OFFICIAL AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB (AKC)
STANDARD FOR THE DACHSHUND
General Appearance—Low to ground, long in body and short of leg with robust muscular development, the skin is elastic and pliable without excessive wrinkling. Appearing neither crippled, awkward, nor cramped in his capacity for movement, the Dachshund is well-balanced with bold and confident head carriage and intelligent, alert facial expression. His hunting spirit, good nose, loud tongue and distinctive build make him well-suited for below-ground work and for beating the bush. His keen nose gives him an advantage over most other breeds for trailing.
Note—Inasmuch as the Dachshund is a hunting dog, scars from honorable wounds shall not be considered a fault.
Size, Proportion, Substance—Bred and shown in two sizes, standard and miniature, miniatures are not a separate classification but compete in a class division for "11 pounds and under at 12 months of age and older." Weight of the standard size is usually between 16 and 32 pounds.
Head—Viewed from above or from the side, the head tapers uniformly to the tip of the nose. The eyes are of medium size, almond-shaped and dark-rimmed, with an energetic, pleasant expression; not piercing; very dark in color. The bridge bones over the eyes are strongly prominent. Wall eyes, except in the case of dappled dogs, are a serious fault. The ears are set near the top of the head, not too far forward, of moderate length, rounded, not narrow, pointed, or folded. Their carriage, when animated, is with the forward edge just touching the cheek so that the ears frame the face. The skull is slightly arched, neither too broad nor too narrow, and slopes gradually with little perceptible stop into the finely formed, slightly arched muzzle. Black is the preferred color of the nose. Lips are tightly stretched, well covering the lower jaw. Nostrils well open. Jaws opening wide and hinged well back of the eyes, with strongly developed bones and teeth. Teeth—Powerful canine teeth; teeth fit closely together in a scissors bite. An even bite is a minor fault. Any other deviation is a serious fault.
Neck—Long, muscular, clean-cut, without dewlap, slightly arched in the nape, flowing gracefully into the shoulders.
Trunk—The trunk is long and fully muscled. When viewed in profile, the back lies in the straightest possible line between the withers and the short very slightly arched loin. A body that hangs loosely between the shoulders is a serious fault. Abdomen—Slightly drawn up.
Forequarters—For effective underground work, the front must be strong, deep, long and cleanly muscled. Forequarters in detail: Chest—The breastbone is strongly prominent in front so that on either side a depression or dimple appears. When viewed from the front, the thorax appears oval and extends downward to the mid-point of the forearm. The enclosing structure of well-sprung ribs appears full and oval to allow, by its ample capacity, complete development of heart and lungs. The keel merges gradually into the line of the abdomen and extends well beyond the front legs. Viewed in profile, the lowest point of the breast line is covered by the front leg. Shoulder Blades— Long, broad, well-laid back and firmly placed upon the fully developed thorax, closely fitted at the withers, furnished with hard yet pliable muscles. Upper Arm—Ideally the same length as the shoulder blade and at right angles to the latter, strong of bone and hard of muscle, lying close to the ribs, with elbows close to the body, yet capable of free movement. Forearm—Short; supplied with hard yet pliable muscles on the front and outside, with tightly stretched tendons on the inside and at the back, slightly curved inwards. The joints between the forearms and the feet (wrists) are closer together than the shoulder joints, so that the front does not appear absolutely straight. Knuckling over is a disqualifying fault. Feet—Front paws are full, tight, compact, with well-arched toes and tough, thick pads. They may be equally inclined a trifle outward. There are five toes, four in use, close together with a pronounced arch and strong, short nails. Front dewclaws may be removed.
Hindquarters—Strong and cleanly muscled. The pelvis, the thigh, the second thigh, and the metatarsus are ideally the same length and form a series of right angles. From the rear, the thighs are strong and powerful. The legs turn neither in nor out. Metatarsus—Short and strong, perpendicular to the second thigh bone. When viewed from behind, they are upright and parallel. Feet—Hind Paws—Smaller than the front paws with four compactly closed and arched toes with tough, thick pads. The entire foot points straight ahead and is balanced equally on the ball and not merely on the toes. Rear dewclaws should be removed. Croup—Long, rounded and full, sinking slightly toward the tail. Tail—Set in continuation of the spine, extending without kinks, twists, or pronounced curvature, and not carried too gaily.
