AKC Dachshund Breed Standard

AKC Chihuahua Breed Standard

COLORS:
There are more colors and patterns in the Dachshund breed than any other breed of dogs. Most registries will accept only 8 colors and 5 patterns for Registration or show. Even for experienced breeders correctly identifying a puppy can be extremely difficult.

There are seven (7) basic breed standard recognized colors associated with the dachshund breed. Keep in mind that while there are only 8 recognized breed standard colors that there are many shades of these colors that are simply registered as the basic color. Red being the number one color that throws many breeders due to its wide variety of coat shades and nose pad colors.

• Red
• Black
• Chocolate
• Blue
• Fawn (Isabella)
• Cream
• Wildboar

Red: (dominant) Dachshunds are a basic red or brown to a mahogany red to a light yellow in color. Reds do not have any tan markings. A small amount of white on chest is acceptable. Nose and nails must be black. Exception would be the wheaten and liver nose red better known as the dilute red). Any pattern is acceptable.

Clear Red: Clear red is a light red (often confused with Crème). They do not have any tan markings or a single black hair in their coat. Any white markings are undesirable. Nose and nails are black in color. Clear red is not an AKC recognized color but is referred to as a color by many breeders.  Any pattern is possible. A clear red is extremely difficult to distinguish from Cream. An accurate pedigree with knowledge in genetics is helpful. Clear Reds are genetically black dogs that have two e-recessive alleles.

Dilute Red: Dilute Red is not a recognized color but used by breeders to better clarify what they have. Dilute reds come from reds showing the recessive blue-dilution gene.  Blue-dilution will dilute all dark pigments (which turns black into steel blue.  Nose, nails, and eye rims will appear blue/slate/grey.  Its red coat will appear a red-yellow and "washed out." This is the same dilution found in Blue and Fawn. Red dachshunds that carry for tan points might appear to have tan points as a puppy but these tan points will disappear with age. 

Liver Nose Red: Liver-nosed Reds have liver-colored noses. Liver-nosed reds are reds that carry only chocolate and NO black. These dachshunds can produce chocolate  pups and chocolate/tan puppies if they also carry the tan point gene.

Black:  Black is a black coat with no markings. The coat is a glossy black.  It has a black nose, nails, eye rims and dark brown eyes.  Black is recessive to red, most of the time black/tans bred to black/tans will produce only black/tan pups but sometimes a red puppy can occur.  Black is dominant to all other colors except red and Wildboar.

Black/Tan is a glossy black coat with tan markings or points over the eyes, under the tail, on the feet and around the muzzle. Nose, nails and eye rims are black. Rarely there is so little tan that a dog looks entirely black. Black is dominant to all other colors except red and Wildboar.

Black/Cream: is where the body itself is black but the markings are a light blond almost appearing white.  Nose, nails and eye rims must be black.  "Black/cream" dachshunds can produce cream pups just like creams.  The cream points are gained from inheriting the double recessive cream points instead of tan.

Chocolate: Chocolate is any color from red to dark chocolate. Chocolates must have tan markings to distinguish the chocolate from the red. Nose, nails and eye rims must be chocolate or liver with hazel/green eyes.  Chocolate cannot make black pigment since they lack the allele so they do not have any black on their body anywhere.   Chocolate is recessive to most all other colors.  In order to produce chocolate pups, both parents have to be either chocolate or be carriers of chocolate.  Chocolate cannot make black pigment. A chocolate will not have any black on their body anywhere. Chocolate is recessive to most all other colors.  In order to produce chocolate/tan pups, both parents have to be either chocolate/tan or be carriers of chocolate/tan. 

Chocolate/Cream: is where the body itself is chocolate but the markings are a light blond almost appearing white.  Nose, nails and eye rims MUST be liver/red with hazel/green eyes.  Chocolate cannot make black pigment so they do not have any black on their body anywhere.  Chocolate is recessive to most all other colors.  In order to produce chocolate/cream pups, both parents have to be either chocolate/cream or be carriers of chocolate/cream.   The cream points are gained from inheriting the double recessive cch-alleles/cream points instead of tan.

Blue: Blue is any color from a light gray to a dark blue sometimes described as gunmetal color.  Blue must have gray/blue/slate noses, nails and eye rims.  It is genetically a black who inherits the double recessive "blue-dilution" that dilutes all dark colors on the entire body.  Absolutely no black is allowed on a blue dog.

