This is a great video to view. After viewing it please read below to learn about creams and the other colors, the AKC standard, and more great information about the breed.

This information is from AKC

The AKC page has a detailed physical description of the Dachshund. This page was designed to provide you with a variety of information about the breed to help you decide whether this is the right dog for you or not. They should be around for 14 to 16 years or more, so do your research to make sure they are the breed for you. If the Dachshund breed is not for you, I can assist you to find a breed that is!

If you would like to see the pattern or color go to the dams and sire section and look up the dogs name in the ( ) Thanks.

SIZE

Dachshunds come in two sizes, Miniature and Standard. Miniatures mature at 11 pounds or under. Standards mature between 16 and 30 pounds.

COLORS (SeeBelow)

Dachshunds come in a wide variety of colors. These colors include Red (Cherry), Cream (Distance,Razz), Black and Tan(Bentley) , Black and Cream , Solid Black, Chocolate and Tan (Dessa), Chocolate and Cream (Rani) , Solid Chocolate, Isabella and Tan , Blue and Tan, and Wildboar. I do not breed for the Isabella or blues as they can have a coat condition. I can help you to find a breeder that does.

A link to AKC exceptable colors and Patterns: http://www.akc.org/breeds/dachshund/color_markings.cfm

PATTERNS (see photos below)

The Dachshund colors listed above can also occur in several different patterns. DAPPLES (Dessa) have lighter colored areas contrasting with a darker base color. Both colors should be equal in area. A large patch of white on the chest is acceptable. DOUBLE DAPPLES have varying amounts of white coloring occurring over the body in addition to the dapple pattern. There is a significant risk of vision and hearing problems in double dapples. We will never breed for double dapples for this reason. PIEBALDS include spotted areas of full color over a white background. Ticking, small dots of full color, may or may not be present. BRINDLE (Razz) dachshunds have black or dark stripes over the entire body (tiger stripes).

COATS (see photo below)
There are three different coat types. Smooth-haired doxies have short, sleek, and shiny hair. The hair is same length on all parts of the body. Long-haired doxies have a long and silky coat, especially on the ears, tail, and behind the legs. Wire-haired doxies have a wiry, coarse, and brittle coat with whiskers on the muzzle area. I breed for longhair dachshunds and smooth. Here in the USA it is exceptable to mix the coats. In the UK they are not to mix the coats. They have just gotten permission June 2009 to breed smooth to wire. We have two females that have a long hair parent. We do breed them with a long hair male.

This is just FYI: Longhairs can not carry for smooth or wire. Smooths can carry longhair, but can not carry for wire. Wire can carry for smooth and longhair.

HISTORY OF THE DACHSHUND

The Dachshund breed was developed in Germany more than 300 years ago. Dachshunds were originally bred to hunt badgers underground, and the word "dachshund" means "badger dog" in German. The Dachshund was developed by selective breeding of different kinds of dogs. The main goal was to make a dog breed that could fit into badger dens underground and hold the badger until the hunter could dig it out and finish it. To be successful, these dogs needed to have short legs, long bodies, a deep chest for high lung capacity, big paws for efficient digging, and loose skin so it would not tear in tight burrows. The Dachshund is the only AKC-recognized breed that hunts above and below ground.

Dachshunds have a very keen sense of smell, so their noses are almosts always to the ground checking everything out. Dachshunds tend to have a surprisingly loud bark for their small size, whch was developed so the hunter could track down the Dachshund after it trapped a badger. These dogs dig and burrow, even if it is in your back yard or sheets. Dachshunds are independent, strong-willed, self-directed, and will always be on the lookout for trouble. The Dachshund to me is an great companion as a hunter. My dachshunds are lovers, cuddlers, smart, and did I mention loves to play.

TEMPERAMENT

Dachshunds are very social dogs. Despite their small size, Dachshunds are very bold-natured and will attempt to do things they aren't capable of doing safely, including jumping off high surfaces and picking fights with bigger dogs. There are subtle differences in the temperaments of the three coat types of Dachshunds. Long-haired tend to be the most laid-back. Smooth-haired tend to be more one-person or one-family dogs. Wire-haired the highest energy level of the three. Out of my dogs I belive this to be very true. Creams being the most laid back of all no matter the coat.

