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Again, please see the references page, the c/c/p index page, and the c/c/p alleles page for more information on the genetic studies behind the colors and patterns.
colors
There are three main colors in dogs (as well as in humans and many other mammals): red, black, and brown (chocolate). As you read on the introductory page to these coat, color, and pattern pages, red is comprised of a type of melanin (pigment) called pheomelanin, and black and chocolate are comprised of a type of melanin called eumelanin. More specifically, black pigment granules are well-organized and oval/elongated/ellipsoidal, chocolate pigment granules are somewhat disorganized and somewhat spherical, and red granules are disorganized and spherical.
Every other phenotypic color seen in dachshunds and other dog breeds are variations of the red, black, and chocolate pigments.
With the two types of eumelanin, black is dominant to chocolate, meaning that black and chocolate cannot visibly (phenotypically) occur on the same dog (except perhaps when a particular, rare pattern is also present, but that's another story, and I won't be getting into that here). However, eumelanin and pheomelanin have no dominance with each other; whether one or both types of melanin occur on a coat is determined entirely by the pattern(s) present.
All dogs, even dachshunds, have a base or underlying color of either black or chocolate, whether diluted or undiluted. This means that, assuming other factors are not at work to modify the pigmentation, the dog will have a eumelanistic (black, grey, chocolate, or isabella) nose, nails, etc. On the other hand, the dog may also have a self-color (sometimes the same color as the base color) that is the main color that appears on its coat. So, for instance, a particular dachshund may have a red coat (pheomelanistic color) but a chocolate (eumelanistic color) nose, nails, etc. (chocolate "base" color). Or, a grey/red pointed dachshund will have a grey coat (eumelanistic color) as well as a grey nose, nails, etc. (grey "base" color).
eumelanistic colors
black (B[B/b] D[D/d])
Black is black.
- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are black, and eyes are dark brown.
- Two blacks can only produce blacks, unless:
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- both carry for chocolate, in which case they can produce chocolates,
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| - both carry for dilute, in which case they can produce greys,
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| - both carry for chocolate and dilute, in which case they can produce greys, chocolates, and isabellas.
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grey/blue (B[B/b] dd)
Grey is diluted black. It is a steel/slate grey color, sometimes with a slight bluish tint to it.
- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are grey, sometimes with a bluish tint, and eyes are grey or hazel.
- Grey is called gray, blue, or silver in some other breeds. The color is the same as a blue doberman pinscher's.
- Color dilution alopecia occurs in many grey dachshunds.
- Two greys can only produce greys, unless:
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- both carry for chocolate, in which case they can produce isabellas.
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chocolate (bb D[D/d])
Chocolate is usually close to a milk chocolate in color but can be a lighter or darker chocolate.
- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are brown, and eyes are brown, tan, hazel, or green.
- Chocolate is called brown or liver in some other breeds. (It is sometimes called 'black dilution', but this is a misnomer.)
- Chocolate originally came about by a B mutation. It was probably the case that hunters who wanted more camouflaged dogs propagated the color.
- Two chocolates can only produce chocolates, unless:
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- both carry for d-series dilute, in which case they can produce isabellas.
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isabella (bb dd)
Isabella is diluted chocolate.
- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are isabella (liver or grayish-liver), and eyes are grayish-green, tan, or light hazel.
- Isabella is called fawn, lilac, silver, mouse, drapp, or café-au-lait in some other breeds, but note that there are breeds where fawn instead means red. The color is the same as a weimaraner's.
- An isabella's coloration can look isabella, or it can have a slight bluish/graying tint to it. This tint is due to one, possibly two factors. One is that the pigment granules may be very slightly more well-organized or very slightly more spherical than the pigment granules of other isabellas. The second factor may or may not exist in dachshunds, but it would be due to the slight mutation of chocolate into multiple types of chocolate. (bc, bd, and bs are currently known, although which of these dachshunds have is not currently known. As with the parti-color alleles, any two of these different chocolate alleles can exist in one dog.)
- Color dilution alopecia occurs in many isabella dachshunds.
- Two isabellas can only produce isabellas.
pheomelanistic colors
red (CC D[D/d])
A red can be any shade of red, orange, brown, tan, or beige.
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a-series red (ASPS red): | ay[ay/at] | [B/b][B/b] | CC | D[D/d] | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series red (ESPS red): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [B/b][B/b] | CC | D[D/d] | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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A-series red, sometimes called dominant red, and e-series red, sometimes called recessive red, are actually patterns (solid patterns) and not colors (red, cream, black, chocolate, etc.). You can read more about the patterns on the patterns page.
- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are black (if B[B/b]) or brown (if bb), and eyes are dark brown, brown, or tan.
- Red is often called tan when it occurs in conjunction with points.
- Red is called tan, rust, brown, liver, fawn, or yellow in some other breeds.
blush (Ccch D[D/d])
Blush (my term) is a half red, half cream. A blush can range in color from red to light, buff-red.
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a-series blush (ASPS blush): | ay[ay/at] | [B/b][B/b] | Ccch | D[D/d] | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series blush (ESPS blush): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [B/b][B/b] | Ccch | D[D/d] | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are black (if B[B/b] D[D/d]) or chocolate (if bb D[D/d]), and eyes are dark brown, brown, or tan.
