I saw a true miniture - I'm not a bad Mom!

[red haired girl]

I was sitting here reading DBB when the kids started carrying on. I looked out the window and lo and behold there were 2 gentlemen walking a very small black dog. I looked at the shape of the dog and went outside and asked if she (pink t-shirt) was a dachshund. They said yes, and that she was 5 years old! I thought she was a baby! I have never seen a true mini. I thought mine were mini's and I have been worried about them being so big and expecting them to collapse at any moment due to their size.

Now I know that Low-la is a standard and Mitch is a tweenie. I feel so relieved. however, it doesn't change that fact that I will still try to get some weight off of Low-la.

I feel so stupid :blush:

[Sasami]

I was sitting here reading DBB when the kids started carrying on. I looked out the window and lo and behold there were 2 gentlemen walking a very small black dog. I looked at the shape of the dog and went outside and asked if she (pink t-shirt) was a dachshund. They said yes, and that she was 5 years old! I thought she was a baby! I have never seen a true mini. I thought mine were mini's and I have been worried about them being so big and expecting them to collapse at any moment due to their size.

Now I know that Low-la is a standard and Mitch is a tweenie. I feel so relieved. however, it doesn't change that fact that I will still try to get some weight off of Low-la.

I feel so stupid :blush:

I felt the same way until I met a true mini! Rocky's a tweenie too.

[phrogger]

LOL that is funny. My boyfriends mom keeps insisting she has minis, then she saw our two. Jimmy is a big mini at almost 11 lbs and malibu, according to the vet is PERFECT size (she is 8 1/2 lbs). BF's moms dogs are 16 and 25 lbs. They are SOOO not minis. Both are tweenies but the one who is 25 is very over weight that is for sure.

[goldie]

oh wow, I would love to see a true mini! Oh and I just love the name Low-la!

[Doxie_88]

lol some people down the street from me have 2 either standards or tweenies but they insist that they're mini's. One is about 14lbs and the other is 17lbs. Tia is a mini but she's kinda weird looking for a Dachsie lol. She weighs 7 1/2lbs.

[luvmydoxie]

I know what you mean! When I got Noodle, I thought she was tiny at 14 pounds. But Kali, when I brought her home was not quite 8 lbs. Talk about shock. :faint: Kali is now at a respectable 8.8 lbs and the vet says she looks good. :)

[Joyce]

When we picked Dexter the breeder said he would probably be a small end of the tweenie which she said was 9-12 lbs. That was the first time I new what a tweenie was. I never knew Dudley would have been a called tweenie at 11.5 lbs, we thought he was considered a mini thats what the owner had told us. . Dexter is hanging in at just 10lbs.

[kpm_tex]

The AKC size standard:

Bred and shown in two sizes, standard and miniature, miniatures are not a separate classification but compete in a class division for "11 pounds and under at 12 months of age and older." Weight of the standard size is usually between 16 and 32 pounds.

Between 12-15 lbs would be a tweenie :)

[red haired girl]

He thought I knew ours were not minis. I seriously thought that a 'standard' was about the size of a basset hound. Sometimes I think my brain goes on vacation without me. :dizzy:

It also explains why Low-la is the largest dachshund I have seen around town.

[Cindi]

Ok y'all, I just couldn't hold back from this discussion. The word tweenie is a term that many use for an *oversized miniature*. That means that the dog is of miniature breeding but just kept growing. Seeing as how there is absolutely no way to guarantee what size a puppy will grow to be when there is a weight limit involved, that is why NO ONE should ever say *This dog will get to be 9#, 10#*, etc. Genetics can draw from 10 or more generations back and come up and slap the breeder in the back of the head. Also, it is not unheard of to have one puppy grow to be large while the rest of the litter stays within size (or vice versa :) ) Linebreeding supposedly will reduce that happening but even then, I've bred litters that were EXTREMELY close (which is supposed to reduce size) and the puppies grew to be 16 pounds when their parents were definitely 12 pounds or under. I've also had a litter where 2 puppies are 9# or less and the other two puppies were 12# as adults. Of course, it was the pet puppies that stayed small <sigh>

However, I have never seen a true standard (20 - 32 #) evolve out of two miniatures UNLESS those miniatures were bred down from standards. Even then, I haven't truthfully EVER seen it.