Gait—Fluid and smooth. Forelegs reach well forward, without much lift, in unison with the driving action of hind legs. The correct shoulder assembly and well-fitted elbows allow the long, free stride in front. Viewed from the front, the legs do not move in exact parallel planes, but incline slightly inward to compensate for shortness of leg and width of chest. Hind legs drive on a line with the forelegs, with hocks (metatarsus) turning neither in nor out. The propulsion of the hind leg depends on the dog's ability to carry the hind leg to complete extension. Viewed in profile, the forward reach of the hind leg equals the rear extension. The thrust of correct movement is seen when the rear pads are clearly exposed during rear extension. Feet must travel parallel to the line of motion with no tendency to swing out, cross over, or interfere with each other. Short, choppy movement, rolling or high-stepping gait, close or overly wide coming or going are incorrect. The Dachshund must have agility, freedom of movement, and endurance to do the work for which he was developed.
Temperament—The Dachshund is clever, lively and courageous to the point of rashness, persevering in above and below ground work, with all the senses well-developed. Any display of shyness is a serious fault.
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE COAT VARIETIES
The Dachshund is bred with three varieties of coat: (1) Smooth; (2) Wirehaired; (3) Longhaired, and is shown in two sizes: standard and miniature. All three varieties and both sizes must conform to the characteristics already specified. The following features are applicable for each variety.
Smooth Dachshund—Coat—Short, smooth and shining. Should be neither too long nor too thick. Ears not leathery. Tail—Gradually tapered to a point. Well but not too richly haired. Long sleek bristles on the underside are considered a patch of strong-growing hair, not a fault. A brush tail is a fault, as is also a partly or wholly hairless tail.
Color of Hair—Although base color is immaterial, certain patterns and basic colors predominate. One-colored Dachshunds include red (with or without a shading of interspersed dark hairs or sable) and cream. A small amount of white on the chest is acceptable, but not desirable. Nose and nails—black.
Two-colored Dachshunds include black, chocolate, wild boar, gray (blue) and fawn (Isabella), each with tan markings over the eyes, on the sides of the jaw and underlip, on the inner edge of the ear, front, breast, inside and behind the front legs, on the paws and around the anus, and from there to about one-third to one-half of the length of the tail on the underside. Undue prominence or extreme lightness of tan markings is undesirable. A small amount of white on the chest is acceptable but not desirable. Nose and nails—in the case of black dogs, black; for chocolate and all other colors, dark brown, but self-colored is acceptable.
Dappled Dachshunds—The "single" dapple pattern is expressed as lighter-colored areas contrasting with the darker base color, which may be any acceptable color. Neither the light nor the dark color should predominate. Nose and nails are the same as for one and two-colored Dachshunds. Partial or wholly blue (wall) eyes are as acceptable as dark eyes. A large area of white on the chest of a dapple is permissible.
A "double" dapple is one in which varying amounts of white coloring occur over the body in addition to the dapple pattern [specifically when both parents were dapple; not all whitened dapples are double dapples! - our note]. Nose and nails: as for one and two-color Dachshunds; partial or wholly self-colored is permissible.
Brindle is a pattern (as opposed to a color) in which black or dark stripes occur over the entire body although in some specimens the pattern may be visible only in the tan points.
Sable is a pattern which was not mentioned in detail in the Standard, so I will describe it here: The sable pattern is only observed on the longhaired red, and is a bi-colored hair pattern (wild boar is 'banded' with three or four colors, appearing only on smooth and wirehair). The tips of the hairs on the body only, (not the tan points of the face, legs etc.) are black while the rest of the hair shaft is red. At a glance the dog may look like a black/tan, but if the hair is parted, it is red next to the body. Since black is NOT present on blue, chocolate or isabella, a dog advertised as a sable in one of those colors is misrepresented. Many 'shaded reds' are also incorrectly called 'sable,' but typically only have black on ears, 'saddle' or dorsal stripe, and tail, and their hair is not bi-colored on each hair shaft.
