Who Do I Breed To?
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In looking back on my long (probably TOO long) career in building the next best Dachshund, many things are asked about my choices in the breed and where exactly is that next great Dachshund going to come from. First of all, in thinking about the next ones in line and on the way, I always start out with a pretty darned good Dachshund bitch to have as my foundation to begin looking around and find the amazing producer to breed her to.
Remember, the great bitch is what you always want to start with and you never start out with a new stud and hope to breed him to the right bitches. As a Dachshund breeder, the bitch is where the great new ones come from and that is why you get the best-bred bitch from a top producing family with great conformation and style and breed her to the best producing dog that would fix what needs correction on her. That is how you breed. Top producer dog with style and conformation to be bred to the best top producing bitch who should be great, but just needs a little fixing in its structure to get closer to, I hope, the perfection we all want to see in their next generation of dogs they breed. THAT is my goal when I bred my litters and, hopefully, I can make you, as a strong Dachshund breeder, want this same thing.
Keep in mind, this Dachshund bitch you are considering breeding has to be very sound and very strong in conformation. I want her to be moderately low and moderately long and I want current breeders to pick out dogs and bitches for the new generations coming up with a great forechest, sticking out in front of the shoulder. I want that shoulder to be well set down on that smooth front which also should show a long, well arched neck blending into that body. Some people ask why I want that long arched neck and I just tell them to gait the dog with that long neck with another WITHOUT that arch and see which one looks best going around the ring. To me, it is no big decision and I want the one looking around and full of himself showing, to my mind, true Dachshund character and, since we do want length in our dogs, we should want that same length in the neck to make it useful in our Breed. On that neck, we also want a gorgeous head, long and beautiful with a nice eye and again with a lot of looking around to see what is going on. Remember, this is a breed that goes after its prey and we want a strong jaw to really hold what it is going after. We, as usual, want strength and beauty combined. Despite everything, this is a hunting breed and it has to be aware of its surroundings and this is part of being a Dachshund.
From that point of shoulder, I want a lengthy shoulder blade coming down that point of withers with a lot of layback and a lot of forechest sticking out in front of that beatifully set on shoulder placement. I want that chest oval and want to have a long upper arm to bring the long shoulder to end where the depth of chest is. I want the ribcage to extend back on the dog and I want that topline to be as level as possible and go back on the body. I want the beautiful rear with the square rear going away beautifully and with a long tail to set the body off. That dog should then, with that conformation, really move around the ring and cover ground easily and effortlessly. Besides all that, I want the bitch to be a Top Producer that produces well with each litter. Remember, I want EVERYTHING when I breed and I want each generation to be better than the last one. I am very greedy in what I want in my next Boondox litter.
With that as my starting point, I want to add one detail and maybe a couple more to make the progress I need to make in my future breeding. First of all, I want this bitch to be a producer (or MEANT to be one) from a line of bitches that always produced better than themselves. I want that bitch to retain what is good in her, but hopefully one who will add in the great qualities that I wanted to add. Remember, in doing this next breeding, I wanted always to add the features that I needed to have in my next litter, without losing what I already had. One thing I had that I considered important was that I could tell by the time the puppy was eight to twelve weeks whether the puppy had that improvement. Those improved puppies also had to have what I had already corrected. In my line, these puppies had what we had already accomplished and those qualities also did not just disappear as the puppy got older. The puppy had to have everything and the breeding was only a success when those features figured prominently in this new litter. Otherwise, I tried something else to get the job done.
That next generation of Boondox dogs was always the reason for that forthcoming litter. Also, without fail, I wanted great tempered, healthy dogs who had long lives. When I was breeding, I did not have all the tests that many people have today, but I knew that Dachshunds had some health things that you, as a breeder, had to be aware of. I knew that disc disease was a huge problem that you could never get involved in as it was a disease that struck later in life with no Health Test you could take to let you know it was waiting for you down the line and, once you had it in your pedigree, it was always there. Trust me, I never got involved in breeding to any dog with that up close in their line. Also, after having epilepsy attack my dogs with no signs at all of it being there until the Dachshunds had the seizure that could possibly be fatal, I again realized that this disease had no tests to show it in the line and so I again promised myself that any dogs with that could not be part of what I was passing on. I wanted those diseases (disc and epilepsy) to NOT be there and not ever appear in the dogs that I bred. Finally, each dog I bred to had to have a flawless temperament and to not have any of those iffy temperaments behind them. Again, these bad responses did not necessarily show up early and we had to always be on the lookout for them. I never wanted them to appear in anything that I bred.
