Covering the Ground Easily
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I realize that I usually keep coming back to this subject, but I certainly am one who always says that the Dachshund IS a front breed. No matter what, the ones I go for have the best looking fronts, but, along with that, the rest of the dog is pretty damned good indeed. When I breed, I breed for perfection and hope the body will be there and, in most cases, it IS there. Then, before you keep the dog, you have to have that perfection in front as well, topping it off with well set back forequarters, with an oval forechest, smooth withers and topline, great shoulder angulation with a depth of chest that falls directly under the withers. I want the dog to look like it can charge around the ring, covering ground and owning the Show Ring. I want that dog to be beautifully set under himself, having a stride that moves easily and smoothly and covering more ground than the ones he is competing with. That is what I want to bring into the ring as a Boondox Show Dog and I want that dog’s attitude and movement rewarded by the Judge. The dog’s beauty and correctness (and that correctness again covering the dog’s entire structure) is always what I want to show the people watching the Class I am entering and I want them to see the movement and power that the correct form brings to the Dachshund Show Ring. When I was breeding Dachshunds, I would often have five or six litters to chose dogs from and that depth of dogs gave me a great advantage in quality and let me be very, very picky about what represented me in the Show Ring. Always remember, I wanted those dogs to have correct structure all over their body, but that the ones I chose to show myself had everything that I considered important already there BEFORE I picked out the ones with a great front that represented me to others in the Dachshund fancy.
Anyway, after I add the front to the mix, then there are certain things I look for and certainly have to have to appear on the end of your lead then. I start with gaiting the dog and getting him used to that attention it brings him by always praising him and having him look around and see what he is out there for. I want him (or her!) to relax and love gaiting while realizing that this attention is fun. I want the dog to be out at the end of the lead, showing me where we go to have our time together. As they get used to these walks, they should get used to leading and start covering more ground easily and start actually owning where we walk together. As I keep saying, I want these great fronted/great bodied dogs to own the time we spend together (which is usually a little over an hour or so) and want them to think they themselves are the reason for spending time outside the Kennel. I want them to always be looking around, striking a pose and really seeing what is going on around them.
When all that happens, I want the dog to really start moving and use that well set-back front to own the area and to take fewer, longer strides, but still cover more ground while he easily moves freely around his space. Those legs should always be of use and, with the way they are constructed, that front should really get the body moving and make me, as the owner, almost have to run to keep up with them. These dogs, built as they are, should be taking fewer steps but cover more ground and really catch my eye as they move around easily and look like they are enjoying their time with me. They have to want to use that front and that is the reason I want that structure and motion in my dogs. The correctly made Dachshunds, but ones that don’t really use the front like the best ones do, are the ones that almost make it to the top and, if none of the great movers are there, they would be at the top of the Class. Sifting out the great movers is the way I go through my Kennel and the ones that I keep and use for breeding are the well made ones who float around and cover ground like it wasn’t even there. Personally, I always bred bitches with that correct look which she had all over that body to the dogs with those beautiful fronts who really floated around the ring and, by doing that, I kept everything I needed from one generation to the next.
I realize that this differentiation is hard to add into what I like when choosing dogs to show and breed from, but it is something that makes me keep searching for the best of the best and I consider the great fronts that can really move to be what I am searching for when I am judging. There are certain things I look for and I hope, at the end of the day, that I have gorgeous, well-constructed dogs who actually float around the ring with ease to be my Winners and Bests of Variety in each coat when I am judging. Then, I am satisfied with what I picked. Trust me, I demand quality in the dogs I pick and, and expect all the parts of the dog to be what I want while they win in my Ring. Are the ones with not-so-good fronts better in some places than the ones with the Fronts I like? Maybe, but, as I have stated over and over, those great fronts HAVE to be recognized when they are shown and those fronts are what I always want when breeding.
