Ruger Dachshunds

The front of our home...

Below is our "dog room". It's the sunroom that leads into our family room where we all (dogs included) spend most of our time. The dog's crates, grooming area and toys are in here...well, it's where their toys are supposed to be, but they are usually scattered everywhere else. I need to work on training them to pick up their toys!

When we have puppies...

...and when we don't!

A 360° view...

We are a small show home located in gorgeous Colorado. We are nestled right up against the foothills just west of metro Denver. I am a native of Illinois and my husband, Jody, is from Michigan. We own our own residential mortgage company, Clarioun Financial Corporation and I originate FHA mortgages for Franklin Mortgage Corporation. We have a blog for our combined companies that has a lot of good, solid information that you don't need a PhD in finance to understand:  The Mortgage Report.  We mostly work from our home, so this affords us plenty of time (most days) to indulge our hobbies. Golf is Jody's passion and Dachshunds are mine. We currently share our home with eight miniature Dachshunds, Elliot, Griffin, Tania, Maximus, Gracchus, Payton, Ryan and Evie. All of our dogs are house dogs. I have nothing against well-run kennels, but I find that living in our home, underfoot, works best for the way I raise and train my Dachshunds.

On these pages, you will get to know all about our dogs, the events that we participate in with them and our training and feeding philosophies. We are infrequent breeders, but we are happy to provide you with information that will help you find reputable, responsible and ethical breeders. We are also thrilled to help people find a Rescue Dachshund to love (Our multi-talented Elliot is a Rescued Dachshund). Through my 14 years working in canine Rescue, I can assure you that there are already too many pet dogs. If a person is just breeding for profit and not to further and improve the breed, they are irresponsible, in my opinion, and not worthy of the title of "Reputable Breeder". Remember, not every breeder who shows their dogs is reputable, but nearly Every Reputable Breeder Shows! If you aren't regularly showing and (usually) completing titles, please do not breed your pets. Many of these dogs bred by pet owners end up burdening already overwhelmed Dachshund Rescues. I do not know one breeder from whom I would personally buy a puppy who doesn't consistently show their Dachshunds in some venue, be it Conformation, Field, Obedience, Agility or Tracking. Many of these dedicated folks show in multiple venues....and it's so much fun for the pups and the people! **I will add here a very important distinction. There are many breeds of dogs who are not AKC registered and/or shown to "titles" who are still bred by reputable breeders. Examples of this include Working Border Collies, tribal-bred dogs like Salukis and other Middle Eastern breeds and breeds not recognized by AKC. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE DELIBERATE MUTT MIXES LIKE LABRADOODLES, PUGGLES and the like. AKC is not the be all and end all, certainly. But for most breeds and breeders, showing and titles are really needed. If someone is simply breeding for pets, you usually want to run the other way. Folks who are reputable breeeders are breeding for a purpose other than just cranking out pets for profit or because they think it's kinda fun. Sometimes that purpose involves AKC and sometimes it doesn't. This is not a black and white issue. This has nothing to do with elitism or anything else....it has to do with helping to prove that dogs are of the conformation (structure), temperament and hopefully working ability (if the breed was developed for a purpose other than companionship) to warrant passing on their genes. The qualities that reputable breeders want in their show dogs are the same qualities that non-show dog people DESERVE in their pets! Read more about my opinion on how to spot good and so-so or worse breeders here.

It goes without saying that we would not have the pleasure and success we have had in Dachshunds without others and the quirks of fate that happen to all of us....

"Rudy", aka "Ruger", was the little 8 year old black and tan smooth who dropped into my lap by being loose and wandering the day I was driving my big girls to get ice cream! (ROTFL!) If it hadn't been for this amazing and wonderful little dog, I would have never known how incredible Dachshunds are, let alone have them in my life. This was the most amazing twist of fate and I thank my lucky stars everyday that Rudy and I found each other.

"Barney", Deb McNamara's miniature longhair, was the plucky little Dachshund in agility back in the infancy of the sport that inspired me to check out performance events that I could do with my Rescue Dachshund, Rudy. I can still remember the audience chanting, "Bar-ney, Bar-ney, Bar-ney!" as he ran the course! LOL!

I cannot forget Carolyn & Laurie Janak, who encouraged me to attend my first Dachshund conformation Specialty. There I discovered, thanks to Jennie Tobin's showy little "Oscar", Multiple Group Winning CH Ez Goin's Oscar Wire MW, that I wanted, more than anything, to get a nice little wire to show in breed. Now, years and several dogs later, I have Payton, who is an Oscar granddaughter!!

Sharron Harlow, who first provided our "Griffin" to us (the black and tan salve that soothed Rudy's passing) and then fufilled my little dream to show in breed by offering "Bandit" to me for a song. "Bandit" became our "Reilly", Multiple Group Placing Am/Intl CH SilverCloud's Sunset Bandit MW, CGC. