Picking the perfect puppy

First of all, I know that I stated at the beginning of the year that I wanted to take more time to write opinion pieces and just post more in general. Well, one would have thought that being unemployed would lead to a lot of time to write. Wrong. Between searching for openings, re-writing my CV and cover letters to fit the company, and moving-yes, moving AGAIN- time slipped away. It wasn’t the highlight of my life and after spending all day on the computer, the last thing I really wanted to do was sit down and write additional articles. Funnily enough, now that I have started my new job, my motivation to blog has really started up again. Who knows the reason, but I’m going to try and stick to my original plan and post more often.

 

Out on a stroll at the new house

One great thing to come out of the rather busy 6 months that I spent unemployed was that it gave me a lot of time to read up and research different dogs and bloodlines. I’ve looked at dogs throughout Europe and even some from the US looking for what is “my type” of dachshund. Why you may ask? Well, we were searching for a puppy. Yes, Simon and I decided that we would like to eventually breed and so for the past year or so my ear was to the ground and all eyes were on the internet looking for the perfect puppy. We weren’t sure how long it would take or where the little one would come from, but why not start looking and asking around.  

Now there is no such thing as the “perfect” puppy. Once in a blue moon does a dog come around that really, truly has it all, and that “all” is different for every person. I had to ask myself what I thought was important in dachshunds, what traits I liked, and what bloodlines I liked or disliked and why. I asked around to my mentors for suggestions and several breeders to ask about upcoming litters. Since this bitch would be my brood bitch, I wanted to ensure that I could get the best puppy I could. This is where Simon and my crazy dog lifestyle really came in handy.

 

The World and European Dog Shows are great venues for peaking at upcoming "Superstars" in the show world.

I talked to both large and small kennels and all the kennels I asked told me that they would love to give us a puppy. They had seen us at shows, seen us at trials, followed our adventures with our dogs via Facebook or the blog and knew that we would be an active family for their dog. Not only would the pup get a lot of experiences and be in an active home, but of course show and trial wins are great advertisements for the kennel itself.

So did we want a puppy from a show breeder or a working breeder? Well, ideally we were searching for both. Our mentors were pivotal in shaping our idea of the breed and even though their dogs were from mostly show lines, there were working dogs and dogs with multiple working trials in their pedigrees. In fact, in the Nordic countries, dachshunds cannot become a beauty champion WITHOUT a working trial. That’s right, the pretty dogs have to do some work too. In Sweden they must get a 1^st prize in open class blood tracking (20hr), 1^st prize in artificial underground test, or 2^nd prize in hunting test. The requirements are similar in Norway, Finland, and Denmark. I personally think this is a great thing since what is the point in having a beautiful dachshund if it can’t do the work it was meant to do? So we wanted to be sure that our future puppy had a promising background with both working and show results.

Freddie's Dad Effendi (above) and Baxter's mom Iiris (below) are good examples of dogs that have multiple show and working titles.

We were also looking for parents that were structurally sound, with good proportions, and good size. I bring up size because I have noticed much bigger dogs since we have moved up North. In Germany or Switzerland, Baxter was not enormous, but was on the larger size being ~9.5-10kg. Baxter is still able to squeeze into tight spots and run around in artificial dens and this, to me, is important as dachshund should be able to chase their original quarry. Ideally, I would like a female that is on the smaller side. I think that size in dachshund can be just as difficult to keep in check as good hair quality. I know I rag on the Nordic dachshunds being big, but it isn’t just in the north that you find big dogs… they are everywhere! In fact, for several years there has been a debate about allowing a 4^th size of dachshund into the ring-one that is over 10 kg. In Germany before 2013, any dog weighing over 9.9kg was not allowed to be given an “Excellent” rating and, thus, could gain no certificates towards a championship. As of July 2013, this rule was abolished and scales are no longer in use. Actually, I think Switzerland and Germany were the last countries to abolish scales for dachshunds as they aren’t weighed almost anywhere else. There are good and bad points to this decision, but at least as of November last year, I wouldn’t say that there was a huge influx of show people bringing in big dogs. In fact, I only once noticed “giant” dachshunds in the ring that made a 9.2kg male look like a mini. Ideally, I would like a standard bitch, from small/average sized parents in the hopes of maintaining small, feisty hunting dogs.  Of course this may all backfire and the puppies may end up as 12 kg monsters, you never know.

One thing that I find both exciting and frustrating is looking through pedigrees. My Bachelor's degree is in Genetics and it was really the topic that not only started my love of science, but also directed me to the career that I am in today. Dogs genetics are, therefore, quite an interesting subject for me. There is a lot of information out there (titles, trials, temperment, disease testing, etc...) and pedigree dogs are very well documented. Of course, perusing through pedigrees can be frustrating when looking for a puppy, an example, Revestreken's Frikk. Now, I have nothing against Frikk himself. He is a very nice dog with a lot of working and beauty titles and is still going strong as a veteran. The problem came when I found a dog I liked, ohh and ahh'd over it, found the pedigree and... Frikk. Due him having so many nice qualities, Frikk is in the pedigree of many dogs throughout Europe (and the US). My own dogs are included in that statistic as Frikk is Baxter's Great-Grandfather. Did I want to line breed on Frikk? Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to look for a puppy that had no Frikk bloodlines or quite far back in the pedigree. This would give me the opportunity later on to use one of the many wonderful dogs I had seen and researched or their offspring without having a high inbreeding coefficient. 

Revestreken's Frikk

That brings us back again to breeding. Did I want a female that I could pair with my males? The answer: maybe. I have nothing against my boys, they both have their strengths and weaknesses, as do all dogs. I think Freddie is an excellent dog. He is a hunter, but also a goofy companion and sofa dog. His anatomy is very nice, but he would definitely need a partner with excellent hair. Baxter is a very pretty dog with great hair, great head, great body, but his front is a bit wide. His hunting skills are excellent, but he is not as intense as Freddie, though he is high energy with a lot of drive, he is very reserved at home. With qualities like these and rather unique pedigrees (French/German & Italian/Finnish), I hope that they are appreciated by the breeders here in the north for their own merits. If I had a female with a pedigree that was compatible with Freddie or Baxter AND compliment and improve upon their faults, then yes, I would consider it. Would I be sad if neither Baxter or Freddie had puppies? A little. In the end, I would personally rather find outside daddies for my future puppies.

So, have I found my perfect puppy? Well, maybe not perfect, but there were several wonderful and very promising candidates... but much more on that later. :)