When I am judging a class of Dachshunds and there are several out there with great fronts, how do I go through and pick out the best moving ones to be the Winners? First, I send them all the way around one at a time. Then, send a couple around and seeing them move together shows which one can cover the ground like you want and, as I decide the best moving ones with the best structure, I realize that these well built, great movers are taking the Top Prizes in my Ring and that, in itself , gives me satisfaction in that I am trying, in my own way, to show where the Breed needs to go and to exhibit what we must have to keep the Breed alive and in motion. Always remember. the dog with a great front and who moves slowly and easily around the Show Ring is precisely what I am looking for.
Sometimes, though I have to take other dogs into consideration, even though the structure is not quite as good as some of the others. It is easy to just keep correct structure and proportion at the head of the line, but there are some that are NOT structurally correct, but can move like no other, but, as a Dachshund aficionado, I certainly have to use them and show that you can be a great mover with a less than perfect front. .
I remember back in the early 80s, there was a Smooth Standard who was shown a lot, all over the Country, at Specialty and All Breed shows. When he entered the Show Ring, he out moved everything in the class AND had a great temperament and wanted attention from all he saw in the Show Ring. He really stood out. He won a lot and, with that fabulous attitude he had, along with the poor Temperaments so common in that Variety back then, I decided that I would use him as a Stud dog. I asked if I could go over him and they, of course, agreed, so I went over the dog after the Show. When I touched his front, my mouth flew open . His shoulders went straight up from the point of shoulder and right up into the Neck. There must have been a gap of five or six inches from where I thought that shoulder should be resting into the point of withers. At that time, I sort of backed off of the dog’s structure and decided not to use him in breeding because of that front failure in him, but I was still watching his offspring who, to my eye, did seem to have the construction that I wanted in the Breed I was showing with the well-placed front making these long strides and really covering ground with the fronts that I actually liked to feel and appreciate. After much thought on the front he had, I really watched what he produced in regard to shoulder placement and where that shoulder blade rested on the new puppy. I saw the problems and whether he produced that front which was well placed and set where I liked it. From bitches who were well-bred and had the correct fronts that I loved, he produced exactly what I was looking for and so I eventually bred to him and soon added a son or two to my line and from them I always got that front that is still so hard to maintain in the Dachshund Breed. In judging, I would have placed him between the two fronts that I liked as I always wanted structure, movement and placement in that order when I looked at fronts and these had all I wanted in the Dachshund Breed. Getting that correct movement overcame the sort of poor construction he had in covering the ground in that smooth easy way that I want to see in the Show Ring. While not perfect in conformation, he moved as if he were and that is always where he would be in the line up if I were pointing at the Winners.
Then, another Smooth breeder overcame her problems and started raising the type that I loved with correct construction and a temperament that loved to show. The line finally got a great Male producer that had everything I liked except the dog that she picked as the great producer did not really have a well laid back front and, IMO, was not really set under himself at all. While I admired the dog, the structure was just not there for me. Since the great front was a recessive, it soon became apparent that the young dog did produce that well set forechest and many of his offspring did have that front that I demanded, so I just bred to his offspring who produced well for others in that department. Soon, I was getting dogs from that wonderfully tempered dog but with a front that was great moving and well set under themselves which basically meant I was not breeding to one I didn’t like in front but to his offspring who had exactly what I wanted in the Front with well laidback shoulders, lots of forechest, smooth shoulders set cleanly onto those great withers and the shoulders well placed on the great body that we all love.
I did judge this dog once and easily gave it BV at a Specialty because I loved everything else about him except his shoulder placement. He had so many things I liked, I had to use him, though I certainly noticed what I did not like about him. However, since, in my opinion, that front can be recessive, I had to use him in my final line up. I certainly used even ones with lesser fronts as long as they did use that front as one with a well-set up one did and to see later that he did pass on that great front when bred to bitches with beautifully set on fronts and produced many National Specialty winners that I really admired. However, I personally would never have used him at stud on one of my bitches in that, since the great front is recessive, the gorgeous well laidback front had to be there before I would use him on one of my bitches. That was another reason that I was very picky about which dogs I bred to, but also it prevented me from ever going backward from having that beautifully made front in my next generation of Show dogs.