When I am using a dog that I do not own, I want that dog to be the best that it can be. I want that dog to be healthy and free from the Health Issues that were fatal and could really shorten a life if the resulting puppies carried that gene. I wanted that dog to be almost perfect (and why would I pick out a so-so dog to breed to and breed to a dog that was NOT nearly perfect) and I also demanded that the dog be a Top Producer from a top winning family that hopefully had bloodlines that went well with my own Boondox dogs. I wanted to see those things I was changing in the young puppies and I also wanted those changes to stay with the dog and not disappear as the puppy got older. I wanted the dog I used in Longhairs and Wires to have a great coat of the right texture that I would like to work with and not be another nightmare I started. I know this is a lot but, as a Breeder, you make the decisions on what you bring into your line and my philosophy was that I never knowingly add another problem to my line. I loved picking out studs to use and I was kind of pleased with what I added to my line back then. I wanted to improve a couple of things by using someone else’s stud dog, but never wanted to add problems from bringing that line into my dogs and I kept that Boondox look throughout using other people’s dogs on my bitches.
Then I always wanted to use Top Producers who always produced their like or better examples in that next generation. I wanted the best producing dog to breed to the best of my bitches and I wanted the good quality I was after to be there for me to see as a young puppy. Personally, I bred Dachshunds for ten years, winning several Winners Dogs at the National and Regional Specialties from Coast to Coast, but, in creating that next line in the Boondox pedigree, I always used the great producers around me that I never owned and I was happy doing that. However, I then got CH Boondox Panama Jack ROMO after breeding for those first years and, all of a sudden, John Brading, Martha Grantham and Wally and Mary Jones all wanted to use him, despite my objections. When I saw the puppies from those first litters and their excellence, I soon changed my mind and started using PJ with a little success myself. From then on, I had CH Boondox Yorktown L ROMX, CH Boondox Sting v Kanawha L ROMO, CH Boondox Forrest Gump L ROMO and CH Boondox Polo L ROMX all coming along and so, with their health lines, temperaments and longevity, I soon was using them all in my breeding program as I knew from their pedigrees that they could pass on what I was looking for in each breeding. They always had what I was looking for and I am afraid I took advantage of their breeding and background to ensure that I was breeding the best to the best. In using these dogs, I was not just scraping by, but using really the best that I could in line-bred, top-producing dogs with basically the same pedigree. That was the game-changer I had in my Kennel.
Getting back to the crosses I was using at first, I started out in ’79 with a bitch (CH Rose Farms Choo Choo ROMX) that needed a better front and, when I saw the fronts that I got from that breeding, I realized that I could see the improvements and that they did stay with the dog as they matured. Seeing CH Boondox Chuckie Bunyan ROMO have that correct front and pass it on as he did to that next generation, gave me all that I needed to know. One of the first things I picked up was that the well-placed front and long shoulder blades and upper arm are recessive and that it can be there even without showing up for the Show Ring. I also knew that Choo Choo bred to a dog with a better front (such as CH Moffet’s Georgi ROMO and CH Moffet’s Midas ROMO) could produce what I wanted and I was able to breed her and then keep the best fronted ones for breeding and they, with great fronts from getting it from the sire and the dam, always produced it and that elusive front socked into the offspring and was always there for me and the dogs I was breeding. Wally and Mary Jones of Walmar Kennel also found this out and we often discussed it and both decided that it was indeed true. BTW,we were great friends and our dogs were crossed with each other all the time later and we never saw anything that made us think otherwise about how that front is passed on.
