Smokey has lymphoma

[PattyInAK]

Really wonderful news!!!  Keep us posted!

[JetEd73]

ya know thats a beautiful dog and I'm glad you decided to get another companion to enrich your household.

Im the first one to admit that I haven't done alot of research on genitics or breeding...I don't breed and with the number of dogs in rescue right now I full discourage it.

I also hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think it's time for some of us to get smarter about the dogs we love and the way they affect our lives. I wondered about the blues since it's such an unusual color and the information I found is not encouraging.

http://www.12many.com/duchwood/colorpat.html

4.  Blue and tan is the dilute version of black and tan.  The dog's main body color is an even steel bluish-gray, and he has tan markings in the same areas as a black and tan dog.  Often the tan markings are muted or have a bluish overcast due to the diluting factors.  Eye color is usually grayish as are the nose and nails.  Blue and tan dogs very often have coat problems known as Color Dilution Alopecia (or CDA) such as very thin coats (this hair loss, or alopecia, often does not show up until the dog is 2-7 years old), and skin that is subject to allergies and infections.

It is hard to breed a truly handsome blue and tan dog with a good coat, so very few of them are seen in the show ring, although a lot of them show up on commercial puppy producer web sites as it seems to be the latest "designer" color (heaven knows why).  Most blue/tan dogs will have a very sparse hair coat by the time they are 7 years old.  There is abundant anecdotal evidence from long-time breeders of blue/tans and Isabella/tans that these dogs are very sensitive to hot and cold temperatures and cannot live outside at all.  They tend to sunburn easily, are very prone to developing skin cancers, and they also seem to have compromised immune systems.  Vaccine failures are common with dilues and few dilutes live to old age.   

http://www.hua.org/Dogs-For-Adoption/Telly.html

Telly is a blue dachshund. Blue is a dilute color, a defect. Blue dachshunds should not be bred as it leads to baldness. They almost never have a normal life span. And in fact Telly is mostly bald - hence his name after Telly Sevalis. The "kennel" had been using this dog as a breeder dog for five years. Imagine how many bald blue dachshunds he produced in that time just so that people could buy the latest fad dog. So of course unscrupulous puppy mills breed blue dogs as fast as they can. Then when the dog needs medical care, there is none and the dog is dumped. Of course she kept him without providing any care for a few months just in case he recovered without costing any money. This delay severely limited the likelihood that he could recover.

http://www.fenfleur.com/BreedingIssues.htm

4. Eye colours

While not an issue Dachshunds can have eyes of two different colours; only found in Dapple and Double Dapple patterned dachshunds. (called merle in other dog breeds), dachshunds can have a blue and a brown eye. Blue eyes, partially blue eyes, or a blue eye and a brown eye are called "Wall" colouring. It is not considered a non-desirable trait in kennel club standards. The standard excludes double dapples and allows single dapples to be the only acceptable dapples. The reason is because the merle gene is linked to blindness and deafness - see "Genetic Disorders" above. Wall-eyed is permissible. It is acceptable for Chocolate Dachshunds to have lighter eyes - sort of blue/violet colour.

http://www.dhogg.com/Dacshunds%20A%20Brief%20Overview.htm

Blue- Blue dachshunds, like the double dapples are a genetic flaw.  They are born without hair on a majority of their bodies, which gives the dog, a grayish blue color to the dog.  These dogs often have skin problems and health problems which may need constant attention.

I'm sorry, this is another thing I'm not even going to try to be nice about because it's time we educate ourselves about the animals we put so much time, effort and attention into. Fact of the matter is that you have been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous breeder that has no concern for you as a person and no regard for the dogs they breed. Who in there right mind would purposely breed animals with known genetic problems knowing full well that these animals are going to have problems? 

Greedy people who's bottom line is tha almighty dollar...thats who.

Why do I have to be the only one that asks the hard questions around here?

I mean really if we are the great dog owners we like to think we are then It's time we get educated, encourage responsible ownership and discourage bad breading.

There, I said it. It's ugly but it's simple facts folks.

[sjv]

Hey JetEd73,  thanks for that!  But as Smokey was a blue & tan and had no skin problems by 6, we were fully aware of the potential problem(s) we were heading into with Izzy's Isabella coloring.  We can only do what we can and hope for the best.  Who knows, he may be the exception.  Dachshunds are also very prone to having back problems, our 1st one did and lived to be 14, but I don't see that slowing folks down from breeding/buying them.  Izzy is our 4th.

[JetEd73]

thanks for not taking my post the wrong way.

My issue is not with you, it's with breeders that pile genetic issues on top of other genetic issues and then passing the dogs off on unsuspecting owners/buyers... all for the almighty dollar. They should be breeding to improve the breed but some/most don't. If people don't buy the dogs with known issues, they don't get sold, breeders won't produce them. And it's my understanding that with responsible breeding you can reduce (not elliminate) the instances of Canine Intervertebral Disk Disease. We need to educate ourselves on the dogs that we have.