To visibly display the various coats, colors and patterns in dachshunds, photographic examples of our Flickennel Dachshunds are shown below the rest of the text of the AKC Breed Standard.
Wirehaired Dachshund—Coat—With the exception of jaw, eyebrows, and ears, the whole body is covered with a uniform tight, short, thick, rough, hard, outer coat but with finer, somewhat softer, shorter hairs (undercoat) everywhere distributed between the coarser hairs. The absence of an undercoat is a fault. The distinctive facial furnishings include a beard and eyebrows. On the ears the hair is shorter than on the body, almost smooth. The general arrangement of the hair is such that the wirehaired Dachshund, when viewed from a distance, resembles the smooth. Any sort of soft hair in the outer coat, wherever found on the body, especially on the top of the head, is a fault. The same is true of long, curly, or wavy hair, or hair that sticks out irregularly in all directions. Tail—Robust, thickly haired, gradually tapering to a point. A flag tail is a fault. Color of hair—While the most common colors are wild boar, black and tan, and various shades of red, all colors are admissible. A small amount of white on the chest, although acceptable, is not desirable. Nose and nails—same as for the smooth variety.
Longhaired Dachshund—Coat—The sleek, glistening, often slightly wavy hair is longer under the neck and on the forechest, the underside of the body, the ears, and behind the legs. The coat gives the dog an elegant appearance. Short hair on the ear is not desirable. Too profuse a coat which masks type, equally long hair over the whole body, a curly coat, or a pronounced parting on the back are faults. Tail—Carried gracefully in prolongation of the spine; the hair attains its greatest length here and forms a veritable flag. Color of Hair—Same as for the smooth Dachshund. Nose and nails—same as for the smooth.
The foregoing description is that of the ideal Dachshund. Any deviation from the above dog must be penalized to the extent of the deviation, keeping in mind the importance of the contribution of the various features toward the basic original purpose of the breed.
Knuckling over of the front legs. (Photo from the Dachshund Club of America website.)
Approved April 7, 1992
Effective May 27, 1992
Excerpted from: The Complete Dog Book, 19th Edition, Revised, Official Publication of The American Kennel Club, Wiley Publishing, Inc., New York, NY, copyright 1998, 1992, 1979, 1975, 1968, 1956, 1954, 1951, 1947, 1942, 1941 by the American Kennel Club; from pages 162 to 165.
COATS, COLORS & PATTERNS in the
AKC BREED STANDARD
for the DACHSHUND
with photos of Flickennel Dachshunds to illustrate the different coats, colors and patterns described in the Breed Standard
(scroll down below the large text area to see photos)
Flickennel - Colorado Dachshunds with ALTITUDE!!!
Smooth-coat, American cream, piebald
black & tan,
cream dapple piebald
PHOTO GALLERY OF
(past & present)
EXHIBITING THE COATS, COLORS AND PATTERNS OF THE BREED
There are over 500 possible combinations, including 2 recognized sizes & 2 unrecognized sizes!
COATS: Smooth (SM), longhair (LH) & wirehair (WH) are displayed in each COLOR group, because they can look quite different from one dog to another. The left column is the RED SERIES, center column is the BLACK SERIES, right column is the CHOCOLATE SERIES. The PATTERNS are shown below the COLORS. These are all dogs we have now, or have had in the past, representing their specific COAT, COLOR and/or PATTERN, so that the AKC BREED STANDARD descriptions above make more sense! This variety within our gene-pool is also why we can 'build' a pup for you with almost any combination of coat, color and pattern you specify, if we wait long enough for all the genetic particulars to come together at the same time. May we build one for you?!
THE THREE BASE COLORS:
RED (one-colored - no tan points) BLACK & TAN (two-colored) CHOCOLATE & TAN
DILUTES OF THE THREE BASIC COLORS ABOVE:
ENGLISH CREAM, AMERICAN CREAM BLUE & TAN ISABELLA/FAWN & TAN
WHEATEN (WIREHAIRS ONLY)
SOLID BLACK, NO TAN
RED SABLE is only observed on a longhaired red or cream, and is a bicolored-hair pattern. The tips of the hairs on the body only, not the tan points of the face, legs etc., are black while the rest of the hair shaft is red. At first glance, the dog may look like a black & tan but if you part the hair, it is red next to the body. Many sables show a pointed 'widow's peak' pattern above their eyes, but some have red heads and black bodies - such as Macy, below, who has both of those features.
