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| Dachshund Personality |
| Dachshunds are delightful little dogs. They are equally great as watchdogs, playmates, or snugglers. |
| Dachshunds have determination. Some may call this stubborness but it is the quality that gives them the drive to get the job done- no matter what. It is a trait that enables them to do what they were bred for and what most dachsies love most- hunting. |
| Dachshunds originated in Germany where they were bred to hunt badgers by "going to ground" and sometimes literally dragging them backwards out of their burrows. |
| Dachshunds were bred to bark. It is called "working the prey" in earth dog trials. Be aware that they love to bark and begin early teaching them when it is appropriate to bark and when to quit. |
| Dachshunds are loyal and courageous -almost to a fault. Almost all will accept friendly strangers willingly and become friends but beware to a stranger with ill intent! |
| Dachshunds have a great sense of humor. They can be quite the little clowns and they loved to be laughed at. They enjoy being the center of attention. |
| Best of all, Dachshunds are snugglers. They love to sit and watch T.V with you (on you) or snooze in your lap while you are working at the computer. Nothing is better than a toasty dachsie foot warmer under the covers on a cold night! |
| Dachshund Physical Characteristics |
| Dachshunds are one of the worlds most recognizable breeds. With their long bodies and short legs, they have been referred to for generations as weenie dogs, sausage dogs, or "a dog and a half long and a half a dog tall";. They should have strong bones, short sturdy legs, a deep chest, long ears and good hound expression. Be aware when searching for that perfect doxie that often the very tiny ones will lack true dachshund type. |
| Dachshund Color and Coat Variety |
| Dachshunds come in a colorful array of colors and patterns and they are available in 3 coat varieties. Smooth (shorthaired), Longhaired, and wirehaired. Here are the basics facts and descriptions of dachshund colors. |
| SOLID colored dogs can be red (any shade), solid black, solid blue, solid chocolate, solid isabella, or solid cream. Or, they can be one of the "and tan" colors- black/tan, blue/tan, chocolate/tan or Isabella/tan. All with tan markings on the chest, under the tail, on the feet and legs, inside the ears and above the eyes. |
| DAPPLE dachshunds are any of the above mentioned colors with sprinkles or patches of lighter colored hair intermingled in places giving a merled or roan appearance. They can be lightly dappled or heavily dappled but even a single dapple on an otherwize solid dog makes that dog a dapple! Dappling is a dominant trait so if either of the parents is dappled some of the puppies in a litter will (can) be. If both parents are true solids you will never get a dapple because the dapple trait is not carried recessively. Sometimes a red dapple dachshund loses its obvious dapple appearance as it matures and it is then known as a 'hidden' dapple. It will still breed like a dapple even though it may look like a solid. If a dachshund has one or more blue eyes it is a dapple. A blue eye in a dapple is not considered a fault. |
| DOUBLE DAPPLE dachshunds can only result from breeding two dapples together. (this breeding can also result in single dapples and solids) Doubles have varying amounts of white along with the dappled coloration. Sometimes double dapples are like single dapples with white collars, white feet, white chest, blaze face and white tail tip. Or doubles can be almost entirely white with only small amounts of color. There is an increased risk of eye and ear defects in double dapples. Often when white falls over an eye or ear the dog will be deaf or have vision problems. However, careful breeding has produced many beautiful, healthy double dapples. A double dapple, when bred can only produce dappled offspring. |
| PIEBALD There is much confusion and misinformation about Piebalds. A Piebald is NOT simply a dog with a high percentage of white. It is a distinct and separate pattern from dapple. Piebalds are produced only from parents that are pies or that carry the trait for pies as it is caused by a recessive gene. Piebalds can occur in all colors but are most often seen as black/tan/white pies or red/white pies. Some have "ticking" like a pointer in the white areas and some do not.(Clear) It is possible for both the dapple and piebald patterns to be present on the same dog and this can be very confusing. Unless a piebald is also a dapple it will always have brown eyes. |
| BRINDLE dachshunds are striped. It is similar to a brindled boxer or great dane in appearance on reds but it also occurs on the "and tan" colors where it is usually only visible on top of the tan markings. Brindle is a dominant trait like dapple and can occur in the offspring if either parent is brindle. It is not carried recessively so if neither parent is brindle none of the puppies will be either. Brindle can be present with other color combinations such as pie or dapple. |
| When two patterns occur on one dog, the dog should be registered listing the pattern that is most visible. The AKC paperwork allows for only one color and one pattern per dog. An exception to this is Brindle/Piebald, which has a color code of its own. |
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| Dachshund Information |
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| There is a saying among dachshund breeders: "Dachshunds are like potato chips. No one can have just one!!" |
| For more examples of color and coat patterns on dachshunds please Click here to visit our friends at Countrygardendoxie.com. |
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