25+ Active and Social Meetup Groups for You and Your Dachshund
I often write about the fun we have with the Dachshund club I started – Adventurewiener Club of Seattle. We go on hikes, meet up at local dog parks, camp and visit fun dog-friendly destinations.
Being a part of this group promotes exercise and physical fitness for Dachshunds as well as provides socialization opportunities and mental stimulation….all which are very important factors in keeping both you and your dog active, healthy and fit.
Almost every time I write about our group, someone laments “I wish there was a group like that around here”.
I tell those people they should check the site Meetup.com or Facebook to see if there IS a dog group near them.
If there isn’t, my suggestion is they start their own. That is what I did.
The Adventurewiener Club of Seattle is something I started because the kind of group I wanted to be a part of didn’t exist (there ARE one or two other Dachshund groups in the area but they don’t hike).
Meetup.com is a really cool site. You can start a group anywhere about anything that strikes your fancy.
There IS an annual fee to be a creator or a group. Some people (like me) just pay this fee and others charge members of the group a small annual fee to cover the cost.
It’s easy and free to start a group on Facebook.
If you don’t want to start a group yourself, you can find a local group of interest and contact the organizer to see if you can be an assistant organizer. Often there are groups that were started but then the organizer got to busy.
Sometimes their are no upcoming meetups planned with this group or perhaps there is only one event scheduled a month. Either way, you may be the key to making this club more active and dynamic.
How to Find Dachshund Groups, Clubs, and Events in Your Area
It is easy to find dog groups on Meetup.com. There is a search bar one the home page (that you can use even if you are not a member – becoming a general member is free) where you can enter your location and a search radius.
It’s equally as easy to find a group on Facebook.
Again, all you have to do is type “Dachshund club”, “Dachshund group”, or just “Dachshund” into the search bar at the top and then click the “event” tab at the top (this may yield events but not necessarily groups).
You may also find a group by clicking “group” at the top but they won’t necessarily have in-dog meetups (this may yield groups but not necessarily face-to-face meetups)
One warning though: I find Meetup.com superior for finding Dachshund EVENTS.
When you find a group on Meetup, you know that their focus is getting people together.
The majority of groups on Facebook are not location specific, don’t hold actual events, many of them are for buying/selling/rescuing puppies, or are just to share funny pictures of Dachshunds. You have to sift through a lot of “junk” to find a group that actually plans get-together.
I suggest searching Meetup.com first and then turning to Facebook to check if you can’t find any Dachshund groups that hold events near you.
I did a quick search for Dachshund and general dog groups around the US. This is what I found.
Dachshund Meetup Groups
- Seattle, WA – Adventurewiener Club of Seattle and Western Washington (Meetup). You can also find them on Facebook.
- Olympia, WA – The Olympia Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- San Ramon, CA – The East Bay Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- San Diego, CA – San Diego Dachshund Club (Facebook)
- Sacramento, CA – The Sacramento Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- La Jolla, CA – San Diego Dachshunds (Meetup)
- Temecula, CA – The Temecula Valley Dachshund Club (TVDC) Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Denver, CO – Washington Park Weenies – Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Tampa, FL — The Tampa/Clearwater Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Sarasota, FL – The Sarasota Dachshund Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Dachshund Club (Meetup)
- San Antonio, TX – San Antonio Dachshund Lowriders (Meetup)
- Boston, MA – Boston Dachshund Meetup (Meetup)
- Omaha, NE – Dachshunds Anonymous (Meetup)
- Tucson, AZ – Tucson Desert Dachshund Meetup (Meetup)
All-Breed Meetup Groups
- Seattle, WA – Seattle Active Dogs Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Portland, OR – Portland Dog Lovers Meetup Group (Meetup)
- Portland, OR – Portland BarkHappy Dogs Meetup (Meetup)
- Fresno, CA – Tiny Paws Fresno – small dog play group (Meetup)
- Austin, TX – Austin Dog People (Meetup)
- Greenville, SC – Greenville Dog Hiking Club (GDHC) (Meetup)
- Somerville, NJ – Dog Hikers of New Jersey (Meetup)
- Newburgh, NY – Hudson Valley Active Dogs (Meetup)
- Boston, MA – Fenway Small Breed Dog Meetup (Meetup)
This was just the tip of the iceberg. I highly encourage you to search for yourself if you didn’t see a club or meetup group near you.
Do you belong to any dog-related (or dog-friendly) Meetup Groups? How about any groups or clubs that are not organized by Meetup?
Please mention them in the comments to help other people reading this post discover new groups in their area.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Jessica. I’m a Dachshund sitter, President of the largest social Dachshund club in Washington State, a dog trainer in training, and I’ve been a Dachshund owner for 20 years. I have over 150,000 hours of experience with the breed. When I’m not working, you can find me hiking, camping, and traveling with my adventurous wiener dogs.
