Tuesday, a four-month-old puppy, shows a lot of promise for field work

I will blame the Olympics for interrupting my flow of blogging. It was a lot of fun to watch TV at night, but the blog suffered because of it. As it turned out it has been harder to get back to the routine than I anticipated. Also this has been an exceptional summer as far as the weather is concerned, and it is hard to spend much time in front of the computer when you really want to be outdoors.

I  am planning to write a post about biddability in dachshunds as this topic has been on my mind for quite a while. But it will be easier to start with something not as difficult so let me write a little bit about Tuesday. She turned four months old on August 6, and we could not be happier with this little pup. I don't know how big/small she is going to be when she is mature but at 4 months she was about 11.5 lbs. This is pretty small for our dogs at this age.

We really like her personality - she is intelligent, curious and responsive; her energy level and excitability are not excessive. She is nose oriented and has been doing really well in the blood tracking training. Her tail action shows that she started to respond to the rabbit scent on the lawn and in the woods, and follows it for some distance, but she has not opened yet. This will probably come between the age of 6 and 7 months. When I take her for the walks she ranges further and further with every outing but she also checks back with me regularly.

Yesterday Susanne Hamilton was visiting us, and she owns Tuesday's grand sire Buster (FC Clown vom Talsdeich). She was completely smitten with Tuesday, and declared her to be very "special". It is easy to see why as this puppy is very social and affectionate, and she seems to love everybody she meets. A couple of weeks ago we took her to an outdoor concert in a nearby town of Altamont, and Tuesday had a blast. She was not concerned about loud music and commotion at the grounds.

Below are several pics taken in the last two weeks.

She is a very agile puppy and now she can get on the top of the picnic table by herself.

Conformation-wise Tuesday has some good qualities: good proportions, nice length of legs, correct angulation, excellent coat, lovely head. Her topline does not look very good right now, but this might improve with age. Also the length of ribbing could be better.