What to do About Conformation?
by Patricia Nance
November 30, 2011
I wrote this in response to a question raised on a dachshund e-group of which I am a member. Essentially, the question was: How can one 'prove' the conformation of the dachshund? My reply was intended to convey my perspective that "what to do about conformation" is truly only half the question.
I have never had a dachshund that couldn't swim, but I did have one that wouldn't track. She was a superb example of the 1980's standard longhaired "show dog." I am using it here, but I actually dislike the term "show dog", for I haven't found it anywhere in any dachshund Standard in the world. One is not exhibiting a "show dog", one is exhibiting a "dachshund", or we will hope so, anyway.
The bitch was CH Dorndorf's Ericka L CD TT. Ericka finished very handily and three litter brothers also finished fast (one with two specialty five pointers). Bred and owned in name by my mother, she was a daughter of the renowned CH B's Javelin de Bayard, with recognizable Java type. In fact, Harry Jeffries saw me walking by with her at the 1982 DCA, called me over to say hello and tell me who my bitch was sired by! I have some very fond memories of Ericka. They include winning Obedience High in Trial at the DCA National and two Host trials of the aforementioned DCA. There was so much to like about her!
BUT, by then I had become very interested in field trials and tracking. Ericka had her talents but tracking/trailing was not among them. I could not get the bitch to track for love nor liverwurst. Maybe someone else could have, but I couldn't. It was Ericka who first made me think, logically, I believe, that there must be more to breeding dachshunds than winning at dog shows and finishing show titles. More than obedience and temperament test successes as well.
Lo and behold, I found the missing link in our very own Standard. And I witnessed superb demonstration of it by a German-bred wire named Axel at a field trial in New Jersey in 1975. I saw my lifelong breed in a different light that day and it forever changed what I believed would be my responsibilities as a breeder.
I found that the American Standard named "hunting spirit, good nose, loud tongue [voice], and small size" dachshund "Qualities." With the exception of size - and size is being ignored as if totally irrelevant - these dachshund Qualities cannot be judged in a show setting. Yet, those very qualities, the show-ring intangibles, are at least as important to breed type! Kudos, Candice, for having the temerity to raise your questions. How you answer them for yourself will determine the direction of your future in dachshunds. As you seem to be discovering, "what to do about conformation" is really only half the question.
I came across an awesome article on the internet last week. Reading it, I felt like I'd discovered buried treasure! They are statements made by a very dedicated Saluki enthusiast at the Saluki National in 1993 but the principle of Dan Belkin's comments remains the same for all working breeds: Search out the intangibles, select for the intangibles, or lose the intangibles. And then what do you have, really?
http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/belkin.htm
I will be the last to say that hunting spirit, good nose, and loud tongue are never present in dachshunds from heretofore untested bloodlines! Sometimes we get lucky. But how often and for how long is good fortune entirely suitable for a breeding program? Someone mentioned in an earlier post in this thread that all the working German Shepherds in this country are imports or progeny of imported stock. Well, look around. You will undoubtedly discover that American dachshund breeders most interested in both the tangible AND the intangible Qualities of the dachshund are also most often looking overseas for the newest additions to their bloodlines. And there is good reason for it.
Invariably, in a discussion like this someone will point out that American dachshunds are being sought after overseas. True enough and there is good reason for that, too. Improvement is improvement wherever it may be found. But we're talking mostly tangibles in these cases. For the most part, European breeders are NOT importing American dogs to improve hunting spirit, good nose, loud tongue, and small size!
As Cheri [Faust] noted, breeding for working abilities is a mindset, and evaluation tools - all evaluation tools - are truly only as useful as a breeder's mindset. (I can say, with all sincerity, that when I tracked a deer with Owl last fall up and down some hellish ravines in Appalachian Ohio, I was NOT of the mindset that I wished he weighed 30 pounds instead of 19, had heavier bone, and was lower stationed! I did, however, do some serious thinking about my own weight!) When I asked myself early on if dachshund Qualities are as important as structural pieces which can be evaluated when a dog is simply standing and trotting, I said yes, I believe that they are. So that was my mindset and I went looking for those traits. I will tell you now that it is not a popular perspective nor a well traveled road.
Ericka did contribute to my breeding program. She is behind every one of the dogs that I have bred. But my dogs today have Qualities that she did not possess. And I have to say that most breeders, shown photos of Ericka and my present-day dogs, would probably decide that Ericka evidences the most breed "type." As I said, though, one cannot truly evaluate dachshunds from conformation assessments only. So most breeders would be wrong.
Those are my thoughts on this topic. Please read Dan Belkin's article.
http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/belkin.htm
I will be the last to say that hunting spirit, good nose, and loud tongue are never present in dachshunds from heretofore untested bloodlines! Sometimes we get lucky. But how often and for how long is good fortune entirely suitable for a breeding program? Someone mentioned in an earlier post in this thread that all the working German Shepherds in this country are imports or progeny of imported stock. Well, look around. You will undoubtedly discover that American dachshund breeders most interested in both the tangible AND the intangible Qualities of the dachshund are also most often looking overseas for the newest additions to their bloodlines. And there is good reason for it.
Invariably, in a discussion like this someone will point out that American dachshunds are being sought after overseas. True enough and there is good reason for that, too. Improvement is improvement wherever it may be found. But we're talking mostly tangibles in these cases. For the most part, European breeders are NOT importing American dogs to improve hunting spirit, good nose, loud tongue, and small size!
As Cheri [Faust] noted, breeding for working abilities is a mindset, and evaluation tools - all evaluation tools - are truly only as useful as a breeder's mindset. (I can say, with all sincerity, that when I tracked a deer with Owl last fall up and down some hellish ravines in Appalachian Ohio, I was NOT of the mindset that I wished he weighed 30 pounds instead of 19, had heavier bone, and was lower stationed! I did, however, do some serious thinking about my own weight!) When I asked myself early on if dachshund Qualities are as important as structural pieces which can be evaluated when a dog is simply standing and trotting, I said yes, I believe that they are. So that was my mindset and I went looking for those traits. I will tell you now that it is not a popular perspective nor a well traveled road.
Ericka did contribute to my breeding program. She is behind every one of the dogs that I have bred. But my dogs today have Qualities that she did not possess. And I have to say that most breeders, shown photos of Ericka and my present-day dogs, would probably decide that Ericka evidences the most breed "type." As I said, though, one cannot truly evaluate dachshunds from conformation assessments only. So most breeders would be wrong.
Those are my thoughts on this topic. Please read Dan Belkin's article.