Blue/Tan: Blue/tan is any color from a light gray to a dark blue with tan markings. Blues have gray/blue noses and they should have no black on them.  It is any color from a light gray to a dark blue sometimes described as gunmetal color with tan markings. Blues must have gray/blue noses, nails and eye rims. 

Blue/Cream: Blue/Cream is any color from a light gray to a dark blue sometimes described as gunmetal color with cream markings. Blues must have gray/blue noses, nails and eye rims. 

Fawn (Isabella): Fawn is a blue/fawn color.  Noses, nails and eye rims must be liver. It is the dilute form of the Chocolate and appears like a washed-out chocolate.  These dogs carry the same recessive dilution alleles as the blue/tans.  

Isabella/Tan is a blue/fawn color with tan markings. Nose, nails and eye rims must be liver.  The dilute form of Chocolate/tan.  Tan markings are slightly affected and may appear washed-out.  

Fawn/Cream:  The dilute form of the Chocolate.  The cream points are gained from inheriting the double recessive cch-alleles/cream points instead of tan.

Cream: Cream is a yellow or yellow/off-white (blond) color.  Creams do not have any tan markings. Nose and nails must be black. A cream has no red tint. True creams are genetically red dachshunds but they carry the double recessive chinchilla (cchcch) alleles that dilute their red coat into that cream color.  All true creams are born with grayish/brown hair that gets lighter as the puppy gets older and turns into the cream color. Shaded creams can have black hairs interspersed in their coat. Unlike the d-allele of blues, the chinchilla dilution allele does not affect dark pigment therefore creams can have black nose, nails, eyes, and even black hair in their coat. 

Wheaten: is the light brown/blond color of straw found in WIRE-hair only and resembles the cream in long and smooth coat.  Wheaten is used for WIRE HAIRED only. Wheaten have black noses, nails and eye rims.

Wildboar: Wildboar is a double-coated dachshund with a lighter brown base coat and a black overlay. It is distinguishable by its lighter base coat showing through on muzzle, around eyes and under side of body. Nose, nails and eye rims are black or liver/red if dilution is involved. One parent must be a Wildboar to produce Wildboar offspring.

Concerns about Creams

• It is important to note here that any color can be produced without tan/cream markings.
   
• Four of the colors (black, chocolate, blue and fawn) may or may not have tan or cream markings on legs, chest, eyebrows and under the base of the tail.
   
• Red will NEVER have tan or cream markings

English Creams vs. American Creams ...
The cream is probably the most controversial color associated with the Dachshund breed.  Cream is a genetic makeup of the dog as well as its outward color appearance. The creams originated in England hence their label "English Cream". However, they are simply registered as creams/Cremes.  

A cream can only be achieved from bloodlines which trace back to the English bloodline.  An American or African bloodline will not produce a cream unless there are English Bloodline Creams in the background.  It should be noted that the AKC did not register the first English Creams as Creams in their registry. 

An English Cream has a slightly different head formation than those of other genetic make-up. English Creams also have finer hair with thicker hair coats that flow more smoothly over the sides of their body.

Two RED gene dogs can produce cream offspring if they both carry Chinchilla 'cch' recessively and those genes align themselves in the gene pool.

Creams seldom are born cream in appearance, they are more times than not born a grayish/brown black which slowly changes into a cream color between 8-20 weeks of age.  Any offspring being born what appears to be a cream should not be marked one until it is over 4 months of age and its true color has time to make itself known.

PATTERNS
There are 11 patterns associated with the Dachshund (12 if you include Wildboar). Several are never actually used but simply acknowledged.

Solids
AKC recognizes Red and Cream solid colors only. A solid colored Dachshund should have no white on it and the nose, pad and nail should be black. They are no markings or secondary color of any kind. Solids are simply registered as: 

• Red
• Black
• Chocolate
• Blue
• Fawn (Isabella)

Bi (two colored)
When we refer to two colored dachshunds it means they are the base color (black, chocolate, blue, Isabella) with tan/cream markings around their eyes, feet, muzzle and base of tail. They may also be a solid colored dog with minimal white markings on chest, feet, tail or stomach. The "Bi" description itself is dropped in lieu of using the two 2) colors involved and are registered as such:

Tri is a dog with a solid colored body with tan/cream points on muzzle, legs, eyebrows, chest and under base of tail with minimal white being somewhere on the chest, stomach, feet and/or tip of tail.  While the Tri pattern distinction has beenoverlooked in past years it is one that is being used more with the amount of white areas that are now being bred into the solid colored dachshund.  Red and Cream are the only exception for which a tri can not be used in the description.

