OK, an example. If Tikva sees or hears a car stop outside, she shoots out and barks. My epi girl used to do that as somehow she knew I am deaf. Not Deaf but deaf as in hard of hearing, so she was almost acting as a hearing service dog. She would tell me if the telephone rang and I had not heard it.
Tikki also barks if someone walks down my ramp/path, although she has different barks for someone like my neighbour, who she adores, people she just knows, or total strangers. I can tell by which bark she uses which it is.
Someone came in about an hour ago [I have problems with rats] to put down stuff - making sure he did not put it anywhere near she could get, and assured me that if a rat ate some it would quickly find the nearest open space, ie in the middle of a floor, before expiring. Tikki did not know him and initially barked like mad, but the fact that I had let him in was OK by her, and she followed him around as much as she could [she was on her tether], without a murmur. As she is in her crate at night and on her tether during the day [so she can go out and come in when she wants] I am not worried about a dead rat or two on the floor. It will be grab the nearest picker-upper and chuck it in the bin.
I do not know if this is a Dachshund trait or what. My epi girl always warned me but once she saw I was happy letting someone in she just ignored them after that. Do you think Tikki was following him maybe to protect me?