We’ve had a great time with our Doggie Social Club
Right now we’re doing mostly social meetups, though we have had some beach parties & have a paddleboard day coming up…In cooler weather we hike together & it’s been great fun & a way for Gizmo to get comfortable with large dogs as he’s usually the smallest one on the hikes
Thanks for the reminder on the paddleboarding…even if you didn’t know it 🙂 The lake we walk around every month has a kayak and paddleboard rental kiosk. They allow dogs to ride along. I should arrange a kayaking or paddleboarding meetup for our group 🙂
Do you ever have non-Dachshunds hike with your group?
The only hiking meetups for dogs here are all breed and often off-leash and I’m not comfortable letting my pup mingle with strange dogs much bigger than him. And the small dog groups don’t hike.
We may have had one or two non-doxie hikers with us over the years. I discourage bringing other breeds but they are not prohibited unless they cause a problem with our group (doxies can be particular you know). The other dogs that have hiked with us have been smaller dogs – usually like chihuahuas or pin pins. It IS unusual to find a small dog meetup group that hikes but some of the ones I listed here do. That is why I started my own – to get a small-dog hiking group together.
We’ll have to check that out.
Have a great weekend!
I really wish I lived in the USA. We have a meet-up dog group in our area but the fee is outrageous: £70 for a walk!
OMG…that is crazy! Why on earth would they charge so much? Do they feed your dog diamonds for treats?
I don’t know! I asked them about it in an email and I am yet to hear back.
I am a mini dachshund owner of a beautiful 1 year old little girl named Hazel. Just wanted to learn more about dachshunds and are they picky eaters. She has been a little challenging with feedings and I’m becoming concerned. Any help?
Hi Sherrie. Some Dachshunds are just picky eaters. You can try to find a high quality food that your pup finds more enticing, although I would caution against trying many different foods because that can teach a dog to be picky. I dogsit Dachshunds and my strategy with picky eaters is to offer the food, pick it back up if they don’t start eating it within a couple minutes, and put it down later to try again. Usually, the longest I have to wait is a day before the dog starts eating again. They won’t starve in a day. Sometimes they are just picky because they aren’t that hungry (like if you are feeding them too much at meals or too many treats in between). If a dog still refused a food after a day, I would try hand feeding the food. If they continued to refuse, only then might I try a different food. Good luck.
Great ideas – had no idea there was a site for this…although why should I be surprised there’s a site for everything. Thanks for sharing it.
Meetup is great! You should check it out. You can find groups on just about anything…cooking, hiking, dogs, social media, photography, books, travel……
I have a list of all the Seattle-area dog meetup groups on SeattleDogSpot.com (including the Adventurewiener Club of course) –
I also include meetup group events in the website calendar. If you don’t see your group let me know and I’ll put it on the list.
I have seen that you include our group on your calendars. Much appreciated 🙂
I didn’t know about “meetup”. I’m going to check it out.
I adore that last photo. What soulful eyes!
Indianapolis has one as well. The Downtown Dog Walk. I am a member, but haven’t been in a while. Perhaps I should go…
We have members of our group that I don’t think have every been to one of our meetups. They don’t know what they are missing 🙂
We have no Dachshund Meetup groups here, but I think we used to. DRNA used to have a couple reps here and I think they would be the ones to organize the meetups. But it looks like that’s no longer the case.
Meetup.com shows that 135 people are on a waiting list for a Dachshund group, but some of them are pretty old, like back from 2010. Guess if I wanted one, I’d have to start it. Too bad I’m about as social as a rock, lol.
“social as a rock” Ha, ha. I will say that, yes, to be a successful organizer you need to like being social….at least some. The great thing about my group is that everyone likes the group so much they tell other Doxie owners they see. I made some Mini Moo Cards….play date cards…for them to hand out to people. So really, this group is feeding itself in some respects.
Thanks for writing this – I read it and attended the first Wash Park Weenies meetup in Denver yesterday and it was wonderful.
That’s great. I see all of their photos and meetup announcements (I joined the group to “spy” on them. Ha, ha) and wish we could attend. I love Colorado too 🙂
This is such a great idea! We have a similar meetup in my town, but it’s on Facebook. Marysville is small enough that when you go to the dog park, you’re bound to run into neighborhood friends. Plus we see each other at the grocery store, Costco, the pet store, and our dog festivals. It’s a great community and it’s been important to me. I love the idea of a meetup 🙂
I’m astounded at how much you do!
That’s great that you have a little group up there. I imagine in a smaller town that is a good way to go. I like that the Meetup group is publicly searchable. About 1/3 of our members come as a result of internet search.
I started this group around the same time I started by blog. I really like the events but admit part of the reason was so that I could learn Dachshunds better…by being exposed to a bunch of different ones.
You are all welcome t attend a p3 meet up if your in the Austin area. They are Tons of fun and any proceeds we collect go to local dog charities.
You can find us at p3austindoglovers.com
Thanks
P3 pack
Good article Jessica.
In addition to your weiner meetup, I also belong to this one in the Seattle area.
https://www.meetup.com/north-end-hikes-and-walks-with-dogs
Thank you. I’m actually a member of that one two but, for some reason, forgot to put in on the list.