In 1914 the dachshund was one of the most popular dogs in Britain and rising fast in the United States. Its name, its origin and its association with Kaiser Wilhelm II — who kept several — made it an easy symbol once war broke out.
Owners reported dachshunds being stoned in the street. British registrations fell close to zero. In the US the breed was sometimes rebranded on the show bench as the "badger dog" or "liberty hound" to avoid the German word entirely.
Recovery, then a second blow
The 1920s brought a strong revival. American breeders imported heavily from Germany, and by the 1930s the dachshund was again a top-ten breed. Then the Second World War repeated the pattern, though less severely — public feeling was better managed, and the breed was too well established to be pushed out.
By the 1950s the dachshund was one of the most registered breeds in the United States, a position it held for years. The wartime episodes are now a footnote, but they are a useful reminder of how closely this dog has always been tied to its national image.
