Noses?

[*Dachsie123*]

I wasn't quite sure where this should go, but I think this is the closest topic to my question. In looking at pictures of dachshunds through different breeders, I have found that some dachshunds have longer noses than others. Does anyone know where this comes from? Thanks!
-Shelby

[Cindi]

<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm38.gif" border=0> Genetics! It is what they are breeding to obtain.

[pkmiddler]

Doxies are not supposed to have short stubby heads a roman nose long with NO stop, almond eyes, head not to broad between the ears and ears set not to low or to high on the head.

[chatty cathy]

PK, sounds like you are describing my first husband!!<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm35.gif" border=0>Isn't it true that if you breed for specific qualities, SOMETIMES, you lose quality in other areas? For example, people who breed for double dapples, end up with those small M&M shaped eyes? How does anyone ever obtain champions in that particular pattern?
Cathy

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by chatty cathy on August 17, 2001 at 09:02 AM</font>

[Carol A. Smith]

what a breeder should be striving for is the "perfect" dog. Since we will never achieve that, what we should be doing is to try to correct as many faults as we can, and improve on the overall dog. What you hope for, is that the pups are better than the parents. Sometimes, in gaining one thing you can lose another, but you wouldn't want to breed knowingly to a dog that would increase your dog's faults.. double dapple is a whole other issue to me.
Carol

[wireweiners]

If you look at pictures of early dachshunds, say 75 to 100 years ago, most of them had shorter muzzles and broader heads with a more pronounced stop. Over the years we have improved heads to get the elegant, roman nosed, wedge shaped head. You still see a lot of broad heads in miniatures although mini heads have vastly improved since I first started showing. If breeders don't pay attention to type and are just breeding dogs to dogs, then the head tends to revert back to the old fashioned broad head, short muzzled look.

It is true that if you breed for certain specific traits, you may lose others. That is why it is important for breeders to keep the whole dog in mind when planning their breeding programs. For example, if a breeder gets too hung up on breeding dogs with pretty heads, she may end up losing soundness. Good breeders strive to produce dogs that are sound and have correct breed type and it isn't easy. Its a balancing act.

As for double dapples, yes some DD pups will have misshaped eyes and some will be deaf. But not all double dapple pups will have these traits. If you are going to breed double dapples, you have to be willing to take responsibility for the pups with the eye and hearing problems.

[Cindi]

I have been told by reputable color breeders that all DD's have smaller eyes than solids or single dapples. Just repeating what I have been told http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

[wireweiners]

I haven't heard that. Most of what I know about double dapples comes from Catahoulas. I've never known the DD pups to have smaller eyes unless something is wrong. The last DD catahoula pup we kept was deaf. His eyes were normal size but his pupils were abnormally small and didn't dilate so his night vision was poor. He died of an immune disorder when he was about 2.