92 British Dogs. 



his readers that the ears of the dachshund cannot be too long. Another 

 says the body cannot be too long. Then we read that the legs cannot be 

 too short or too crooked, with such impossible measurements as could 

 only be found in the fertile brain of the writer. At shows we have had 

 our special attention drawn to the veriest mongrels, and been held by 

 the button by enthusiastic owners, and had glaring defects pointed out as 

 characteristics of the pure breed ; but being unable to draw on our 

 credulity to that extent, we have had to fall back on our stock of charity, 

 and call to mind that even Solomon was yoifng once in his lifetime. 

 There is no breed of dogs that the English have been so tardy in taking 

 to as the dachshund, Satan and Feldmann being the only representatives 

 of the breed on the Birmingham show bench for several years ; and 

 certainly we had one judge that had the courage to grapple which this 

 little hound when he did make an attempt to emerge from his obscurity, 

 and we have seen the best dachshund that has yet been exhibited passed 

 over by a couple of " all-round " judges of high standing at an important 

 show, one of those Solons arguing that he was a beagle otter hound, and 

 the other that he was a turnspit, neither of them being aware that the 

 turnspit was little different from a moderate crooked-legged pug of the 

 present time, and that it would be impossible to confine a long-backed 

 twenty pound dog in one of those small cages in which the little prisoner 

 had to ply his calling. We have no wish to speculate on the early history 

 of this breed, as, like other cases, it would be a mere leap in the dark 

 from the same source as before alluded to. We have been seriously told 

 that the breed came originally from France, and that once on a time, 

 when the French army invaded Germany and were capturing towns and 

 provinces, the German nobles, by way of retaliation, invaded France and 

 carried off all the dachshunds ; but, as we do not find this theory sup- 

 ported by any authority that we have consulted, possibly the writer of the 

 story may be entitled to the invention also. 



" The dachshund is a short-coated, long-backed dog, on very short legs, 

 of about 201b. weight, and should not be less than 181b., the bitches being 

 31b. or 41b. less than the dogs. They must be self-coloured, although 

 a little white on the breast or toes should not be a disqualification, as 

 these beauty spots will crop out now and then in any breed of dogs. 



" The colour most in fashion just now is the fallow red and black and 

 tan, but we have very good specimens of various shades of red, more or 



