More Facts About Dachshunds

Firstly, I would like to apologize to Nola's mommy for not sharing this information any sooner. She was very nice to spend this extra effort in creating this mail.

Check out the wonderful life of Nola in her blog

Not only will you learn about Dachshunds but you'll also get to find out more about Nola- Bloggerville's famous friend for all seasons.

1. Dachshunds come in 3 sizes: Standard (16-35lb),  Miniature (under 11lbs, Nola is a mini at 8lb) and the unofficial ''Tweenie" which is too big for a mini and to small for a standard (12-15lb, Boston is a Tweenie).

2. Dachshunds come in more colors and patterns then any other breed recognized by the AKC(American Kennel Club)! There are Red, Black and Tan, Cream (called wheaten in wirehairs, true creams are very rare), Chocolate and Tan, Chocolate, Chocolate and Cream, Black and Cream, Blue, Blue and Tan, Isabella, Isabella and Tan and Wild Boar. It's dizzying, but there's still more!

3. Patterns: Dapple, Piebald, Double Dapple, Brindle and Sable.

I came across the term Dapple in Nola's blog and asked about it. Here's the response and further explanation on the topic.

Dapple can come in any Dachshund color. So let's talk about Boston. Boston is a red Dachs, with dapple as her pattern. Dapple is when the base color (in this case red) have splotches of dark or lighter color all over it, and most of the time either completely blue eyes or partially blue eyes.

Double Dapple is when 2 dapple Dachs are bred together, resulting in dapple with large areas of white. It sounds pretty, but you never want to breed to dapples together, as the puppies have a 1 in 3 chance of being born blind, deaf, eyeless or deformed.

Sable Dachshunds like Nola are very rare, the only rare Dach color. Sable are almost exclusively in longhairs, which is why finding out Nola's color what such an issue. She was born nearly black, then lightened to almost red by 12 weeks. But she has continued to darken to the color she is today, and has always displayed a widows peak the hallmark or Sables.

4. Difference between Male and Female Dachshunds: The males seem to be a bit dimmer, and more tolerant. The females are very very smart and protective, and incredibly in tune with their people. They're also more prone to separation anxiety.

To learn more about Dachshund colors, Nola's Mommy even provided us with some references.

http://www.aielloslonghaireddachshunds.com/ColorInfo.html the only part of this link thats wrong is their sable page
http://www.dachsie.org/colors.html
http://www.honeydachs.com/color.htm

Lastly, here's one of their best post for the year 2011. This a detailed account of  Boston's labor.