I am happy to report that Viljo has all 42 permanent teeth completely in or coming in. I have been looking at his teeth regularly, both for my own information and for giving him experience with really thorough bite examination.

Vijo's father has complete dentition; his mother is missing one 1st premolar (not considered a fault).

It's funny (not ha, ha) that until a few years ago, while I knew what correct and incorrect bites looked like, I had never counted teeth or even knew how many teeth a dog should have. "Should have" is the key note on this topic. Since my involvement with the Deutscher Teckelklub, I have learned that not all dogs have complete dentition and that there is a genetic component to missing teeth. It was in 2000, and my first experience with a German judge, that I first saw any judge open dogs mouths wide and study teeth, and I'd been going to shows and observing judges off and on for 32 years.

Following are statements from the FCI Standard for the Dachshund regarding teeth.

Faults: M3 (Molar 3) are not to be considered when judging. Lack of 2PM1 (Premolar 1) is not to be penalized. The absence of PM2 should be regarded as a fault, if other than M3, no other teeth are missing, also a departure from the correctly closing scissor bite.

Serious Faults: The absence of teeth other than those described among faults or eliminating faults.

Eliminating Faults: Lack of other premolars or molars. Exceptions : The two PM1, one PM2 without consideration of M3, as mentioned under Faults.

What this means is that a dog may be missing one or two 1st premolars (the teeth just behind the canines), and one or both 3rd molars (found only on the lower jaw), without fault.

Missing a 2nd premolar is a fault.

Missing any incisor, any canine, any 3rd premolar, any 4th premolar, any 1st molar, or any 2nd molar is a disqualifying fault. Missing a 2nd premolar plus any other tooth (except 3rd molars) is also a disqualifying fault. Missing more than two 1st premolars is a disqualifying fault.

So now I pay attention, not just to the alignment of incisors and canines, but to the presence of all the teeth.  

Above left: This is a good canine dental chart. Click on the diagram for a full-size view.

Above right: The bite of a 5-6 month old puppy is in transition. During this transition, puppies go from 28 teeth to 42. This photo shows adult incisors, two erupting adult premolars, and a puppy canine with no evidence yet of the permanent tooth.   

An excellent photo of a quail-retrieving dachshund was published early this year in the "Club Outdoors Minnesota" column of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Axel Odin von Dorndorf, six years old, is family companion and deer tracker for Stan & Alecia Wenner in North Carolina. Alecia sent me new photos of Odin today. I have included them (the bottom two) on a new photo page featuring Odin. Alecia, thank you!

FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf, owned and handled by Stan Knoll, placed 4th in the class of 16 Field Champion Dogs! This was at the Bayou Dachshund Club of New Orleans field trial today in Pricedale, Mississippi. The Knolls did not attend the Saturday trial. Stan says they got home late Saturday from spending Thanksgiving with relatives, went to bed at 12:30 Saturday night, and got up at 4am Sunday to go to this trial! Congratulations, Stan and Oslo!

FC Autumn Olive von Dorndorf TD RA OA NAJ Wa-T BHP-G, owned by John Willmore & Diane Webb, had an excellent day at the Orange Empire Dog Club's agility trial. She qualified in Open Standard (already has the title) AND won the Open Jumpers With Weaves class for her first Open Jumpers leg! Congratulations to Olive, John (handling), and Diane!

Olive ran a full seven seconds under course time in the Jumpers class! Here is a video of that performance.

Julie Stock and I attended an awesome performance of Handel's Messiah, many thanks to Jennifer Fry and Jennifer's family. The fabulous nearly three hour program by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Columbus Symphony Chorus was preceded by an enjoyable, informative one hour lecture by WOSU's Christopher Purdy.

Jennifer Fry is a member of the Columbus Symphony Chorus. I know they practiced many, many hours for this huge two-performance production which garnered great reviews! I was awestruck by both the music and the Ohio Theatre!

The Ohio Theatre is a performing arts center in downtown Columbus. It was built in 1928 and is known as the "Official Theatre of the State of Ohio". In 1969, a local development company wanted to put an office tower on the site! The Ohio Theatre was saved from demolition by members of the community and completely restored. In 1977, it was declared a National Historic Landmark.

Often during the performance, I looked around at the majestic theater and thought, my God, they wanted to tear this down for offices??

There is a story on the Outdoor Life site about a lab that retrieved a dead buck from the middle of a lake! The story isn't new but it is new to me. The photos are great! I admire dogs like this.

Nexus, Viljo, and I were out on our usual walk in the field this morning. The wind was blowing but it wasn't cold and we were enjoying ourselves.

Nexus suddenly pounced on a dirt spot in the grass and began digging. Viljo joined him and the dirt flew. I stood and watched. They have played this game before. Next thing I knew, a mole appeared in the excavated earth behind Nexus, mere inches from Viljo's nose. Viljo snatched it and shook it like crazy. He did that for quite awhile. Nexus, intent as he was in his digging, did not know Viljo had the mole until we started back to the house!

I got my Flip and made a little video of Viljo and his prize. After 40 minutes or so, Viljo began looking for a place to hide it. I nixed his request to bring it into the house. My tolerance for the game of Mole! has limits.

Got moles? Get a dachshund!

FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf, owned and handled by Stan Knoll, placed 2nd in the class of 18 FC Dogs at the Buckeye Dachshund Club field trial! What a great weekend for Oslo and Stan! Congratulations!

FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf was WINNER of the Buckeye Invitational field trial today! WAY TO GO, Stan and Oslo!!! 20 of the best Field Champions in the country were competing, and this turned out to be a *nine* series field trial! Judges were Bill Dyer from Ohio, Jolanta Jeanneney from New York, Shawn Nies from Missouri, and Robert Schwalbe from Georgia. The trial was held on the grounds of the Buckeye Beagle Club in Dundee, Ohio.

Oslo went undefeated the first three series.

He sustained his first defeat in the 4th series, braced with Bob Page's b/t mini smooth male Ruckus. The Buckeye Invitational is conducted in a different format than regular AKC field trials. In the Invitational, it's two defeats and you're out. Dogs with one or no defeats continue in competition...

Oslo defeated his 5th series bracemate...

Oslo defeated his 6th series bracemate...

Oslo defeated his 7th series bracemate who was Bob Page's Ruckus. This was the first defeat of the day for Ruckus.

At the end of seven series, there were three dachshunds 'still standing'. They were Oslo from Mississippi, Ruckus from Texas, and Carmen from New Jersey, a red mini wire bitch owned by John Merriman. All three dogs had sustained one defeat...

Oslo was the only one that had not been a bye dog yet, so Oslo was bye dog in the 8th series...

Ruckus defeated his 8th series bracemate Carmen...

The 9th and final series, then, was Oslo running with Ruckus. Ruckus was the only dog who had defeated Oslo all day. Oslo was the only dog who had defeated Ruckus all day.

You already know the result!

C@NGRATULATI@NS to Stan & Oslo, Bob & Ruckus, and John & Carmen on your marvelous, persevering performances!!! Many thanks to Jolanta Jeanneney for the photos.