11 pounds is a miniature and 9-12 pounds IS NOT on the large end of miniatures. That is the norm and what most of us breed for; not the smaller ones than 9 pounds. There are way too many things a 5 -8 pound dachshund cannot do that the higher end of the scale can do. One must remember what they were bred to do - and the smaller dog cannot do that well in the field nor underground. They would tire faster covering the amount of ground that the field requires AND they couldn't truly *do* the game underground unless the game was also diminutive.

To me, calling an 11.5 pound dog a tweenie is being waaayyyy too specific about definitions. JMO of course.

[dutchman]

MY little mill mother Aggie was a true mini and it was always a struggle to try and keep her weight up to a healthy 8-8.5# range. When ever I had Aggie out in public people would think she was a pup.

[Rusty's mom]

Our Duffer is a standard and came from very small parents. Rusty and Hobbs ended up being tweenies - but only in size as their personalities made them the size of great danes :D Holly is a true mini and so is our Dickens - he's nine months old and weighs 8 lbs. tops!! When people see our Dickens they all fall in love with him 'awwww - he's so furry and soooo tiny.' But we love them all - no matter what size they are. It's so funny at zoom time though - little Dickens can run under the dining room chairs - and the others have to wait for him to come out or gently walk and lower their heads so they don't hit the chair rails.

Kathy

[LUVMYGUNNER]

Gunner weighs 9 lbs. 2 oz and is 2 yrs. old and Petunia weighs 7 lbs. she is 8 months old.

[Frzframe]

I thought I wanted a "true" mini but Mitzi just kept on growing. Which ended up much better for me cause she is so hearty and I don't have to baby her on bit! Her parents were 8 and 9 lbs but she weighs in at 12.2 - I call her my little throw-back. She's a throw-back to her ancestors and boy howdy does she know how to throw her weight around to get what she wants.

[Tasha's Mom]

Tasha's a healthy 13 lbs and most people think she's a puppy! I've seen a few small minis around--and was guilty of asking the owner if it was a puppy :blush: . But small minis are so much shorter than Tasha. And there is something really appealing about a dog you can pick up with ONE hand. Especially for someone like me who is up and down 4 flights of stairs each day with my tweenie in the two handed football carry....

[quavec]

Bella who stayed with us for a bit was a true mini. She was so darn petite. Really showed me that Cricket was needing to take off some pounds! Although he is documented as being a mini, he is either a chunky tweenie :blush: or a small standard ;) .

[dachsrock]

Sometimes I look at BooBoo, who is a mini at 8-8.5 lbs and think she looks big until my friend brings her dachshund over. She is a black and tan that weighes about 15 lbs. It is truly amazing to look at the difference in sizes! BooBoo looks TINY next to my friend's dachshund!

[Orchid Crazy]

I was shocked when I was looking at doxies to see listings of tiny, tiny puppers (BYBers). I knew with the kids that a small mini was out of the question but I didn't want to go up to the standard size. When I came across Buddy, he was the big loot of his litter. His breeder estimated him to get to 12 - 14 lbs as an adult. He actually weighs in at 15 lbs right now, but the vet wants him at 13 - 14 to be lean and trim. Once spring hits and we are outdoors all the time and get back into camping, I don't think he'll have a problem getting to that goal. I saw a real tiny doxie once when we were camping and I thought she was a baby. She was less than half Buddy's size, that would be far too small for safety in my household.

[Penny's mom]

reading these posts as I am new to the dachshund world! Thank you Cindi especially for enlightening me! :clap: I was told that Penny would be 9 or 10 lbs. I saw both her parents and they were about that, well she is 12 lbs, right now at a year old. I knew nothing about the fact that there may have been larger dachshunds bred in the line and that it could affect her size until way after I got her! I probably would not have gotten her because I was looking for a small "lap" dog. Well, I am happy to say that I have been blessed with my 12lb. "lap" dog! I wouldn't trade her for the world. :luvlove: I still refer to her as a mini however!

