226 BRITISH DOGS 



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 young 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 who had the courage to grapple with 

 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 supported by any authority that we have con- 

 sulted, 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 2olb. weight, and should not be less than 

 i81b., the bitches being 3lb. or 4lb. 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 less smutty, as well as the brown with tawny 

 markings, some of which are very handsome. In black-and-tan 

 we do not demand pencilled toes, as in the Terrier, although, if 

 good in every other respect, we should consider it an acquisition ; 

 but we prefer such as nearest approach the standard of excellence, 



