Up until a few years ago, I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a European badger. Then, one day, my wife was watching a program on Animal Planet, about a European family which had several badgers living with them in the house. I boggled – “they live with badgers?? Are they crazy??” Then, I did a little research…not the same animal, or the same disposition. 
Zombie badger don’t give a shit.
Mushroom?
Um, I’m researching a book on domestic cats, actually, but I came across this thread while trying to back up a statement about breeding animals, and this thread is fascinating. I did some of my usual online research on it via Google Scholar and found a source with 13 cites: L. Snyder, Dogs and People in Social, Working, Economics or Symbiotic Interaction. See page 18 here (you can preview before going to the URL for safety): https://preview.tinyurl.com/ya2env4j Am not associated with that at all, by the way.
If you would rather not click on it, know that the “weenie” dogs were used in badger hunting, in a general sense apparently.
They also tracked game, including wild boars, the idea being that they were so low to the ground, the wounded boar couldn’t touch them. Yes, I am impressed. Maybe the ancient Romans in Britain were, too, since as I understand it, this doggie skeleton in York from those times was found in a human grave, sans the human. Probably accidental, but I would show a lot of respect for a low-slung dog like that who went after wounded boars and hunted badgers. 
When a badger is digging a hole it cannot turn around in that hole, and if you actually grab a rear foot you can pull it out and if you hold it up by it’s rear leg or tail it cannot reach around and get you.
They really didn’t have a need to evolve a way to defend themselves in this direction with natural predators but is an Achilles heel. For the most part they have to back out of the hole and turn around to defend themselves.
I personally pulled dozens out of active digs, when they were digging next to fence posts by my own hand. Attacking from the rear is quite common canine behavior and it is similar to how a sheltie herds cows; that said the pet version is almost certainly very different than the type that would have been selected for as a working breed. The tenacity is still there though, and when I was a kennel boy in high school they were one of the breeds that was more likely to get a bite in. I was more nervous about pulling a scared dachshund out of a kennel than the protection breeds.
Lots of erroneous assumptions in this zombie thread, it seems.
Dachshunds were indeed bred for hunting badgers, foxes and other burrowing animals. They are still used in badger hunting in the Nordic countries (probably elsewhere, too) - it is far from a long-gone practice.
The European badger is a formidable opponent to the dachhunds going into the badger’s sett. Dogs that are too bold end up badly hurt or killed. As noted, the idea is not to get the dogs to kill the burrowing animal, but they still face the prospect of intense fighting before the badger is either flushed out and shot, or dug up and shot. Sometimes the badger wins, and the hunters head to the vet with their dogs.
Yes “Dachs” is German for Badger, but “Dach” is a roof. These dogs were bred to act as lookouts from the roof, and they are that shape so then can climb up and slide down the drainpipes.
Just trying out the fake-news trend:)
In this zombie revived twice, what drove me to google was “raccoon dog?”
I’m no expert in mammals, but it surprised me that I had never heard of this apparently common animal.
I’d heard of it, but thought that it was native only to Japan, where one wouldn’t expect to find European badgers. When they’re sharing nests, is one of them an invasive species?
I think I started a post on the raccoon dog several years ago because I had heard they have a variable chromosome count. I was wondering if this trait might have been responsible for new species popping up.
Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides): canid native to eastern Asia, very distantly related to Canis familiaris. Not related to, but superficially resembles, raccoons, which are a mustelid related to weasels, badgers, minks, and wolverines.
Dachshunds, like almost all other working breeds taken up by the Dog Fancy, are nearly unrecognizably different from their original, much larger, tougher, and leggier badger-hunting ancestors.
Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides): canid native to eastern Asia, very distantly related to Canis familiaris. Not related to, but superficially resembles, raccoons, which are a mustelid related to weasels, badgers, minks, and wolverines.
Dachshunds, like almost all other working breeds taken up by the Dog Fancy, are nearly unrecognizably different from their original, much larger, tougher, and leggier badger-hunting ancestors.
Terriers can take on rats bigger than they are. They can chase the rats underground. Sometimes getting stuck until the hunter digs them out.
That would be either an awfully big rat, or an amazingly small dog!
Raccoon Dogs, aka Tanuki, are native to east Asia, but are a non-native invasive species in parts of Europe.
Also, raccoons aren’t mustelids (weasel family). They’re in their own small family which includes coatis, kinkajous and ringtails.
Have you looked really closely at your teapot?
Oh, you are right. Feel stupid now.