Placement of Dachshunds in the American Kennel Club Groups
When the American Kennel Club created the group system in May 1905, Dachshunde (the plural form of Dachshund in German) were assigned to the Sporting Group. There were only two other groups at that time, Non-Sporting and Terrier.
In 1913, the number of groups was reduced to just two as the terriers were parceled out into the Sporting and Non-Sporting groups depending on each breed’s purpose. During the first World War, “Dachshunde” vanished from the AKC breed list as a result of anti-German hysteria and was replaced with “Badger Dog” (the literal translation of Dachshund as “dachs” is German for badger and “hund” means dog).
In 1923, the number of groups expanded to five — Sporting, Non-Sporting, Terrier, Working, and Toy. Under this new system, Dachshunds were moved to the Working Group. In the “Rules Applying to Dog Shows” for that year, the name “Badger Dog” was still in use. It was not until 1925 that American Teckel were free to call themselves Dachshunds once again.
As this brief recounting attests, the makeup of the groups was by no means a static thing during AKC’s first few decades. There were many changes in the distribution of breeds for both show purposes and for listing in AKC’s Stud Book. In fact, no official recorded group judging appears to have occurred prior to 1924. [BIS has existed since at least 1907 but was handled much differently than it is now. A panel of judges presided, etc.] Group awards became official (as in recognized by AKC) in 1925 with competition in the five groups listed above.
In 1930, the American Kennel Club split the Sporting Group in two thus creating the modern Hound Group. Dachshunds joined the sight and scent hounds from the old Sporting Group in this new group which debuted for the first time at the (1930) Westminster Kennel Club show. Fun fact: Dachshunds are the only breed to have won BIS awards from the Sporting, Working and Hound groups.
The first mention of Wirehaired Dachshunds in the Westminster catalog in occurred in 1930. The first mention of Longhaired Dachshunds took place the following year (1931). From 1930 through 1942, all three varieties were shown as a single breed with few Longhaired or Wirehaired specimens in competition. Since 1943, Dachshunds have been shown in three separate varieties with each variety winner advancing to the Hound Group competition.
Tracy Freeling & Bob Bray