black & tan dapple wirehair
Tulip, SM red brindle piebald with ticking
Bubba, black & tan pie
BRINDLE: tiger-stripes most visible on reds & creams, but can affect every color and pattern. On red and black & tan, the stripes are black, only showing on the red or tan portions of the dog. On all other colors, the stripes are the same as the base color (blue, isabella, chocolate). We have one notable exception: Reese's Pieces, a chocolate-based English cream brindle LH with faint chocolate stripes!
Hidalgo- chocolate & tan whitened dapple LH
DAPPLE takes a number of forms and variations, including 'hidden' that doesn't show at all. Dapple, or 'merle,' may show up as either lighter or darker patches on the base color, usually in shades of the base color, although on a red dog the dapples are usually black, but we have two females with unusual creamy splotches. A typical dapple has a balanced mix of light and dark splotches of color, but a dapple may have only one tiny spot, or so much dappling that the base color hardly shows - this is called a 'reverse-dapple.' A 'mottled' dapple may have 2-3 shades of the base color, plus an added color, usually the same as the 'points' (as in a black & tan - tan being the 'point' color), and the dog resembles a multicolored calico cat. Another option is a 'whitened' dapple, with patches of white scattered over the coat. A 'patchwork' dapple has large blocks of colors that don't smear into each other, but are rather clearly defined, like a patchwork quilt. 'Salted' dapple creates a grizzled 'salt & pepper' appearance. A 'double-dapple' only occurs when both parents are dapple and the pup receives the dapple gene from both of them, which may produce varying amounts of deafness, and visual impairment due to under-developed eyeballs; it is not generally bred for by breeders who know better, but the result of an accidental mating, or where one parent is a hidden dapple - and the pup becomes the proof. Another trait of dapples is blue eyes, either partially or wholly, one eye or both. Except in extremely rare circumstances, you will ONLY find blue eyes in a dapple dachshund, and this is one possible indicator in a hidden dapple. It is NOT a sign of blindness nor tendency to blindness, but just where the dapple gene "bleached" the eye color, and it does not appear in all dapple dachshunds. If only a small spot was affected, it may be white rather than blue. (These color-columns got a bit mixed-up, but everybody is identified as to what they are.)
Red brindle, smooth-coat, piebald, blue-eyed,
double-dapple, and perfect! His pups were always colorful!
Blue Belle, whitened
blue & tan patchwork dapple LH
Blue & tan reverse dapple LH
Checkers - blue-eyed whitened isabella & tan dapple LH
English cream - Daisy LH
American cream - Marilyn LH
Wheaten WH - Charlie
Apricot Brandy - American cream tuxedo pie
Captain Chenille WH
Cash - black & tan reverse dapple w/partially blue eyes
Elvis - SM chocolate & tan mottled dapple
Fabian - whitened mottled chocolate & tan dapple
Then there's Ruger, who defied our best efforts to decipher WHAT his coloring was! He has black (B) spots, so he's not chocolate, although every shade of "brown" is represented on him, plus red (R) and white (W), including a big white patch on his neck & chest, and grizzled reddish spots. We finally went to genetic expert Lisa Emerson for help, and she decided he is first, a whitened black & tan dapple (D) with ticking, but he's also mottled (picking up the red/tan from his points) and a wild-boar (WB), with two blue eyes, to boot! He's in our splendid Cash family, which has given us our very best and wildest-colored dogs to date.
Smores - extremely-whitened chocolate dapple LH w/blue eyes
Sparky - whitened black & tan mottled dapple. He also has 'ticking' in his white zones - a piebald trait, but he is NOT piebald!
Taffy LH red dapple, light dapple spots
SOLID CHOCOLATE, NO TAN
Red dachshunds have a black nose & toenails (above). A 'liver-nosed' or 'chocolate-based' red with brown or red toenails (below) carries one gene for chocolate, usually from a chocolate parent.
