My History in European Dachshunds

In 1986 I was in the market for a small hunting dog that I could train and have fun with doing various activities.  I had grown up with terriers (a Cairn, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a Jack Russell) and admired their personalities and independence but I had always admired the character and liveliness of dachshunds.

I worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources for 30 years and when, as a young biologist, my colleague, the Ontario Deer Biologist, organized a demo of the new practice in NY state of using a leashed tracking dog to find wounded deer, I was keen to observe. We went to a county forest where Hans Klein of the newly formed Deer Search Inc. laid a blood trail through the forest. Then he brought out his wire-haired dachshund bitch and set her on the line.   She eagerly took off following the blood track to the end where a fresh deer hide lay as a reward.  She jumped onto that hide and gave it a wrassle, obviously pleased with herself.  This was the first time I had ever seen a dachshund with a wire coat and I was smitten.  Here was the consummate small hunting dog of Europe that was bred to do a variety of hunting – blood tracking to recover wounded big game, flushing game for the gun and for hawking, retrieving waterfowl on water, earthwork on fox and badger. This was the small hunting dog companion I was looking for.

Five years later in 1986 I bought my first hunting dachshund from Friehelm Hoestery a German Canadian who lived in central Ontario.  I had seen his dogs which were imported from Germany, at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show where he was demonstrating his trained hawks.   He had a litter and I bought my first ever female dog from him – OTCH & FC Ursula from Golden Creek (vom Goldbachtal) CG, AmSE known as Hilde.  She was my soul mate for more than 16 years and the foundation bitch of my small breeding program which started with her first litter in 1989.
Since then all my dogs have proven themselves to excel in all kinds of work and event competition.  I have bred a number of litters using stud dogs with European bloodlines only.  I have competed with and tested my dogs since 1989. I have bred 8 generations of American Field Trial Champions (Brace on Rabbit).  Many of my dogs are working as blood tracking dogs in states and provinces all over North America.  I have been committed to, and I have successfully demonstrated,  the versatility of the Standard Wire-haired Dachshund.  They have truly proven themselves as Gebrauchshunds – the useful hunting dogs they were meant to be.