40 Years Dedicated To Dachshunds

Every story has a beginning, but there isn't an end yet.

From my earliest memories, I loved dogs, and my family always had dogs. Growing up in the Heartland, I was the middle child of six. My family wasn't poor, but we were far from having it easy in life.

We always had big dogs: German Shepherds, Doberman, Weimaraners Collies. I so loved the big dogs. When I was 30 years old, I found myself in a situation where I worked in the corporate world and lived in an apartment. Apartments only allowed one dog, which had to be under 20 pounds. I couldn't even think about getting a little dog, they didn't seem like the big dogs I was used to having. I went to the library and got a book on dog breeds. Thumbing through the pages, I came to a beautiful red longhair dachshund. I had never seen a longhair dachshund before, only the smooth. The beauty of this dog overwhelmed me. I searched and found a longhair dachshund breeder who had a litter of puppies. Upon entering her residence, out came bouncing puppies, and "Lucy" reached me first. It was love at first encounter. Since that day in 1981, I have always had a dachshund.

The Heartland has wet, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. In January 1993, I left Ohio and moved to Florida. It was there that I had a family, and with Lucy being 12 years old, I added a new dachshund, "Hannah", a bright, spunky, red, long-haired dachshund.

Since then, I have had almost every color a person can have. I got into showing and breeding in 1994-1995. Iceman was my first show dog. He was a beautiful black/tan, silver dapple longhair who quickly earned 12 points in the AKC show rings. When he returned from his latest show, his salivary glands were so swollen that they scared me. Of course, I rushed him to my veterinarian and was told it was a systemic reaction. What that refers to is "we don't know why." It was several years before his glands returned to normal.

My mentor was an AKC judge, Patty Lapinsky. She was a wonderful person and an excellent breeder. Patty was very helpful anytime I called her for advice. No problem or question was too small for her to take the time to help me.

Cream dachshunds came into our fold in 2012. Since then, I have had nothing but creams. I am getting some of my girls ready for some shows and plan on entering the AKC show ring in early 2025.

The creams are no different than the other dachshund colors. They are still brash, bold, mischievous, stubborn and affectionate. The only difference is their beautiful, silky, creamy coats.