“Dachshunds Through the Years” by Harry and Vivian Sharpe
Download this page in PDF formatWhen we were invited to write an article on our studs, some of them Champions, for “The American Dachshund”, our first impulse was to concentrate on males who appear in many pedigrees. Instead, we thought we should let the Dachshund fancy know how we had the foresight to raise these dogs. We should say here that we raised more good females than males.
Some breeders turn to the winning male, which is often not a good choice. The more wins and higher placings, such as Group wins, make them anxious to mate their female to the winner. This method would be satisfactory if they studied the pedigree of the winning Dachshund. Is he a flyer or does he have generations back of him with promising bloodlines. One must consider both the individual and the pedigree. Those who do not follow such a rule wonder why they are not successful.
Besides consideration of the male, the breeder must study his female thoroughly, looking for her strong points and her weaknesses. A female should never be mated to a male who has the same weak points as the bitch possesses. In doing so, you emphasize that weakness. It is a good policy to consult a third party who probably can see the bitch’s faults better than the owner. We all have a tendency to be kennel blind.
There are other things to be interested in when crossing a male or female for future use as breeding stock. We had an excellent line of breeding as far as conformation and temperament were concerned, but had to eliminate it completely. We found that several dogs who finished their championship suffered a slipped disc shortly after completion of their title. Some of those we sold as pets had the same trouble. We had developed this weakness through a lovely female we had bought that finished her championship in a few shows. To have continued this line of breeding would be a grave injustice to the breed, as well as to breeders and pet owners. If you have knowledge of a weakness in a dog, don’t take a chance on mating to him.
Our serious Dachshund breeding started around 1940 with the purchase of three females and one male from Mrs Iola Pflueger who now resides in Florida. Those dogs could have competed successfully with any of the current (1972) dogs. We are still thankful for the fine start Mrs Pflueger gave us into the Breed. We used these dogs, along with a mating to CH Zep v Marienlust ROMX, to produce Albion’s own John Bull and Zoa of Badger Hill. They in turn produced Amber of Badger Hill who we sold to Charles Holden of Albion Kennels. Mr Holden showed her one time in a Pennsylvania Specialty Show where she went to the top, winning the large bronze plaque from the Dachshund Club of America.
Amber, in turn was mated to Alsvin v IIsartal, owned by the late Dr Herbert Sanborn. This breeding produced CH Albion’s Own Penelope ROMO who we acquired from Mr Holden and, from that point on, concentrated on her bloodlines by line breeding and occasionally inbreeding.
CH Badger Hill New Deal, Nobby and Nox were three Champion brothers from one mating and all were out of CH Derbydachs Schatze ROMX and sired by Badger Hill Jackson. Jackson was never shown so he was unknown. We heard many reports at the time as to how wrong we were in not mating to any dog not a Champion. But in studying Schatze, we decided she should not be mated to a dog that was heavy in the shoulders or too close to the ground. We found in Jackson just what we were looking for. A hard, solid dog with excellent layback in the shoulders and not a wrinkle anywhere.
So many place too much emphasis on the male. They forget that the female should be picked with as much care as the male for she contributes as much or more to the mating.
As we have said before, bitches contribute more in our breeding program than males.