EXERCISE

Dachshunds are suited for living almost anywhere. Dachshunds have a lot of energy, and they can look for trouble if not exercised. They are great for appartments as long as you know they will run and play. They love being out doors.

EATING

Dachshunds dont know when to say no. They love food. Feed them twice a day once in the morning and evening. Plus exercise will keep them there true shape. An over fead dog can leed to back problems or worse.

GROOMING

Smooth-haired require very little grooming. They shead eyelashes. Long-haired need brushing once or twice a week. Wire-haired require the most grooming. They require professional grooming once or twice a year plus regular brushing from you. Dogs should only be given baths once a month. To much shampooing will dry a dog's skin out causing dandruff problems as well as skin irritations. Just use water puppy wipes if your dog needs frequent cleansing between shampoo baths.

TRAINING

Dachshunds can sometimes be difficult to train. This does not describe all Dachshunds, but do be prepared to put a little more time and effort into training than you would with some other breeds. Housetraining can be difficult due to their small size. They can be housebroken if you're consistent.

MOVEMENT

Interpretation the the AKC Dachshund Standard Gait Movement using Flash Animation

http://www.sworab.com/d/

An Recessive gene is a gene that is only inherited from both parents. Recessive genes can be carried. An Dominant gene is a gene that is inherited from only one parent. Dominant genes can not be carried.

Dachshunds for Dummies (love this book)

Common Characteristics of Dachshunds

Dachshunds have all the basic needs of a dog, but they come with a few of their own special quirks and considerations. If you have your heart set on owning a Dachshund, you must be ready to handle a few extras. The following list presents the common characteristics of Dachshunds:

Dachshunds have fragile backs. Because of their dwarfism (big dog, short legs), Dachshunds are genetically predisposed to have faulty spines, which can become injured when handled incorrectly, or sometimes for no apparent reason. Certain activities can be hard on a Dachshund's back and can even result in a paralyzing disk rupture:

• Going up and down stairs

• Jumping off furniture

• Even running quickly around a sharp corner.

Get ready to carry your Dachshund up and down the stairs!tabmark

Dachshunds love to jump. But because jumping is so hard on a Dachshund's back, you need to keep an eye on your Dachsie to keep her from jumping off high places like beds, couches, porches, and so on. Some people install ramps in their homes so their dogs can ascend and descend from high places without jarring their spines.

Dachshunds live to eat. Obesity puts further strain on a Dachshund's back — not to mention his heart and entire body. Cute and pleading as he may be, you must be prepared to keep your Dachshund's eating under control. No, your Dachshund shouldn't eat that quarter-pound burger with cheese, let alone too many extra dog treats!

Dachshunds (like all dogs) have fewer taste buds than humans, so the taste of food isn't as intense for them as it is for us. For this reason, dogs are more likely to eat just about anything, taste not withstanding.

Dachshunds bark. Barking is part of their modus operandi. They were bred to hunt badgers or other small game underground. When the game was cornered, a Dachshund would bark to alert his human. Although you can train any dog not to bark excessively, Dachshunds bark pretty frequently. Get used to it, or don't get a Dachshund.

Dachshunds are manipulative. They're cute, and they know it. They're clever, too. They can get you to do just about anything, unless you have rules and you stick to your guns. Your dog has to know that rules are rules and that what you say goes. If you're a big marshmallow when it comes to consistency and rule enforcement, you can't get angry at your dog for making her own rules. So, what would your Dachsie's rules be? Here's a good guess:

• I can do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it.

• If I touch it, lick it, chew it, shred it, smell it, or see it, it's mine.

• Humans live to serve me.

Unless those rules sound reasonable to you (Hint: They shouldn't!), prepare to accept your role as pack leader.