Mentioning Wally and Mary Jones also brings up the subject of mentoring and why I feel it is so valuable to the new breeder and exhibitor of Dachshunds. When I got started there were so many things about this Breed that I wanted to know and couldn’t find out in reading that I soon decided that I needed mentors that I could learn from and, by their history as breeders, I could see how they became successful and what knowledge they had about the Dachshund breed to share. Personally, I was active a year or so before I picked out who should teach me about my love for this long and low breed and I had used Hannelore Heller as a handler and saw what she had produced and bought. I was impressed and started going to shows near me to help her and to gather information about the dogs she owned and had purchased. To my mind, she was my first mentor and she taught me about fronts and type and really everything else. She was a great one. I also became friends with her other new client, Wally Jones, who was just as confused as I was and we mentored each other as we learned about the Breed. He also was a life-long friend and I hate to think about what we spent on phone calls between us, but, in the long run, it was worth it. Since Russ and Thelma Moffet were clients of Hannelore, I became very close to them at the shows and almost became part of Russ and Thelma’s family and soon they were my mentors as well. They were. IMO, the best Smooth breeders that I knew and had so much information to offer about what went before them and the dogs they bred to. Hannelore also introduced me to Dee Hutchinson and she was again the wisest person about the Breed and AKC that was there for me at all times. We were a great team and she gave me my first Longhair when I finished Choo Choo and I truly admired her breeding in all six coats and sizes. Her decisions were wise and said everything about her knowledge of the Dachshund Breed. Again, she was another great mentor. Also, I had several breeders and exhibitors who became mentors to me as well. Susan Jones, Martha Grantham, John Brading, Carol and Uffe Braae and Bob Bray all were in that group who went out after the shows and looked at each others’ dogs while they were being exercized. They were all valuable and helped me tremendously. All of these people were my mentors and I always acknowledged them as that. If you notice, they all had good dogs and had been in about as long as me. You need experience here to help you maintain that outlook. Remember, these breeders and exhibitors had already been winning Specialty awards from coast to coast and knew from their own experience how to win the bigger shows with Dachshund breeder-judges. That is what I was breeding for.
In the changes I was making in the Dachshunds I was breeding, there were a couple of things I kept in mind and this sort of thing does make you wonder about what I was doing in the Breed and why I wanted these features changed. First, when I was changing the dogs in the next litter, was I changing them just to get a new look or was I improving them to get them back to what I consider the Golden Age of the Breed-the 50s and 60s.? I thought about this and realized that these changes were made for BOTH reasons. First, some of these fixes were made to get back to the look of the old time Smooth Dachshunds that I still admire in their pictures, because I wanted to get those short hocks, beautiful fronts, wonderful shoulder sets and pretty terrific rears back in the mainstream. In other instances, like in the Longs and Wires, I was trying to add those features to the improving dog, because that is what I wanted in all my Varieties and some of these corrections were added to the Longs and Wires then and some were put back into the Smooths to show what should never have let them get away to begin with. Those changes were what I wanted to breed into the Dachshund and help these dogs get better by keeping what we had and also add anything else we needed along the way.
As a breeder and a Judge, many exhibitors complain because I am such a front judge that they think that is all I look at. Trust me when I tell you that the front is where I start looking at dogs because, as a dog that is in the field and also underground going after vermin, the front and neck sets the tone for this whole Breed and it is the basis for what people should use as a tool for what the dog does in the field. The depth of chest is right there below the set of shoulder and gives the dog room to move underground. The forechest set so far back on the body gives the dog lots of room to dig and use all that angulation the dog has. The oval front also means the dog can wriggle through the holes of whatever he is chasing and, by being oval, he can move and dig as well with that chest to rest on. The fact that the dog is oval in front and gets wider as the body goes on is also a boon to what the Dachshund is on the prowl for and makes the dog ready for what it wants to do…kill varmints! Anyway, this is why the Dachshund is called a ‘front’ Breed and it is also why I always say that the dogs I put up can do what they were bred for. There are many things I want to see in the Dachshund-beautiful head and arched neck, great set on of shoulder, wonderful feet, great body, fantastic set on of rear and a long tail with many other things there to be looked at and judged, but after I make sure that the forechest is where it should be and so is that neckset. Those are what should be first on our list and then I look at all the important lesser things and, in my mind, these are the things that I work on in my breedings. As important as the feet are (and they are very vital to a great moving Dachshund) and the head and the rear are, no one ever says that the Dachshund is a ‘foot’ breed or that it is a ‘rear’ breed. They are so necessary and they have to be strong and sound, but they are not what makes a fantastic Dachshund. Breed great fronts for awhile and you will make your mark in the Dachshund world.
