahs. It is in Germany that the breed was refined - Germans are great automobile and canine engineers - and renamed dachshund, or badger hound.
The heart of the wild doxie still lives within the more modern badger hounds. When the sun is shining through the window warming Mikkey and causing his sleep to be that much sounder he can be found growling, barking and even moving his legs to the visions imprinted into his very makeup. In those fleeting moments he is once again a wild doxie running with the pack biting at the heels of their mighty bison prey. Risking his life for the survival of the pack and for the glory of the hunt!
*Sadly, those doxies that were not able to adapt to being near humans slowly vanished from North America with the increasing colonization of the 1800’s and 1900’s.