[zpadrino]

To what Chelsea is.... she weighs in at 9lbs at her last Vet visit... i personally think that she could stand a little bit more weight on her but the vet says that she is right where she needs to be for her over all size...
Mini, tweenie or standard... doesn't matter to me as long as i get my snuggles when i get home... :D

[Dachshundrsq]

This subject is kinda my soapbox. 95% of my dogs are tweenies or the new term is "Mid size" dachshunds. I myself would LOVE to see the miniature weight raised to a more "Healthy" weight. It is hard to see a 6-8 lb dachsie as a dachsie that is robust, tenacious, and actually fit the description and the job title of a dachshund. If you add the proper bone and muscle of a good dachshund to the frame of a miniature dachshund, you quickly add several pounds to the dog. Fat weighs less than muscle. Charity is so tiny, she is between 9-10 lbs, she has lots of bone and good muscle. She free whelped 5 puppies. I have Faith, Hope and Peewee. All three of these guys are TINY babies. They are half the size of my 4 month old puppies and they are almost 6 months old. Each one has very good bone and nice muscling. A 4th puppy in the litter is their size, the 5th puppy in the litter is a bit larger and is 7 lbs. I know I will have a major struggle showing these "true minis"....Most minis, even in the open mini classes weigh between 10.5 lbs to 12.5 lbs (some may weigh even more). Unless you are at a dachshund specialty, or there are obviously smaller minis in the Open Mini class, no scales will ever be brought to the ring to weigh the Open Mini Class. So if you have a ring of 11-12 lb minis and one 8 lb mini, I will tell you that likely the 8 lb mini will be viewed as a less than worthy specimen, just purely due to size. I am amased at the people who believe if a dog weighs over 11 lbs that they cannot be shown. This couldn't be further from the truth. If this was true, almost all of my dogs would be exempt from the show ring. I can't imagine when the mini weight used to be 9 lbs and under and what those minis looked like. I will always believe a healthier Miniature Dachshund would weigh between 9 and 15 lbs, with a 12-13 lber being the healthiest and most balanced specimen. I think there is a problem with the definition of a miniature dachshund esp. when likely 75% of the miniature dogs shown never meet that description, and are more likely to be chosen by judges.
I know someone who has been breeding Miniatures for 50 yrs. Still probably 25% of her dogs will go over 11 lbs, maybe more. The her BEST specimens weigh approx 12-13 lbs.

[Deckersmom]

My Decker dog is almost 5 months old. Last month he weighed 7.5 lbs. I hope and pray every day that he will stay 10 lbs or under. I can still pick him up with one hand, lol. I was told his parents were true minis, mom weighs 5.5 to 6 lbs and dad is 8 lbs. Maybe he won't be a throwback!!! :pray:

[SirOliversMom]

When you see a standard sized doxie then you know why tiny little doxies are cute because of size only. The conformation is off compared to the standards. The standards are so beautifully shaped. Oliver is 13lbs and I consider that I got 13 lbs of LOVE :D

It's really good I'm getting another doxie...this way I get to work our both arm muscles.

[Penny's mom]

I was told when I got Penny she would only be 8 to 10 pounds. NOT!! She is 13 pounds of pure pleasure! I really wanted a small lap dog, but I wouldn't trade her for anything! Now I have Nikki, she is a little over 3 months old and weighs almost 5 pounds. Her parents were 10 pounds each, or so I was told. Time will tell, but it doesn't matter really! They are the best dogs! :hug2:

[Pokey's Mom]

My husband and I will never forget the first time we saw a mini. It was a year before we adopted Pokey (tweenie).

We went to the AKC dog show at McCormick Place in Chicago and stopped by to watch agility. There were a few beagles, couple jack russels, and then a bit later a *very* mini blonde (tanish) wirehaired dachshund. He ran up the see-saw and over to the edge did a full down and waited peering over the edge, but it didn't come down... about four to five slow seconds the see-saw started to float down like a feather. :rofl: It was the cutest and funniest thing ever. I'll never forget it! :)

[TWEETY2]

:hugs1: Hi when i first got my puppy the breeder told me that he would most likely be a tweenie, and that was ok. well he's almost a year old and he weighs only 8 pounds and he eats and is healthy. his mom and dad are both standards, but he has some mini grandparents and great grans in his bloodlines. he's as sweet as ever and i love him...my sweet boy "Bouncer". :muchlove:

[doxunzX3]

So that is why we ended up with Zor who is almost 15 lbs. But we don't care, even though I was hoping he would have stayed on the small size of the mini.
At the doxie meet up today we had our BIG rescue doxie Winston show up. His HM was very proud because he has lost 2 more pounds. So he is down to... get this. 48 lbs. He is such a love and just the sweetest doxie around. My heart melts every time I see him. Good thing his HM is in good shape she just picks him up and cuddles him on her lap.
Now that is a big (plump) standard. I have seen some doxies in the show ring that where 42 lbs. For me that is getting to big. But they again where pretty.