SM red dapple, dark dapple spots
Chocolate, isabella and blue dachshunds in any pattern (brindle, dapple, piebald) will NEVER have BLACK anywhere on them - hair, nose or toenails. If you find black on a dog that looks like one of those colors, it is NOT that color, but is red, cream, wildboar or black in some form.
Cheyenne SM now in Australia!
We have not had any blue or isabella wirehairs YET! Give us time! We have a shaded-cream/ wheaten wire (parents are from both English cream and wheaten stock), arrived late January, 2013, from our East Coast branch - our first "cream of wheat" wirehair! Einy also carries piebald and has a VERY SWEET personality! His nearly-identical brother, Charlie, who lives in NY, is pictured at left, Einy at right.
Macy red sable LH
Tiny Einy - 'cream of wheat' WH
Macy red sable LH
Rowdy red sable LH
Cali - black & tan mottled whitened dapple, now producing the first black & tan and chocolate & tan dapple piebald pups ever made 'Down Under'! (Her mate is a piebald; Cali is not pie and does not carry pie.)
Smoky, English cream brindle
Red dachshunds may also have varying amounts of black accents or overlay on ears, shoulders, back and tail, or dapple spots, which may fade away as the dog ages, or stay during its life. Red pups also usually get either lighter or darker than they are at birth! They're the only color series that change as they age, and red includes all the different creams, described below. Tan 'points' are also considered 'red' in the genetic language. 'Tan' and 'brown' are not actual dachshund color designations; red and chocolate are!
Dilute sisters - blue & tan and isabella & tan ex-white piebalds
Taffy's sister, Toffee, similar light- spotted dapple pattern but in SM
Hope - blue & tan reverse dapple LH
Toffee x Rambo's red mottled whitened dapple girl, unlike any other we'd ever made or seen! She looks kind of like a calico cat!
Splendor & Sparky - whitened black & tan mottled dapple LH sister & brother
Jinx - isabella & tan dapple SM
chocolate-based English cream brindle
(note the 'liver nose')
Brindle, black & tan brindle SM
black & tan brindle LH
Heidi, red sable LH
It's hard to spot a chocolate & tan, isabella & tan or blue & tan brindle, since the stripes are the same as the base color, and don't show up well against the tan points. That's when it helps to know your parent dogs, as a good breeder does. The challenge is to tell between a brindle and a genetic solid-color, such as our Ringo and his pups. In many intense black & tan brindles, the heavy black striping obscures most of the tan points, leading the viewer to think the dog is solid black.
PIEBALD: Another immensely variable and attractive pattern, piebald is the inclusion of a lot of white in the dog's coat. This is not a harmful fault - a lot of people confuse piebald and dapple, worrying that breeding two pies will produce defects. That is NOT SO. You don't get 'double-piebalds' the way you get 'double-dapples.' With dapple, one dapple parent is sufficient to produce dapple pups; with piebald, one pie parent gets you pie carriers with minimal white, while two pie parents produce pie pups. A conventional piebald is about 50:50 color and white; tuxedo pies have white on the four paws and tail-tip, on the face, chest, and around the neck. An extreme-white pie, also called an ex-white, has very little color and is the closest to pure-white. A piebald with ticking has little spots of color in the white areas, and some have so much, the white is almost obscured. Not all pies have ticking, and the pristine white is remarkably pretty.
Cuddles, red brindle LH
Tic Toc, red brindle WH, mother of Tiny Einy & Charlie
M&M - chocolate & tan pie SM,
Sandman - chocolate & tan dapple pie LH
Blue Prince - whitened blue & tan dapple LH
Pie-Pie, red pie LH with her red and chocolate pie litter sired by Max, a chocolate & tan pie SM.
Piper, LH ex-white black & tan pie with heavy ticking
Annie Oakley, light- red tuxedo pie LH
Tigger, red brindle SM, top & bottom!
Isabella & tan reverse dapple LH, with far more light dapple than dark base color. AJ is now producing pups in Australia!
Tally, black & tan tuxedo pie SM
Very different LH blue & tan reverse dapples from Blue Belle and Remington, in 2010. These were two of our very first blue reverse dapples.
Ranger - Whitened chocolate & tan dapple LH,
17 days old
Charity, blue & tan reverse dapple LH
Fats Domino, black & tan pie SM
Lollipop, extreme-whitened isabella dapple LH with blue eyes - see why we kept her?!
