Dachshunds are all personalities in a very particular shape, and that shape changes what good feeding looks like. The best food for a Dachshund is a complete recipe led by a protein you can name, in a kibble size that suits a small mouth, with calories sensible enough to keep them properly lean. You don't need to spend a lot to do this well. Our small breed dog food is made for smaller mouths and appetites, which is the practical starting point for the breed.
With most dogs, keeping them lean is about general health. With a Dachshund, it's about their back, and there are numbers behind that.
Why weight matters more for a Dachshund
Dachshunds are prone to intervertebral disc disease, usually shortened to IVDD, where the cushioning discs between the vertebrae push out and press on the spinal cord. It's the breed's best-known health problem, and it can be serious.
A UK study of 700 dogs, 79 of them with disc extrusion in the mid-to-lower back, looked at what actually raised the risk (Packer et al., 2013). Two findings matter for the food bowl.
Body condition made a large difference. Body condition score is a hands-on nine-point scale vets use, where four to five is ideal and anything above six means carrying extra weight. For a Miniature Dachshund with average breed proportions, the modelled probability of disc extrusion rose from around 0.30 at a score of four to 0.68 at a score of seven. The authors noted that even being moderately overweight raised the risk in the breeds most affected.
The shape itself was a risk factor, and you can't change that. Dogs with a longer back relative to their height were at higher risk, and Miniature Dachshunds sit right at the long end of that scale. Dachshunds made up 38% of the disc extrusion cases in that study across the four varieties, with Miniature Dachshunds alone accounting for 27%.
Put those together, and you get the reason this article leads where it does. Your Dachshund's proportions are fixed. Their body condition isn't. Feeding is the lever you actually hold.
One finding was particularly interesting. In the researchers' final analysis, body condition appeared to matter more than the exercise-related factors they looked at. That isn't proof that jumping and stairs don't matter, since one study failing to find an effect is not the same as showing there isn't one, and plenty of vets still advise care with both. What it does say is that weight deserves at least as much of your attention as the sofa does, and weight is the easier one to control.
Food can't prevent IVDD, and nothing here replaces your vet. What it can do is keep one of the known risk factors pointed in the right direction.
Key nutrients to look for
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Named animal protein first. Meat and fish ingredients like freshly prepared chicken or salmon help maintain lean muscle, which matters for supporting a long frame.
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Sensible calorie density. Calorie density is how many calories are packed into each gram. Given everything above, this is the single most useful thing to check on a Dachshund's food.
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Omega-3 and omega-6. Fatty acids that support healthy skin and a good coat.
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A suitable kibble size. Smaller pieces are easier for a small mouth to pick up and chew.
How much should a Dachshund eat?
There's no single number that fits every Dachshund. What matters is feeding to the dog in front of you.
For an average adult Dachshund of around 10kg, on roughly an hour of exercise a day, our starting points are:
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Dry food only: about 170g a day
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Wet food only: about 540g a day
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Dry and wet together: about 118g dry plus 100g wet
Treat those as a starting point, not a rule, and let body condition be the deciding vote.
A few practicalities:
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Weigh food in grams on kitchen scales. We can't recommend scoops or cups, because the bulk density of kibble differs from batch to batch, so the same scoop can hold noticeably different amounts.
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Keep treats to no more than about a tenth of the daily total, counted in rather than added on top. Our low fat lean turkey treats are a sensible option if treats are where your day tends to slip.
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If you're mixing wet and dry, the numbers above give you the conversion: roughly 3g of wet does the same job as 1g of dry for a dog this size. Take the kibble down as you add the tray. Our guide to mix feeding covers the balance.
Dry, wet or mixed: the best food types for a Dachshund
There's no single right format. Each has its place, and the best choice comes down to your dog and your routine.
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Dry food is convenient, easy to store and simple to portion accurately by weight. Have a look at our dry dog food.
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Wet trays are higher in moisture and often more tempting for a fussier eater. Our grain-free wet trays come in trays, never tins. Once open, move leftovers to an airtight container in the fridge and use within two to three days, as our guide to storing wet food explains.
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Mixed feeding gives variety and a bit more moisture, and works well as long as you weigh the total.
Whichever format you choose, change foods gradually rather than overnight. Swapping over about a week, shifting the balance a little at a time, gives your Dachshund's stomach time to settle. If your dog has a sensitive tummy, stretching it to 10 days can help.
What to look for on the label
Whatever brand you're comparing, this quick checklist works on any pack.
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A named meat or fish ingredient at the top of the list, for example "freshly prepared chicken", rather than a broad term like "meat and animal derivatives". Both are legal descriptions, a named ingredient simply gives you more detail about what's in the bowl.
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No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.