Patterns

(black and tan piebald)

Piebald

The Piebald gene is recessive, and can be carried for generations. Piebalds look very similar to a beagle, with large spots of
color on a white background and may have ticking. Ticking are smaller sposts on the white. Not all piebalds
have ticking. Piebald can be carried, but to produce a true piebald and not a dog that just carries for piebald gene. Both of the parents must be
piebalds, or carry for it. They can be all white with just a small patch of color on the head or elsewhere on the body. Some piebalds are called the term tuxedo piebald. This is a large amount of white on the chest that covers the sholders and looks like the dog is wering a tux hints the name. True pies must have a white tipped tail, white on the feet, chest, and legs. True pies will not have the dapple blue eyes inless they are a dapple piebale. We dont breed for dapple piebalds as they can look too much like double dapples. Other patterns can be found on a piebald, but you can only register the puppy with AKC with one pattern.
At this time, the DCA (Dachshund Club of America) no longer allows piebalds in the show ring. AKC
follows the rules set by the DCA. You can read more about piebalds on Save the Piebalds website.

(english cream brindle)

Brindle

Brindles look like they have stripes like a tiger. This gene is dominate, one of the parents must be brindle to have brindle puppies. Some brindles if they are ee (hides black) will look solid but have the brindle can produce brindle.

(black and tan smooth dapple)

Dapple

A dapple or Merle pattern. Merle in other breeds like a collie, astrailian sheppard. This pattern causes a spotted appearance. Dapple can happen in all the colors. The dapple gene dilutes different parts of the dogs pigments on the hair in the development stage to produce this color. The merle/dapple gene works by upsetting the placement of pigment. This causes the pattern we see. The pigment on a puppy is laid in the skin while the puppy is in the uterus and forming. At a certain point during development, this stops and the pup is set.
Dapples can have one or both eyes blue like astrailian sheppards. Dapples can have blue eyes, partially blue eyes, or a blue eye and a brown
eye. There are different types of dapples, regular, double, and reverse. Reverse dapple is dog with more pigment stripped then a regular dapple. The lighter color shows more. Reverse isnt a different pattern just the way the pigment was taken off in the development stage. Some dapples can have white on them. This does not always make them a double dapple. See Dessa one of our dams. "The pigments sort of flow (imagine pouring a pot off treacle over the dog) from the neural crests. These are the back of the neck and the rump area. Picture the colour gradually creeping over the dog. Where are the last places to get filled in? The breastbone and the feet, hence why white spotting appears here.
In labradors (who also dont have the white spotting gene) you sometimes see white spot on the chest or heels, and this is why. It seems more common in dappled animals, and as the gene works by messing up the way it is distributed, that makes sense. But it is also more common in all SS breeds in chocolate, and this is also because the pigment is changed into one that is harder to travel." thanks Jane Carter of the UK

Some breeders mix dapple pattern with brindle, and piebald. We dont because they are not exceptable in the ring.

You have to have one parent to be a dapple to have dapple pups. Dapple is a gene that is dominate, it can not be carried. A dapple to a solid dog will produce about 50/50 dapples. A dog can be a dapple and not show it at all. This can be a hidden dappling. They only need one hair to be dappled to produce dappling. This is how some double dapples are produced. Some breeders do try for double dapples. We do not as they can have lots of issues if not done correctly.

Double Dapple (Not our dog)

Double dapples have varying amounts of white coloring occurring over the body in addition to the dapple pattern. There is a significant risk of vision and hearing problems in double dapples. We will never breed for double dapples for this reason. A double dapple is produced by breeding two dapples together. If done the double gene can cause blindness, deafness, and sometimes pups can be born with no eyes or other issues. Some breeders do breed them anyway. Not all double dapples will have problems. Still it should not be done inless you have experence with this gene. Even then though it can cause issues. Double dapples just like dapples can have blue eyes, partially blue eyes, or a blue eye and a brown
eye, and are called "Wall" coloring. They may have white blazes on their heads, white tail tips, and extensive white on their feet,
bellies, and sides. If you breed a double dapple to a solid dog, the parents will have all dapple pups. They however will not double dapple pups. This pattern is not acceptable for showing. This pattern is the reason Piebalds have a hard time showing.

img. from Richard of the UK He does not breed for double dapples www.fenellafleur.com

Sable

(not our pup thanks Amy of Longdox)

We dont have any sable dogs at this time. But sables look like a black and tan from the distance till you see them up close. All body hairs, except on the face and feet, have a band with
two colors, the main or self color occurs closest to the dog's body while the darker color is near the tip of the dogs hair. The face and feet are
the dog's main color. Sables come in all colors. The most common is the red, the undercoat is red with
black tipped hair so they appear as a black and tan. Sable is a pattern and it is a dominate gene, one parent must be sable to produce
sable pups.

