46 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
Courtesy of F. Louis Hauptner 
When you forget that he suffers from musical comedy and cartoon record, you begin to be 
fair to the dachshund. He is a sober and intelligent animal and. as a sporting dog. boasts 
an enviable reputation 
HANSEL, GRETEL & CO. 
An Uncensored Report on the 
Hyphenated Hound 
WILLIAMS HAYNES 
I F there was ever a good little dog that 
must labor heavily under the weight of 
own reputation, that dog is the dachshund. 
His reputation is not wicked, like the bull 
terrier’s nor savage, like the English bull¬ 
dog’s or the bloodhound’s. He is not cred¬ 
ited with being either a snappish dog, a 
dull dog, a tramp dog, or a delicate dog. 
Far worse than all these, he is crushed 
under a comic reputation. That is his 
tragedy, and only familiarity will banish it. 
To be popularly described as “a half of 
a dog high and a dog and a half long’ - ; 
to be jocularly recommended as the ideal 
dog to live in the long halls of a city flat; 
to be caricatured in the most grotesque ex¬ 
aggerations in all the comic weeklies of 
two hemispheres; to be the butt of the low 
comedian’s wit on every stage—these are 
the things of which the dachshund’s repu¬ 
tation has been made. This is in¬ 
deed a terrible thing to live down, 
and, not unnaturally, the dachshund 
is not nearly so popular a dog as he 
deserves to be, for in real life he is 
not at all like the funny little beast 
of the jokes and cartoons. 
Is He An Anglo-Teuton ? 
Few people suspect it, but the real 
dachshund is pre-eminently a dog 
of good sense and fine sensibilities. y 
He is not a clown or a half-wit, but 
quite the reverse, a somewhat sober 
and remarkably intelligent animal. 
The outstanding feature of his char¬ 
acter is undoubtedly his deep and 
faithful affection for his master or 
mistress, but he is not lacking in 
other recommendations. His repu¬ 
tation as a silly, comic-valentine sort 
of a dog is nothing more nor less 
than downright libel, for he is “all dog." 
Of course, he owes his reputation to his 
looks, and for the worst exaggerations in 
his type, as we know it, he is in the main 
indebted to English fanciers. In Germany, 
his fatherland, the dachshund is first of all 
a terrier; in England, on the other hand, 
he has been bred more and more away from 
the terrier towards a hound ideal. The 
Anglicized dogs are at a distinct disad¬ 
vantage. In his native land the “dachs,” 
as he is affectionately called by his friends, 
must do the work that in the rough Scot¬ 
tish country developed the hardy, short¬ 
legged Scottish and Dandy Dinmont ter¬ 
riers. Like them he is called upon to go 
to earth, to dig out foxes and badgers, two 
formidable foes underground, and from all 
reports he does this work well. His very 
name translated means “badger dog,” and 
though no one knows better than the Eng¬ 
lish breeders that it takes a terrier, and a 
plucky, active terrier, to tackle Master Tod 
or Master Brock, they have made the mis¬ 
take of translating “hund” phonetically 
into “hound.” Certainly a badger hound is 
a ridiculous sort of dog to develop. 
Like as not this is the root of the dachs¬ 
hund's troublesome reputation. The past 
ten years there has been a gradual return, 
both in England and the United States, to 
the true German “badger dog;” but our 
typical dachshund has been a heavier dog, 
with more crooked front legs and quite a 
different stamp of head, a dog who has lost 
much of the strength, speed and activity 
of his German ancestors. 
I can testify from experience that the 
dachshund of the English type is not a 
success as a hound. I have seen a couple 
work in the field, and the little cottontail 
rabbit was literally able to run circles about 
them and sit at her ease on the hilltop while 
they fumbled over her twisted trail. I 
have talked with friends, however, who 
have shot the big, strong German hares 
before German dachshunds, and they tell 
Plioto by Beals 
A winning team owned by Mrs. T. D. Erhardt. 
of Southampton. L. /., a group with good lines — 
fine muzzles, proper ears, and deep broad chests 
a very different story. The German hare 
is faster than the American rabbit, and the 
only explanation is that the German dogs 
have great speed and more stamina than 
ours. This explanation is due the dachs¬ 
hund, because, although we do not use him 
as a sporting dog, still many a joke is 
cracked over his hunting capabilities, and 
there are quite enough jokes made at his 
expense without these unfair slurs. 
One Hundred Percent Vigor 
About a score of years ago the dachs¬ 
hund as a pet enjoyed quite a season of 
popularity in England. Since that time, 
however, he has given way to smaller dogs, 
notably Pomeranians and Pekinese spaniels, 
and no stretch of imagination or prejudice 
in his favor can make him generally popu¬ 
lar. Many less worthy dogs are more 
widely fancied. He has, however, always 
had his coterie of faithful friends who find 
it hard to understand why so delightful a 
house-dog should win such scant favor. 
He has all the advantages of convenient 
size that the toy dog has, without making 
the sacrifices to vigor and hardiness that 
the very tiny animals often must make. He 
has much of the terrier’s sharp intelligence 
and tireless energy, tempered with a more 
gentle spirit and a greater affection. His 
habits are neat and clean and he is not a 
barker. He seems to have a natural apti¬ 
tude for learning tricks. Alert to sound 
the alarm and plucky enough, if need be, 
to rally to the defence, he is a good watch¬ 
dog and a sturdy, capable gentleman. 
It is as the children's companion, how¬ 
ever, that he is at his very best. His 
intelligence and his chummy disposition 
make him a capital playfellow. Affection¬ 
ate, faithful, and patient, he can be trusted 
to take with almost infinite good nature the 
severe handling that the youngsters are apt 
to give their animal playmates, and he is 
big enough and strong enough to stand this 
strenuous treatment. 
Though a dog of very marked 
physical characteristics, the dachs¬ 
hund baffles description. The gen¬ 
eral impression that he should give 
is that of a more active, more alert 
dog than one is apt habitually to 
picture him to me. 
Here Are His Points 
He should, of course, be decidedly 
long and low: the longer and lower, 
the better, provided, as the German 
Standard of the breed expresses it, 
“he appears neither stunted, awk¬ 
ward, incapable of movement, nor yet 
lean and weasel-like.” He should im¬ 
press you, then, as being first a sound 
dog, strong and quick in his move¬ 
ments, and next as a very intelligent 
dog. His head is carried pertly, often 
tilted on one side, and his expression 
is keen and almost quizzical especially 
when the ears are raised in attention. The 
correct head is long and rather wedge-shaped 
with as little stop, or dent between the eyes, 
as possible. The muzzle should be fine. The 
ears should not only be long, but broad also, 
the forward edge lying close to the cheek. 
The chest is very deep and rather broad 
with a breastbone that sticks out promi¬ 
nently in front of the forelegs. These fore¬ 
legs, while less straight than those of the 
Scottish terrier’s, should not be so bowed 
and broken-looking as one often sees, for 
such a front seriously checks the dog’s ac¬ 
tivity. Great depth of brisket, combined 
with a nice spring of rib, give the typical 
dachshund plenty of room for heart and 
lungs, and broad, muscular hindquarters 
supply the driving power necessary in a 
true sporting dog. His digging tools, the 
front feet, are large and equipped with 
strong nails that must point evenly inwards, 
in order that, when digging, he may cast the 
dirt out and to the side rather than piling 
it up under his belly, in the way of his back 
feet, as a straight-fronted terrier is inclined 
to do. The hindfeet are smaller, but with 
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