- Blush is also called red.
- Blush is called apricot in poodles.
cream (cchcch D[D/d])
Cream is creamy-colored.
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a-series cream (ASPS cream): | ay[ay/at] | [B/b][B/b] | cchcch | D[D/d] | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series cream (ESPS cream): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [B/b][B/b] | cchcch | D[D/d] | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are black (if B[B/b]) or brown (if bb), and eyes are dark brown or brown.
- A cream should have no reddish tint to its coat.
- Cream is sometimes called wheaten when it occurs in conjunction with the wirehair coat.
- Cream is called lemon or wheaten in some other breeds.
- Cream is caused by what is known as chinchilla dilution (ch) on both c-series alleles, a type of dilution which affects pheomelanin but not eumelanin; therefore, two chinchilla-diluted c-series alleles will turn a red (whether a- or e-series) basecoat into cream or turn red points on a pointed dog into cream.
- There is no such thing as an "American cream". If a person is selling a dachshund with that label, they are simply trying to get one over on their buyers; the dog is not a cream and therefore should not be advertized as such. Two alleles of concentrated pigment (CC) is a red, only one allele of concentrated pigment (Ccch) is a blush, and no alleles of concentrated pigment (cchcch) is a cream (can accurately be called "English cream" if the dog is also from England).
- A cream mated to a red that does not carry for cream can only produce blushes (Ccch); in other words, half-red half-creams. Blushes may be lighter in color than many reds, but they are still blushes and not creams, nonetheless.
- A puppy that is born cream-colored can either be a clear (unshaded) red, blush, cream (or the dilute of any of these), and most are likely ESPS in pattern. Shaded creams (and even many shaded blushes) are usually born dark grey, sometimes almost black, and they lighten as they get older. The photos at right show the evolution of the coat color of Rowena, a shaded cream.
- Creams have only been in the United States since the early 1990s; they originated in the United Kingdom and have been imported here since that time. With recent, limited exceptions, cream has only been produced in fuchs-sized longhairs.
dilute red (CC dd) (flush)
A dilute red is, as the name would imply, a d-series diluted red. A dilute red can range in color from red to light, buff-red.
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a-series flush (ASPS flush): | ay[ay/at] | [B/b][B/b] | CC | dd | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series flush (ESPS flush): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [B/b][B/b] | CC | dd | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are grey (if B[B/b] dd) or isabella (if bb dd), and eyes are grey (if B[B/b]) or hazel or yellowish (if bb).
- Dilute red is called apricot in poodles.
dilute blush (Ccch dd) (flax)
Dilute blush is a half red, half cream, d-series diluted red. A dilute blush can range in color from red to cream.
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a-series flax (ASPS flax): | ay[ay/at] | [B/b][B/b] | Ccch | dd | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series flax (ESPS flax): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [B/b][B/b] | Ccch | dd | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are grey (if B[B/b] dd) or isabella (if bb dd), and eyes are grey (if B[B/b]) or hazel or yellowish (if bb).
dilute cream (cchcch dd) (buff)
A dilute cream is, well, a diluted cream. Dilute cream is very light, creamy-colored, and its coat would be lighter than but roughly the same color as a cream's.
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a-series buff (ASPS buff): | ay[ay/at] | [BB/Bb/bb] | cchcch | dd | E[E/e] | kk
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e-series buff (ESPS buff): | [ay/at/aw][ay/at/aw] | [BB/Bb/bb] | cchcch | dd | ee | [K/k][K/k]
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- Nose, nails, eyerims, and lips are grey (if B[B/b]) or isabella (if bb), and eyes are grey (if B[B/b]) or hazel or yellowish (if bb).
color combinations
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black/red: | B[B/b] | CC | D[D/d]
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black/blush: | B[B/b] | Ccch | D[D/d]
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black/cream: | B[B/b] | cchcch | D[D/d]
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grey/red: | B[B/b] | CC | dd
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grey/blush: | B[B/b] | Ccch | dd
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grey/cream: | B[B/b] | cchcch | dd
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chocolate/red: | bb | CC | D[D/d]
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chocolate/blush: | bb | Ccch | D[D/d]
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chocolate/cream: | bb | cchcch | D[D/d]
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isabella/red: | bb | CC | dd
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isabella/blush: | bb | Ccch | dd
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isabella/cream: | bb | cchcch | dd
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absent colors
The following colors have never been known to occur in dachshunds:
- albino dilution (cc) Albinism is the lack of all pigment on the skin and hair. Thus, the eyes and skin, including the nose, are pink.
Albinos are extremely rare in any species of mammal, and no albino dachshunds have ever been known to exist. (This is, in my opinion, a good thing, considering the physiological and neurological problems albinos in other dog breeds have been known to have.)
- cornaz dilution (cbcb) The coat is pale gray, and the eyes are blue.
Cornaz dilution is found in pekingese and pomeranians.
- dondo dilution (cdcd) The coat is white, and the eyes and skin are eumelanistic in color (as determined by the b- and d-series).
Dondo dilution is found in samoyeds.
- intense dilution (?) Pheomelanin is diluted.
Intense dilution is found in afghans.
The above c-series alleles can be mixed — for instance, cbc, cdc, and cbcd.
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