Cream Dachshund

Buying a true Cream Dachshund can be very confusing for pet buyers because there are so many breeders advertising Creams under many different names like American Cream, English Cream, Shaded Cream, Lemon Cream, Clear Cream etc. They are said to be quiet in nature, more laid back, loving, gentle, docile, exquisite, elegant, and a mellower personality of any of the other dachshund colors. It has also been said that they are easier with transitions, and house breaking. It is said they are like miniature Golden Retriever minus all the hair and size. I would have to agree with some of this with our creams. Above is a shaded English cream male.

English Creams- Most creams are of English decent hence the term English Cream Dachshund. You should view this on the dog’s pedigree. English Creams have longhair. They are born dark and as they grow they will loose the dark hairs and they will be replaced with cream hairs. In some English creams the dark hair will stay on their back, tips of the ears and sometimes the tail. This is called a Shaded English Cream. A true cream dachshund can range anywhere in color from golden to a yellowish white. They should always have a black nose. They should have black colored nails, whiskers and black "eye liner" around the eyes.

Here is what Rhonda a dachshund breeder/show person who lives in England had to say about creams on the dachshund group we belong to.
England: Where the EC's came from and when. At the beginning of the 1980 cream pups started appearring as complete flukes out of red dachshunds from Weaverbird, Shemby and Albaney lines, these lines are very mixed through each other so what happened to start it no one can say, then Tanska started to breed those lines too so she got the cream in her kennel, due to the very small gene pool there was alot of inbreeding and those cream lines were badly affected by PRA by the end of the '80's it was found when they took part in the trials for DNA testing for PRA cord 1, the PRA originally came from the cocker spaniels that mini smooths were bred to to get the longhair. All the above kennels no longer exist, the owner of the Tanska affix now judges but does not breed. Many kennels were so heavily affected by the PRA that they threw in the towel and stopped breeding dachsies, others neutered their dogs and rehomed them and started from scratch with clears or carriers from other breeders Any lines which contains Tanska Kid Kreole in it may have PRA cord1 as he was affected and bred heavily from, many of his mates were not tested during the trial period.

As of 2009 our dogs are PRA cord one tested.

Clear English Creams- These English Creams are not born dark. They are born very light and have no shading on their coat. From birth to adulthood they will have a solid cream coat, light clear nails, pink pads, and a brown pink or liver color nose. These Creams cannot produce any dark pigment due to a gene they carry known as an ee-red or clear red gene. This girl above is from two cream parents an ee-cream mother and English cream father. She does not have black on her just the grey or brownish nose and white whiskers.

Cream is recessive both parents must be cream or carry the cream gene to produce cream pups.
The term American Cream has come about to describe cream dachshunds that appear to be cream in color but are not of English decent. These dogs may or may not be true creams. Some dogs labeled as cream may be recessive red or "e-red" dachshunds which will darken as they age. True cream dachshunds (English Creams) get lighter as they age. If a dachshund has black nails, eye liner etc. then they are probably a true cream. As previously stated, the recessive cream factor in English Cream Dachshunds is what is referred to genetically as a "double chinchilla factor" (also referred to as "double recessive" or "double dilute"). The chinchilla factor only acts on the red color. It does not act on black/tan or chocolate. This is why we have black and cream dachshunds, and chocolate and cream dachshunds. Dachshunds that are referred to as American Cream would be considered a dilute red or e-Red. It is thought that the American Cream dachshund is due to a different dilution factor than the chinchilla factor. Many believe that it is the blue dilution factor that affects black for the blue color and chocolate for the Isabella color. That this dilution factor will also affect the base coat red and make ee-reds (American creams).

There are now smooth creams. There are talks about if the smooth creams can be called an English cream or not. With the English creams being mostly long hairs. Some smooth creams have all the same black nails, eyeliner, etc, that the long hair creams do. Here is a photo of our girl Distance. She has the black hairs or shading down her back, black pads, nails, whiskers, and eye liner but is a smooth coat. Her dad was a long hair English cream. But her mother is a smooth hair.