Hi Ryan, thanks for the post- great info-
sorry i am originally from south africa- and not really sure if "doxie" has a negative connotation over here in N america, but back in africa the term "Daxie" - (daxie being short for dachshund) is a very common term of endearment for these great little dogs- in fact i have never heard them called a wiener dog- till i got here- maybe thats because we do not call hot dogs, wieners
sorry if i offended- no offence intended.
when i dealt with the breeder, and we were looking for potentially the best tracking dog for me and my home and my needs , i saw that some of the dogs in her pics had colour- i expressed my concern about gene dilution etc, this was the reply i got back from her
"Hello Wayne,
About the dapples..... it is one of the oldest colors (it's actually a pattern not a color) in the breed. It is older than red (most common color nowadays) and wild boar. The first president of the German dachshund club, Major Emil Ilgner, used to breed dapple dachshunds, when the breed was only bred for hunting. I traced back one dapple line of mine to his dogs....
Any white in animals has a chance for deafness and blindness, because for a normal development of ectodermal organs (hope you have heard of this in your biology classes) such as eyes and ears (and skin), you need pigment (melanin).
I don't breed for white spots.... I breed for pigment and of course for other more important aspects such as: temperament, hunting, health, conformation (anatomy). Spots to me are secondary.
When breeding a dapple dog to another dapple dog, you are risking having double dapples (2 dapple genes) which cause too much absence of pigment (some dogs are almost all white). So I NEVER breed dapple to dapple. It is always dapple to a solid color... to avoid a lot of white in the dogs. Single dapple dogs (with only 1 gene for dapple) are always healthy. Double dapples might show anomalies in eyes or (partial) deafness... Hope I am explaining it clearly."
this breeder is originally from the netherlands, and has had extensive involvement with the breed over there, including the DTK.
i have seen footage of her dogs working by their respective owners- and man, are they good.
her dogs retrieve ducks etc as well- this pup is already retrieving thrown toys, and it will be something i will pursue with him.
i hear you on the 200lb attitude- they are fearless!, i can bang doors, fire up chainsaws etc - and the pup is not the slightest bit concerned!
thanks
wayne