Commenting on Dachshund Coats
or
What Have You Heard About Hair?
I have this morning seen a link to the same tracking-dog news item for the fourth time. And it is a good article! But there is a misconception in that article (about misconceptions!) which begs examination.
The hunter is quoted as saying that wirehaired "coats do not get tangled in briars as much."
Wirehaired coats do not get tangled in briars as much as what? Smooth coats? No, I doubt that he is referring to dogs with short hair.
Well, if he is not referring to dogs with short hair, then this (justifiably!) proud owner of a wirehaired dog must be talking about dogs with long hair. Based on what? Experience? Or is he talking off the top of his head? Repeating something that he has simply heard. Repeating something that I myself have heard too many times.
As far as I know, (I do not care to look), there is still an article online - authored by a hunter/ first time dachshund owner but a smooth this time - which audaciously reports that a longhaired coat is "a nightmare" in the field. Well, pray tell, if you have not had a dog with a longhaired coat, if you haven't hunted or run one or used one, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?
What it boils down to, then, is mimicry.
THINK, people. You know about setters. And springers. And Brittanies. Those longhaired dogs have been popular afield with generations of avid American hunters.
Is there anything good about the coat of a longhaired dog? Might it have the quality of being nearly waterproof? Affording excellent insulation from the cold - and heat? Protection from the environment? A good coat, a dense, short undercoat covered by a longer top coat, effectively withstands a variety of field and climate conditions. At one place where I used to run dogs, the multiflora rose was so old, gnarled and overgrown that some branches were thick as a dog's muzzle. Naturally, rabbits scooted into that mess and, therefore, so did the dogs. With few exceptions, the only thorns in Thornville penetrating my dogs' skin were found on the tops of their heads.
If a dog with long hair catches some burrs, you take three minutes and comb 'em out. Considering pros and cons, it is not a "nightmare" payoff! No lost sleep, then, in this neck of the woods. And this is the gist of my response to the original comment: I have NEVER had a longhaired coat "get tangled in briars!"
Speaking of burrs, the worst case that I have seen of a dog burred up - so badly that he couldn't walk - was a wirehair with a faulty coat. They certainly exist. But faulty coats appear in ALL coat varieties. So do good coats. And excellent ones. (And breeders need to give serious attention to the coats that they are producing.)
It is an awesome thing to be the proud owner of a great working dog! But I will tell you this. If you are fortunate to have one, it is not the coat that he is wearing that makes him great.
Patricia Nance
February 4, 2014
The hunter is quoted as saying that wirehaired "coats do not get tangled in briars as much."
Wirehaired coats do not get tangled in briars as much as what? Smooth coats? No, I doubt that he is referring to dogs with short hair.
Well, if he is not referring to dogs with short hair, then this (justifiably!) proud owner of a wirehaired dog must be talking about dogs with long hair. Based on what? Experience? Or is he talking off the top of his head? Repeating something that he has simply heard. Repeating something that I myself have heard too many times.
As far as I know, (I do not care to look), there is still an article online - authored by a hunter/ first time dachshund owner but a smooth this time - which audaciously reports that a longhaired coat is "a nightmare" in the field. Well, pray tell, if you have not had a dog with a longhaired coat, if you haven't hunted or run one or used one, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?
What it boils down to, then, is mimicry.
THINK, people. You know about setters. And springers. And Brittanies. Those longhaired dogs have been popular afield with generations of avid American hunters.
Is there anything good about the coat of a longhaired dog? Might it have the quality of being nearly waterproof? Affording excellent insulation from the cold - and heat? Protection from the environment? A good coat, a dense, short undercoat covered by a longer top coat, effectively withstands a variety of field and climate conditions. At one place where I used to run dogs, the multiflora rose was so old, gnarled and overgrown that some branches were thick as a dog's muzzle. Naturally, rabbits scooted into that mess and, therefore, so did the dogs. With few exceptions, the only thorns in Thornville penetrating my dogs' skin were found on the tops of their heads.
If a dog with long hair catches some burrs, you take three minutes and comb 'em out. Considering pros and cons, it is not a "nightmare" payoff! No lost sleep, then, in this neck of the woods. And this is the gist of my response to the original comment: I have NEVER had a longhaired coat "get tangled in briars!"
Speaking of burrs, the worst case that I have seen of a dog burred up - so badly that he couldn't walk - was a wirehair with a faulty coat. They certainly exist. But faulty coats appear in ALL coat varieties. So do good coats. And excellent ones. (And breeders need to give serious attention to the coats that they are producing.)
It is an awesome thing to be the proud owner of a great working dog! But I will tell you this. If you are fortunate to have one, it is not the coat that he is wearing that makes him great.
Patricia Nance
February 4, 2014