Dorndorf was started in 1972 by my mother Emma Nance. Her 11 years showing and breeding standard longhaired dachshunds before she died in 1983 were wonderfully successful. One example of this is that the only female in the Dorndorf 'A' litter, Dorndorf's Andrea L, whelped in 1973, was Winners Bitch to finish at 15 months old at the Dachshund Club of America National Specialty in 1974. Before she died in 1983, my mother gave me my choice of the bitch puppies in her last litter, the 'F' litter, born several months earlier. With this precious gift, Felda, I wanted to breed the best standard longhairs I possibly could. But what did 'breeding the best' mean? In the mid-1970s, I had gone to my first field trials and become very interested in the "hunting spirit, good nose, and loud tongue" qualities of the dachshund. In the late '70s I saw excellent displays of these qualities by a few wirehaired dachshunds of European bloodlines at field trials on the east coast. My dogs sure didn't trail and voice on game like those dogs did! I decided, before I bred my first litter, that I was going to commit myself to breeding standard longhairs of excellent conformation AND excellent field qualities. It has not been an easy row to hoe. My perspective of what constitutes excellent conformation hasn't changed much through the years, but the type of dog most valued in the show ring has subtly drifted to more exaggeration; many are much larger-sized, heavier-boned, lower-stationed, and more heavily-coated than what renders the dachshund "especially suited for hunting game below ground, for beating the bush in search of game, and for trailing". In addition, it has been exceedingly difficult to locate intact high-quality standard longhairs that voice on game. Trailing voice (spurlaut) is an essential quality of the breed that has been almost lost in the United States in the size and variety of dachshund I love most. But I have located and used three spurlaut longhaired males (two Americans and one Swede) to sire four litters over the years with the result that, today, just one of the seven dachshunds that I own does not voice. With my youngest dogs being Nexus, Owl, and Olive, I have made a lot of progress in my breeding program...and, God willing, I'm not done yet!