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Named fat sources, plus gentle fibre or prebiotics, which are fibres that feed the helpful bacteria in the gut and support digestion.
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The words "complete" or "complementary" on the pack. A complete food gives your dog everything they need in the right balance and can be fed on its own. A complementary food, like many toppers and mixers, goes alongside a complete food rather than replacing it. For everyday feeding, you want complete.
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A recipe matched to your dog's life stage, and to any sensitivities where relevant.
Is Harringtons a good choice for a Dachshund?
Honestly, yes, and here's the simple case, tied to what the breed actually needs.
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Our small breed recipes come in a kibble size made for little mouths, which is the practical starting point here.
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Our grain-free recipes are built around freshly prepared meat and fish ingredients as the number one ingredient, and made without wheat, dairy or soya.
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For dogs with sensitivities, our Just 6 recipes keep things simple with six key ingredients, which makes it easier to see how your dog gets on.
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Our Superfoods recipes add functional extras like spinach, sweet potato and seaweed, good ingredients doing a bit more in the bowl.
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Our grain-free wet trays are made using our FreshCook® process and work nicely for mixed feeding.
Everything is made here in the UK, developed with veterinary input, free from artificial colours and flavours, and honestly priced. No compromise, which is rather the point. Our recipes are also available on subscription, so the right bag turns up before you run out.
Common food sensitivities in Dachshunds
Dachshunds are a generally hardy breed, but any dog can react to something in its food.
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Signs to watch for include itchy skin, recurring ear trouble, and loose stools.
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The language matters here. True food allergies are actually quite rare, so it's more accurate to talk about food sensitivities.
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If your dog keeps getting itchy, have a chat with your vet. Where a food sensitivity is suspected, a simple, limited-ingredient recipe like Just 6 can be useful during a vet-guided elimination diet, where you strip the diet back and reintroduce foods one at a time. Our guide to why your dog might be itching has more.
Feeding a Dachshund through life
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Puppy: a complete small breed puppy recipe supports steady growth, and steady is the word. Feed to the weight you expect them to reach rather than their current weight. Our puppy food is made for growing dogs, our guide to how much to feed a puppy covers portions, and our guide to moving onto adult food covers the switch. Support the back end when you lift a Dachshund puppy rather than letting them dangle.
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Adult: small, accurately weighed portions, adjusted to how active your dog really is. Neutering matters too, as many dogs need a little less afterwards, so keep an eye on body condition. There's more in our guide to neutering and spaying.
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Senior: as activity drops, portions usually need to come down with it, and staying lean matters more than ever. Take a look at our senior dog food.
Keeping your Dachshund lean
Given what the research says, this is the section that earns its place.
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Weigh meals in grams. It takes seconds and removes the guesswork.
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Keep treats inside the daily allowance, and break bigger ones into pieces. Dachshunds are persuasive.
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Do a hands-on body condition check monthly. You should be able to feel the ribs easily under a light covering, and see a waist behind the ribcage when you look down from above. The PDSA's body condition guide has photographs that make it easier to judge.
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Keep activity steady rather than occasional and intense. Our dog walking guide has ideas.
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If your Dachshund needs to lose a noticeable amount of weight, do it alongside your vet rather than cutting food sharply on your own. For a breed where weight carries this much consequence, have that conversation early rather than late.
Ingredients and foods to avoid
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Toxic foods including grapes, raisins, onions, garlic, chocolate, macadamia nuts and xylitol, a sweetener found in some sugar-free products. Because a Dachshund is small, it takes less of any of these to cause harm than it would in a big dog. Our guide to foods that are poisonous for dogs has the full list.
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Artificial colours, flavours and preservatives.
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Seasoned, fatty or salty human leftovers, which can upset the stomach or worse.
You may also have seen worry about a possible link between grain-free food and a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM, where the heart muscle weakens. It's a fair question, so here's the honest position. As of 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration has not found a proven causal link, and describes the picture as complex. Where there has been a signal, it has pointed towards diets very high in pulses and legumes such as peas and lentils, rather than the absence of grain itself. If you'd like to look into it properly, we cover the topic in do dogs need grain-free food?
References
Packer, R. M. A., Hendricks, A., Volk, H. A., Shihab, N. K., & Burn, C. C. (2013). How long and low can you go? Effect of conformation on the risk of thoracolumbar intervertebral disc extrusion in domestic dogs. PLOS ONE, 8(7), e69650. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069650
PDSA. Your dog's body condition score. https://www.pdsa.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/weigh-up/your-dog/your-dogs-body-shape/your-dogs-body-condition-score
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2024). Questions & answers: FDA's work on potential causes of non-hereditary DCM in dogs. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/questions-answers-fdas-work-potential-causes-non-hereditary-dcm-dogs
