152 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



ones. Besides, the original ground colour of the dog is black, and will appear 

 again sooner or later in the whole-coloured tan offspring. The extension and 

 design of the marks in black-tan dachshunds is nearly the same as in the English 

 terrier. The tan of the cheek should not be divided in dachshunds, but ascend 

 abruptly towards the jaw-muscle, so as to give the eye the appearance as if it was 

 surrounded beneath by a black semi-circle. On the hind legs the tan is not limited 

 to the inside of the legs, but extends over the whole front of them, and the half 

 outside of the feet ; from hock to heel runs a black stripe. Pencilled toes in the 

 forefeet are nothing else but the imperfect repetition of this black stripe, both 

 according pretty well to the position and bending of the extremities during the 

 embryonal state of the dog. (The tan marks seem to be limited chiefly to those 

 parts which are covered and pressed by the bending of the extremities in the 

 embryo.) Pencilled toes appear and disappear in black-tan puppies of any breed 

 in Germany ; therefore they cannot be regarded as indicating a " terrier cross " in 

 dachshunds, the English terrier being quite an unknown animal in many of those 

 remote places in Germany where good dachshunds are bred. On the forearm and 

 the under- thigh the black melts gradually into the tan ; but on all other parts of 

 the body the two colours should be divided distinctly, and without any blending. 

 White toes, and indeed white anywhere, are great blemishes ; but there are few black- 

 tan dachshunds to be found without having at least a small greyish tuft of hair on 

 the breast-bone, or a narrow line along the brisket, which is only to be seen when 

 the dog is sitting on his haunches. 



More rarely met with are the bluish alterations of the black-and-tan (for 

 instance, slate-grey, mouse, silvery-grey, and the " tigerdachs "), which are all to be 

 regarded as a more or less " imperfect albinism" originating in want of pigment in 

 the hair. The " tigerdachs " is nothing else but a black-tan dog whose ground colour 

 is altered only on some parts of the coat into a bluish tinge, while other parts have 

 preserved the original ground colour (" partial imperfect albinism "), and form now 

 irregular black or brown stripes and blotches. None of these bluish varieties can be 

 regarded as a distinct breed, nor are they only limited to the dachshund class.* 

 Nose and nails of the bluish varieties are dark, fleshy, even rosy or black-spotted, 

 as the ground colour of the coat has been altered more or iless. The eyes are 

 bluish, or quite colourless (wall-eyed). All these bluish dogs should have no 

 white marks, except the tiger-dachs, which should be as variegated as possible, 

 and therefore white on the breast and belly of these dogs is no blemish; but 

 they should not have white toes or white marks on the head, body, nor end 

 of stern. 



White, as a ground colour, with hound-like blotches, spotted or mottled, 

 is much disliked by most of our breeders ; and these colours should disappear 

 entirely from the dachshund class, and be limited to the basset and the various 

 " dachsdracken," White dachshunds are kept and bred as a curiosity, and the 



* The bluish colours are to be found among all possible breeds of German dogs which are not 

 crossed too much, and even in black cats. A beautiful specimen of a tiger-dachs-coloured colley I 

 saw at Kyle-Rhea, near Skye, in September, 1874. 