I am probably wearing everyone out with my concern for the well made Front, but it IS that important to me. In breeding, I always used the dogs who were almost perfectly made and who used that front in an easy manner, covering lots of ground very easily and making it very difficult for the less well made dogs to keep up with him. I also wanted that dog to be a Top Producer who had indeed produced that correct look who moved as I wanted him to. Even though we all had a lot of fun around showing the dogs back then, I was always just that serious about picking out the dogs I bred to get that look in the next batch of offspring. Remember, after breeding Smooths and Longs for over ten years, I had never bred to one of my dogs before and always was on the lookout to maintain what I had in my Kennel until I brought out CH Boondox Panama Jack ROMO and my friends all decided to use him (even with me advising against it) . When I saw those puppies, I realized I did have one to breed to and so started using him and his offspring on all the beautifully made bitches I had in my line. I was still very careful that all the males moved as I thought they should since, as I have said over and over, I was always on the move forward and never backward.
In Judging the dogs in the Show Ring, I, of course, always want the dogs to be perfect and, since I do maintain that this is a front breed, I am really hard on these fronts that are presented to me. I soon sort of divide the dogs into three or four types. The first and best one is the dog with the correct front, shoulders placed where they should be, leaving lots of room in front of the forechest with the depth of chest directly under the point of withers. With that great front, the dog should almost float around the Show Ring and sort of leave the lesser movers behind. I realize I shouldn’t have to keep saying it, but the rest of the dog has to be pretty good and, in my mind, keep all the bases covered as that is what I am out there judging. However, this article is about finding the great front to use in producing that next generation which is really what we are doing in the Show Ring. The next two batches of dogs would be the correctly made dogs, but ones that really cannot move like those easy movers that have the type, structure and breeding to smoothly and quickly go around the Ring. These just do not move like that first bunch of dogs and do not float around like that bunch does. The next group are the great moving ones who are a little off in construction or are a little set forward but who can really cover the ground. I, personally, would go for the dogs with some problems that move well and catch my attention on the move. Then I would use the ones who are correctly made but just not as quick on their feet as the ones above them. You have to remember that we are after the great movers who can move effortlessly and so they must always go to the head of the line. The correctly made ones would go next as their construction is worth something even though they do not have the smooth movement that the other two groups did. Then, there are the less well made dogs who are not good movers nor are they correct in that front that, I hate to say it, I am as usual on the look out for. I think that picking out the best front is very easy as what we are looking for is correct construction, easy movement and covering the ground very easily. Obviously, that first bunch has all that covered and would be easily at the top of the class, making you a very happy Judge. Next would be the ones with a flaw but who can cover ground almost as good as the first batch and should also make you smile in remembering them. Third would be the correctly made ones but just not as quick going around the ring as those first two Groups but who would still look good in the pictures. Then would be the less well made ones that could not really cover ground that well and, if those are the winners, it is going to be a very, very long day.
I hate to go on about looking for those great fronts, as I have written far too much about it in this article. I guess maybe we old timers did have a lot to think about when I made these hard choices and tried to decide what was available to me in our whelping pens, because, after all, that next generation is what I should be thinking about when I decide which bitch to breed to what dog. That next round of offspring and its correctness should always be at the forefront of my mind when I decide to make the choice of what I need to look at in the whelping pen. First of all, I do not want to lose anything I had in my current litters and, in other words, always double up on what is correct and never let anything slide back to what it was a few generations back. Secondly, always remember what you conquered to get here in your Kennel. As I have said over and over, never lose what you already have to gain getting a great new feature into your line of dogs. We always want to get better and keep adding what we want to our line without giving up something important that we already have.
Dan Harrison
April, 2021