What is Blue?

[David C.]

Zeke's color is a blue/tan.   Unfortunately, it is really hard to convey that color in a picture.  Lighting tends to make him look gray or look like a light colored b/t.  This is one of the few pics that conveys Zeke's blue color.

[papbouv]

Good picture nice coat for a blue some have really thin hair his looks really good in comparison to some blue Doberman pictures I have seen.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Good pic I think he looks unmistakably blue in the photos I've seen of him. He does have an exceptionally nice coat for a blue.

[Roberta]

Yes I have always thought he had a blue cast and really a stunner of a wee man.
Roberta

[Kelly]

Good Picture!

[peterparker]

What a handsome boy!

[Kari]

Such a handsome guy!

[JetEd73]

absolutely beautiful dogs....but considered a genetic defect.  If I remember correctly, Black & Tan dogs carry a ressesive  gene that results in blue/gray dogs. The issue is that the pigment/melanine that is responsible for hair color is miss-shappened, as a result the hair breaks off as soon as it grows out of the folicel.

Some of these dog, I don't know how many, end up almost completely bald by age 6-7. And have a host of other skins issues to deal with as a result. Not really hard to take care of but they do tend to need extra care.

These dogs should not be breed, for some reason I feel certain that your dog has been neutered...at least I hope so. My guess it that there are plenty of unscrupulous breeders that breed for the color and sell to an uneducated public.

I give you Georgia, aka Baby, quite simply the sweetest dog I've ever met. Found in a dumpster by two college girls in Georgia. Rescued by me/DRNA. Adopted by a wonderful couple in Kentucky.

http://www.wienerwritings.com/forum/index.php?topic=7574.0

David...I see your educated on the issue, I looked back on my origninal post about Baby

[David C.]

For a blue, Zeke doesn't have particularly severe CDA issues.  We do see flare ups of acne from time to time, particularly around the area where is collar is.  His coat, though, is certainly not comparable to Zora's.   

Zeke's sire was a straight blue, the dam was a chocolate/tan (identical to Zora), so the breeder should not have made that pairing. 

[Dr. Beau Leaky]

We can only hope the breeder learned of the genetic implications and isn't continuing the blue dachshund.

Is blue a recognized AKC color for our puppers? :scratch:

Auntie Karen

[Kathleen]

Blue, and Isabella are caused by the d series dilution gene-two copies of the recessive d are required for the dog to be dilute.  Blue is the dilute of black/tan and isabella is the dilute of chocolate/tan.    Dilutes in dachshunds often carry the gene for color dilution alopecia as well-it is associated with the dilute gene, but the dilute gene itself does not cause the breakage and skin problems that come with CDA.  There are plenty of other breeds that have dilute colors (weimaraners are all isabella, for instance), but do not have the CDA problems that dachshunds do.   There is no test for CDA (I say this because some breeders claim that their dogs do not have CDA. but they cannot guarantee this without a genetic test).   

[David C.]

Are Blue and Isabella the same color?   I just checked the web page for the Zs breeder, and while she does not advertise blues, she does advertise Isabellas.

[Kathleen]

Nope, Isabella is the dilute of chocolate, so it's more of a coffee with cream color.  Blue is the dilute of black/tan, so it's steel blue or grey color. 

Here's a site with a woman who breeds dilutes in Washington state.   She has two isabellas on her "girls" page and a solid blue on her boys page.  If you all want to see some of the oddities of dilute, too, she has a blue based red brindle (blue nose and blue stripes on a red piebald) on her girls page too.   Her dogs in general seem to have good coats, too (it's usually obvious by the age her dogs are if they have CDA).

http://www.getalonglittledoxie.com/our_girls