Dapple and Merle - The color (Dapple) in dachshunds is the same apparently and genetically as the merle of Collies, Australian Shepherds, and other breeds with the merle color. Description of the Color The appearance of this is like a slashing or swirling of paint over all normal colors of dachshunds. Some dappling is very bright and noticeable. Still other dogs have so little of the dapple pattern that it is not easily seen. You will recognize a dapple dachshund most easily when it is on one of these base colors Black/Tan, Chocolate/Tan, Blue/Tan colors. One parent must be dapple to get dapple puppies
Breeding 2 solid parents can not produce dapple offspring; one parent must be showing dapple to produce offspring that is dapple. The dapple gene is not carried in the Family Tree genes. Once dappling is lost from any offspring it will only produce dapple offspring when bred to a dappled mate.
Black/Tan Dapple - Black/Tan dapple dachshunds have a dapple pattern that looks silvery in color, and was once called silver dapple. The color for these dogs is now marked on AKC papers as Black/Tan dapple.
Chocolate/Tan Dapple - The dapple pattern on a chocolate and tan dapple dog is lighter that the dark chocolate background but is still a shade of light chocolate. Darker spots that are the color of the normal coat may appear on the lighter dapple area. There will be black spots on black and tan dapples and chocolate spots on the chocolate and tan dogs. A dog with limited dapple pattern may have a single small streak of the dapple color and be hardly noticed.
Red Dapple - Even an expert may not notice dapples at all in an adult red dapple. When dapple occurs on a red dachshund, it appears as a lighter swirl in the coat that disappears (more or less from dog to dog) as the dog matures. The only give away for an adult red dapple may be the telltale blue eye or eyes that sometimes occurs when dapple (of all colors) fall on the eye. A blue-eyed Dachshund is always a dapple but may also express another pattern simultaneously, such as the piebald pattern or the brindle pattern.
Double Dapple - Double Dapple is the color of a dog that is a result of breeding two dapple dachshunds (sometimes referred to as (single dapple in discussions such as this) or two double dapple dachshunds or a single dapple and a double dapple breeding. When you breed two single dapple dachshunds, the color possibilities are solid, single dapple, and double dapple. When you breed two double dapples, you can only produce double dapples. When you breed a single dapple to a double dapple, you can produce single dapples and double dapples. The reason for these possibilities is that the single dapple is a heterozygous dapple and the double dapple is a homozygous dapple. The heterozygous dapple can pass a solid gene or a dapple gene for any given puppy. The homozygous dapple can only pass a dapple gene. Double dapple puppies will always have white markings, many in the same pattern that you would associate with a collie type dog (band around the neck, white on paws, noise, and tail tip.) The white may be more or less extensive. The double dapple dachshund usually has blue eyes but may have one or both dark eyes. Both parents must be dapple to get double dapples.