Lollipop, 6 days old
The fun of breeding dachshunds: breed the same pair twice and get totally different results: Blue Belle (blue & tan dapple) & Blue (blue & tan) had a 4-pup litter in 2011, all blue with one dapple. They had a 3-pup litter in 2012 that were all isabella, with one dapple! They both carry chocolate, but being dilutes, it came out isabella - plus the one
necessary dapple gene from Blue Belle.
Mississippi Mud-Pie chocolate & tan pie LH
Simon, chocolate & tan pie LH's thoughts on pine cones
Zuzu, SM daughter of Zoie & Simon; Zoie is shown below in the dapples.
Zoie, chocolate & tan dapple ex-white pie SM, with her 2007 pups, sired by Simon, shown above in the piebalds. We kept Sandman, the chocolate & tan dapple pie pup on the right.
Harley, chocolate & tan dapple pie SM
Blue & tan LHs, one dapple
Isabella & tan LHs, one dapple
Tucker, a very choice black & cream tuxedo piebald.
and at 3 months - amazing, huh?!
Chocolate dapple boys, all beautiful, all different!
We have started breeding for - and producing - some strange new colors called 'faux dilutes,' or 'blush' shades. Some look sort of reddish with an isabella haze, just borderline between the two colors. One pup born in late 2012 to a red dapple mother and chocolate father had a red head, his sides looked isabella, and his facial markings and dorsal stripe looked blue! ... These are not dapples, but genetically mixed colors, rather hazy, and definitely hard to nail down just what they are.
Champagne, faux-dilute red leaning toward isabella, or isabella leaning toward red? Her nose is brown!
Toffee x Rambo's faux-dilute pup
And finally, there's Remington.... He's a blue & tan, but with a thick undercoat of silver. We had a German guest one day who said she had been to many, many dog shows and seen hundreds, if not thousands, of dachshunds in her lifetime, but she had never seen one like our Remi! He's not visibly dappled (with spots), but has produced dapple pups with plain-colored females - he is a salted dapple.
Wolfman Jack LH
These are just SOME of our splendid dachshunds, and we keep breeding for, and producing, more and more fantastic combinations of coats, colors and patterns, always with terrific temperaments, to delight and impress everyone who winds up with one - as well as everyone who sees them - we definitely have some traffic-stoppers. If you are a breeder or exhibitor interested in adding one or more to your collection, please contact us - we're ALWAYS happy to talk about our lovely, wonderful wiener dogs!
Just to show you the different looks of smooth and longhair, this is my Tinsel, a LH black & tan dapple, in her full winter coat - and shaved down in spring. You'd never know she was the same dog, going by appearances! I trim her twice, usually late March and late June, then I let her grow out for winter. The long hair really blurs her spotted dapple pattern, doesn't it?!
Tinsel does not have cataracts - that's one of the typical reflections when using flash to take pictures of dapple dachshunds.
WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS COLORING?! We're pretty sure this is a 'true' mottled dapple, with the tan/red point color extending up into her black dapple base color, especially since the red is not showing any dapple spots, while the black shows silvering, but our doxie-expert friend, Lisa Emerson, says she may be a chimera, or a mosaic, or else we soaked her in hydrogen peroxide! For now, we're calling her Ki-Mera, since that's the way to pronounce 'chimera.' Whatever she is, she's staying here! She's a 2013 Cash Clan daughter of Marilyn and Elvis.
Definitely a pup of a different color, wouldn't you say?She's a Flickennel unique original!
Blizzard is a red dapple extreme- white piebald wirehair but has only a very few, very tiny, tinted spots on one side; otherwise he's as pure- white as a fresh snowdrift! The only dapple indicator is a bit of blue in his left eye. See why that bit of blue is so important?!
Cupid, red brindle, also displays 'masking' on his blackened face, which he passes to some of his very interesting babies.
I didn't have room to insert Blizzard in the Piebald section, so he's down below with the dapples, since he's a cream dapple extreme-white piebald - about 95% pure white!
Rowdy's red sable glow-through
Sissy - English cream dapple LH with blue eyes!