Red:

• There is no brown dachshund. If it looks brown to you and has tan points, then it is chocolate. A red can range in shade from brownish to very light red, almost a strawberry blond. It can and often does have a black overlay, either all over or a stripe down the back or ear fringes and tail fringe (longhairs especially).

Black and tan:

• Just that. Black and tan. Sometimes (very rare) there is so little tan that the dog looks entirely black. It's possible, but not desirable (as per AKC). Also, no truth to the old wives tale that there should (or should not) be a black dot in the tan points on the dog's paws. Some have them, others don't.

Chocolate and tan:

• Unwrap a Hershey bar. That's the desired color. With tan points, just like the black and tan.

Blue and tan:

• Can be anything from a charcoal gray to an almost sky blue. With tan points, of course. Prone to coat problems, especially in longhaired dachsies, but every once in a while there is one that has an outstanding coat.

Fawn (Isabella) and tan:

• Kind of a mouse color. Brownish gray. With the usual tan points. Kind of the color of a new-born deer fawn less the dots. Can have the same kind of coat problems as the Blue due to defective dilute genes.

Cream:

• The lighter the better. Should have the darkest possible eyes, nose, and nails. Color ranges from champagne to beige. Can have black overlay, especially on ears and tail.

Wheaten:

• Usually found on wirehaired dachsies. A very light red, ranging to strawberry blond, but usually lighter. Can be found in smooths, if there is wire in the background somewhere.

Wild boar:

• Another wire color. Kind of black and brown and gray mixed. A grizzled color. Also found in smooths with wire in the background. Actually, I believe it is the color most people associate with wires

 

PATTERNS-

 

Brindle:

• Stripes. Usually (but not always) black. Can be blue or isabella or chocolate. The best brindles are striped all over the body, but even if there are only one or two stripes on the feet, the dog should be registered as brindle.

Dapple:

• Spots where some of the color has been lightened or removed. Most common in black and tans, but can occur in ANY color. I have a blue dapple, and have had an Isabella dapple. I have bred red dapples. I would love to have a longhaired chocolate dapple. The color is usually lighter than the base color, kind of a silvery shade. Sometimes in reds, the dappling is darker. If the dappling occurs in the eyes, the eyes are blue.

Double dapple:

• Only occurs when both parents are dapples. Areas of white on the body, mixed with mostly the dapple color discussed above. There is a danger with a double dapple of blindness or deafness if the double dappling occurs in the eyes or ears. White areas may be quite small or quite large, depending. Depending on what you ask? Just depending.

Piebald:

• Only occurs when both parents are piebald or carry it. Areas of full color on a white background as seen in beagles, foxhounds or basenjis. They may also have ticking; small spots of color in the white field. This may just be a few little spots on the toes and muzzle, or heavy -- like a flea-bitten mare. THERE IS NO DAPPLING ON A PIEBALD! If you think you can't tell the difference between them, just get two of them together and you'll be able to see the difference. This is probably the only way we will ever get a white dachshund; breed for larger and larger areas of white on a piebald until there is no base color left. Most color breeders don't think cream is the way to go for a totally white dachsie. It's possible to get lighter and lighter cream, but not white. There is also a piebald/dapple cross, but that's a little too much to go into right now. Talk about genetic mix-ups! And pattern mix-ups! Why would anyone do it? In that case, there MIGHT be dappling on a piebald. Hmmm.........

Sable:

• Probably the most misunderstood of all the patterns. Refers to black hairs mixing with other colors (usually red). Therefore, if you have a red dachsie with any black hairs on it, you have a sable. (?) I have talked to a lot of people about this in the last few weeks, and no one can really come up with anything else. Generally, however, a sable refers to a red with a black overlay. More easily seen in longhaired dachsies. If you part the hairs, you can see red down at skin level, and as they grow longer, they turn darker and darker. Now I know what you are saying. Sables are confusing. And they are. The previous discussion sounds like I am talking about two different patterns; one with red hairs and black hairs mixed, and one with red and black on the same hair. And I am. That's the trouble. No one has explained exactly which one is really sable. Maybe they both are.

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Coat Types-

 

• 3 coat types – Wire, Smooth and Long.

• Dogs normally have 2 copies of their own coat type gene (WW, SS or LL) because we do not as a rule currently perform crosscoat matings. However these were allowed until 1977 and there are still wires and smooths that “carry” the genes for different coat types.

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• Imported dogs from countries where cross coat matings are more common may have combinations of the coat type genes.

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• Wire is dominant to all other coat types, if a dog has even just one W gene it will be a Wire, if it has one of the other coat type genes it can pass that gene on to its progeny and produce “recessive Smooths” or “recessive Longs”.

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• Smooth is dominant to Longs, if a dog has one S and one L gene it will be a Smooth, but it carries the Long gene and therefore can pass it on to its progeny and produce “recessive Longs”.

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• Long is recessive to both Wire and Smooth, therefore if the dog has a Longhaired Coat it has to have 2 copies of the Long Haired gene (LL); two Longhaired parents can only produce Longhaired puppies.