A question I get asked often was do I breed for more coat and do I breed for a coat that looks good after a bath. For me, I was the last person that should have been asked that as I never cared about coat at all in my Longhairs. I started out with a nice bitch, Rose Farms Black Berry Buff L ROMO (who had a very nice coat length and passed it on) , and bred her to two of Hannelore’s dogs, CH B’s Javelin de Bayard ROMO and CH Gerolf das Zwerglein L ROMO, and then I got her niece, CH Rose Farms Country Girl L ROMX (beautiful body, not so good front and no coat at all) from Dee and I bred her in exactly the same way. With those several bitches that I produced and won with nationally, I had all that I needed to win all over the country and they. in turn, produced more quality than that with each breeding. From the Java bitches, I got fairly nice coats and from the Gerolf bitches, I got even more hair that was always in great condition and so hair problems was something that did not affect me. Sometimes, I didn’t get much coat at all and when I bred those sort of coatless Longhair bitches, they produced longer hair as well on that next generation and so I soon discovered that there was not one gene that made hair appear or not appear and that as long as the dogs were good enough, they could win anywhere I showed them and so I started showing them all over, finishing them and then breeding them back to PJ and his relatives to get that coat in greater length Getting coat length was never what I was interested in, but show quality, as usual, was always what I wished for in that next generation no matter the coat length or quality.
Mentioning that aunt and niece Longhairs that I had early in my whelping also made me think of how I got such consistent quality all at the same time. As I said, half of these Longhair bitches were sired by Java who was one of the most correct specimens I had ever gone over while the other half were sired by Gerolf who was perhaps the most beautiful Longhair that I also had a chance to use at stud. The bitches they sired were absolutely amazing and, as I have said so often again, no one sired bitches like Gerolf and they were invaluable to me in so many ways. Back then I had some great Java sired bitches like CH Rose Farms Zesabel of Boondox ROMO (out of Blackberry Buff and WB at the National) who produced fabulously when bred to PJ (too many Champions to count) and another DCA WB winner, CH Rose Farms Hannelore Boondox L (from Country Girl) who produced CH Boondox Chaps L ROMX and CH Boondox Cheers. My Gerolf bitches were led by CH Boondox Emma v Walmar L ROMO (who produced an all Champion litter including PJ as well as CH Boondox Yorktown L ROMO), CH Rose Farms Orchid v Boondox L ROMO (who produced so many Champions including Treasure and Shoney) and CH Rose Farms Elite v Boondox L (who produced Black Bart who sired Yorktown . Having these closely related bitches ready to be bred made PJ and the other sires being top producers almost inevitable. That quality being available to be bred to makes production better than you could imagine and it wasn’t until later that I realized how powerful that one-two aunt-niece combination meant to my dogs. Always keep in mind that this aunt-niece combo were top quality and top Dachshunds and could actually only help your line. That is what you want and almost have to have to remain at the top of the line at the Specialties and other big shows. These bitches were well bred and top producers and certainly left a mark on the quality of Dachshunds in the Show Ring.
Something else comes up often and many breeders are against having this available to help us out, but I certainly can disagree on this one as well. Here in the USA, since Dachshunds are one Breed, we can cross each coat with any other despite the size difference or anything else. Most people are not for this amazing concept even though it can be useful in helping out the quality of another coat, it can really help in curing health problems as well and, most particularly, it can eradicate the bad temperament that has occurred in some Varieties. In the not-so-recent past, some breeders saw the problem that Smooths had and decided to cross coats with the Longhairs and get that fabulous temperament back into the Smooth line. The most famous was Janet Wayock of Timbar Kennels who really fought that bad temperament gene in her early days in Smooths and, when she started judging, saw the better temperaments that the Longs had and bred one of her Smooth bitches to the fantastic Longhair, CH Han-Jo’s Ulyssis L ROMO, producing the great show dog and producer CH Timbar’s Hedley Lamar L ROMX who put her whole breeding program back to the front of the line. Personally, I had a Smooth bitch who went squirrely after her first season and had been almost finished, but I soon realized that I could never show her again unless that problem was fixed and so I bred her to PJ and got CH Boondox Ipsy Pipsy ROMX who set me back on the line as well. Why should we not take advantage of this gift from AKC? In my opinion, it is the right and correct thing to do.
