Google Doodle

Animated Google Doodle honors the history of dachshunds and bobbleheads

Kyle Bradshaw | Sep 29 2020 - 3:31 pm PT

Google is honoring the German history of dachshunds and the dashboard bobblehead figures made in their likeness with an interactive bobblehead Doodle.

On this day in 1723, the book Der vollkommene teutsche Jäger — or The Complete German Hunter — was published in Germany, offering the first historical reference to the breed of dog we know today as the dachshund. To celebrate the distinctly German breed, Google has crafted a Doodle modeled after a popular toy from the 1970s — the dachshund bobblehead, better known in German as the “wackeldackel.”

Literally translating to “wobbling dachshund,” the wackeldackel is a bizarrely iconic piece of German pop culture history, with the bobblehead managing to become popular on car dashboards and rear shelves in both the 1970s and again in the 1990s. The toy’s lasting popularity later led to the creation of a “wackel-Elvis” made in the hip-wobbling likeness of Elvis Presley.

Google’s interactive Doodle depicts a dachshund bobblehead nodding and wagging away on a car’s rear shelf as the beautiful scenery of Germany’s hills and mountains roll by. As you move your mouse, the dachshund’s eyes follow your cursor, and the dog shows its affection when you give it a click or tap. Or, if you ignore the toy for a bit, the dachshund will get a sad look and ultimately nod to sleep, until you tap it again.

When asked in an interview what he considered the most important takeaway of this Google Doodle to be, the artist and engineer behind the Doodle, David Lu, didn’t share a love for dachshunds, bobbleheads, or the history of either. Instead, this Doodle seems to be significantly dedicated to the word “wackeldackel.”

I want all non-German speakers to appreciate the word wackeldackel, which perfectly encapsulates what this Doodle is about. It’s also way more descriptive than “German Wiener dog Bobblehead”.

If you’re looking for a wackeldackel bobblehead dachshund of your own, they’re surprisingly easy to find on Amazon.

It’s nice to see Google celebrating the greatness of dogs — and their bobbleheaded counterparts — so soon after the company released the “Pixel vs Pixel” series of scathingly anti-dog advertisements.