Tuxedo is a dog with a solid-colored body, 4 white feet, white chest and a partial to whole collar. This pattern is a genetic development of the piebald gene but is just short of spotting and does not breed as a true Piebald.  One parent, however, must be a Tuxedo to produce Tuxedo offspring.  The effect of the Tuxedo pattern would be if you were to stand the dog up on its hind feet and it would look to be sporting a Tuxedo coat. Tuxedo patterned dogs may or may not have tan/cream markings on the muzzle, legs, eyebrows, chest and under base of tail.

Piebald is a dog with a base coat of white with single colored spots of Red, Black, Chocolate, Cream, Blue or Fawn. The white color is dropped in lieu of using the description of Piebald which means "White".  The term "piebald" means "white spotting" so the word "white" should not be used in describing a dog as piebald. The tan/cream part of the description is used only if the dog has the tan markings around the muzzle, over the eyes, on the legs and under the base of the tail. A piebald-patterned dachshund always has a white tipped tail.  Piebald is a recessive gene so both parents must be piebald or carry for piebald in order to produce piebald offspring.  2 Piebalds bred together can produce only piebald offspring.

Merle (Dapple) is a solid-body dog with or without tan/cream markings with irregular diluted patches of color intermingled in the coat.  The gene involved is actually the merle gene which haphazardly bleaches colors of the coat and often dilutes the eyes themselves to blue.  A dachshund with blue eyes is a merle (dapple). Dapple: Is a lighter color than the base color. The base color is always the darkest regardless of the amount. The darkest color is always the first color to be used in the color description. It is very important to acknowledge that a Red or Cream Merle is more than not only visibly identifiable as a merle during it's early days of life.  A dachshund with even small dapple is a dapple and will produce dapple offspring. Merle is dominant and cannot be carried in the gene pool.  One parent must be merle/dapple to produce merle/dapple offspring.

Double Merle (Double Dapple) is a solid body dog with or without tan/cream markings with diluted patches of color intermingled in the coat along with patches of white.  The double merle refers to the double diluted white patches in the coat. Double Dapple only occurs when both parents are dapples. Areas of white on the body, mixed with mostly the dapple color. There is a danger with a double dapple of blindness or deafness if the double dappling occurs in the eyes or ears. Double dapple is the result of a dachshund inheriting two dominant M alleles (i.e. from mating two single dapples together).  Double dapples are prone to deafness, blindness, deformities and pre-birth deaths.  

Brindle has the appearance of black tiger stripes on a dachshund's body or markings.  Black/tan brindles will only have visible stripes on their tan points.  The brindle pattern is dominant and one parent must be brindle to produce brindle offspring. Brindle: Brindle has the appearance of black tiger stripes on a dachshund's body or markings. Black/tan brindles will only have visible stripes on their tan points. The brindle pattern is dominant and one parent must be brindle to produce brindle offspring.
 
Sable: The sable pattern is the most misidentified pattern of all dachshund patterns and is seen only in long-haired reds.  All hairs on a red sable except the face and feet are banded with two colors.  The hair band closest to the body is red and the tip is black.  True red sables will look like a black/tan from a distance due to the black hair tips yet red face and feet. Sable is dominant to all colors except dominant red.  One parent must be a sable to produce sable offspring.

COATS
There are 3 types of coats

Smooth coat: Short, smooth and shining. Smooth is dominant to the Long-hair variety.

Longhair: Sleek, glistening and often slightly wavy hair under the neck and the fore arches of the body, ears, behind the legs giving the dog an elegant appearance. The Long-hair variety has been said to have been created by breeding small Spaniels into the dachshund breed but there is no known documentation to prove the theory. Longhair is recessive and both parents must be longhair or carry for longhair to produce longhair puppies.  However, 2 longhairs bred together can produce only longhaired offspring.

Wirehair coat: The whole body is covered with a uniform, rough, hard outer coat but a finer, softer undercoat.