Another question often asked is how big my dogs were and why they always basically looked alike. Again, that is asking the wrong party, because I never had a scale in my kennel that I could use to determine which dogs got shown or which ones stayed home because of a weight difference. My decisions were always made in terms of type and I wanted my Dachshunds to look, in bone and proportion, like all my other Dachshunds did and again that calls for really knowing what is good and correct in the line of dogs that you are raising. I never cared how big or how small they were because I wanted them all to have the same bone size and body type. Most people don’t know but I had Dachshunds of all sizes from Smooth bitch Specials who were around sixteen pounds or so to Longhair Specials who were around thirty pounds and, if their type and station was what I liked, I kept them and they became part of the Boondox show string at the shows because of their type, never their weight. I liked them all IF their proportions were good and, remember, I also wanted a little leg underneath them and they had to have the ability to cover ground in an easy manner. The reason that mine all stayed at the weight I liked is that I bred the low stationed ones to dogs moderate and higher on legs. The taller bitches again were bred to the moderate and lower stationed dogs. I felt by crossing them with each other I managed to keep them all at a reasonable weight with that look that I really filled my eye with heavy bone and well-made muscular bodies. I never bred tall ones to tall ones nor did I breed lower ones to lower ones because that would make the lower ones dwarf-looking and the higher stationed ones weedy and unattractive and, as I have said previously, they would have been far from the type that I wanted to be what exhibitors and breeders think comes from the Boondox Kennel and I never let the scale decide on which one got shown or stayed home when I went to shows. Other breeders and exhibitors may not have liked my dogs in the Show Ring, but they did have to say that my dogs always looked like each other and all of mine were at the good weight that I liked for them.
I often say that I liked that easy free motion that my dogs used when they were showing and I always demanded that they covered ground easily and effortlessly and almost flew around the ring. I always let the dog choose its own pace when I gaited them and I never practiced with them to slow them down and make them travel at the rate that I liked them to use. In other words, I wanted each dog to travel at the rate that made them comfortable because the Dachshunds being at ease with their movement always made them look relaxed and ready to move instead of wrestling with their handlers to go very slow like those handlers wanted. When the Dachshunds were setting the pace also meant that they would really move out when they got the chance and I know everyone will hate me for this, but I loved to see the dogs actually cover ground and stay ahead of their handlers and show that the ground in the Show Ring was theirs to cover at the pace they liked and that made them comfortable. I never liked to see the dogs being rushed around and wanted to see that easy ground-covering motion go around that Ring so very easily. I know exhibitors don’t like it, but I wanted Dachshunds to move quickly and smoothly around the Ring and I wanted them to at least think they were in control again.
As we get towards the end of this really long article, I will now finally get around to talking about type which everyone knows is my favorite aspect of breeding great Dachshunds who look like they could be from any of the magazines I look at. I have described that great fronted Dachshund with the great neckset and arched neck and beautiful head that has the withers where they are supposed to be with a beautiful underline and gorgeous sides on that body with the front legs being directly under where the neck sets onto the body, a straight topline that goes into the rear which is there for the Dachshund to display that rear leg set that is described in our Standard. Those are the main features that I insist on seeing in a great Dachshund and besides the effortless motion, there are other aspects of the Dachshund that need work as well and we, as breeders have to have the whole dog be perfect in every way and there are so many ways it can need work that breeding that next generation can be a lifelong effort. Remember that type also includes station and size and with all these things being part of type it just sort of makes your head spin. As I have stated previously, there is a certain look I like with that great conformation and it is having a little heavier bone and an appearance that looks stouter than it is. When I started, I had moderate to low stationed dogs and never used the higher stationed ones in my breeding at all, but, once I had Sting to show (who was higher stationed and had a look that, at that time, never actually caught my eye, I kept him at home until he was fifteen months old since he had that leggier look from his mother, CH Bayard la Manon, and it was a look that I never used at all in the Show Ring or in my breeding program until Sting came along), I also had Treasure to breed and she was about as low as you could go with very short legs and had her outline from the time she was 12 weeks old. I then bred Sting and Treasure and the results were perhaps my best litter ever with all the puppies at the moderate size that I loved and then, when those puppies also became Top Producers, I did finally determine that I could breed the correct type from any Dachshund that I had in my Kennel. Knowing that you can breed any size Dachshund (with the correct type) to others within your Kennel should make you a happier person as you now realize that any Dachshund can still be valuable to correct size and type. They all, when well bred, can be valuable to you.
Another thing you have to watch out for is when a new Dachshund comes along and does a little winning and everyone wants to breed to it. I suppose breeding to this “Flavor of the Month” is good, but, when I am looking for that next generation, I want the best dog to be used on my bitches and so I personally would never use that dog until he had a lot of outstanding offspring out there, because, as I have said often (probably TOO often) you are breeding for the next round of winners as well as several more generations not even thought of yet. It is a long-term effort to breed for several generations. Breed for the Top Producers with the right type and you will always be where you are supposed to be in the Dachshund business. When you do breed, breed to the ones with a full family of Top Producers as those are the ones who will please you as you go along and, by having all the Producers there, you are insisting that the type and motion will more likely be there in that next litter and further on down the road. As I keep saying, breed always for quality and for things to change without losing what you already had and you will know that your breeding program is covering ground.
Now, in breeding for type, there are other things you have to be on the lookout for and one of the most important is just being a Dachshund which is being sure of itself and looking around and almost demanding attention. This rarely shows up, but you have to be aware of it when it does appear and it means that the dog is so sure of himself that he is a Dachshund and that is really all I can say -I want my Dachshund to look like a Dachshund and especially KNOW it is one. When they gait, there could be a little playing around before the brain kicks in and they start really moving and covering the ground easily, but I always count on that being a “Dachshund” and I realize that they just have to be themselves first before their show quality jumps out and shows you what that is. When they stack, they are pretty sure of themselves and will move around before they settle in and, again, show what a Dachshund looks like (although they think that moving around is what makes them a Dachshund). No matter what happens, these dogs are first hounds and then Dachshunds and you have to wait until they decide to co-operate. This in no way says that they can have bad temperaments as you can tell how they feel about Judges and other people by their reactions in the Ring, but they are not there to be your puppet as, above all else, they are Dachshunds.
Finally, there is one last thing that often causes confusion and dissatisfaction among Dachshund breeders, new and old, and that is, as your Kennel is building in size, what do you do with the dogs and bitches who you are probably not going to use to build your bloodline? First of all, these dogs you are placing have to be of top quality, full of Dachshund type and with the fabulous motion that you want yourself and also being from Top Producing lines that will make that offspring as valuable as anything you do breed and keep yourself. Then, you set the price and, if it is something that might produce what you like, you stay on as co-owner with the possibility of sharing puppies with them when it does get bred. Here is where the trouble starts as many new breeders want to control what the new puppy buyer does with their bitch and pick out where they breed it and whose dogs they breed it, too. Trust me, it is hard to let go, but these new people have to make their own mistakes and they ARE the new owners. I always discuss where they should go for breeding and I hope they follow my advice, but in many cases they do not, but, in the long run, I never depend on it. If that happens, maybe they will follow my advice next time and I can get my puppy back then, because I always charge a little less when I sell this way because I hope to get a puppy, of the right breeding, back into my Kennel. Watching the stuff that goes on with these puppies makes me wonder when these people work with their dogs as they have so much time to go after the puppy’s new owners that it makes me scratch my head. When people don’t take your advice about where to breed, that is their mistake and, hopefully, they will find out why, but I, for one, do not have the time or energy to argue with them about it. I long ago just decided to sell the puppy to the co-owner and, if it works out, I do get my puppy back and if they go their own way, I do not, but despite that I still have my whole kennel full of Dachshunds.
This long message is now over and I hope I have provided some information on how to breed to get better dogs and how to not get mixed up worrying about the small stuff. Breed for better quality and always work to get improved Dachshunds as that is what we are interested in.
Dan Harrison
Nov 2021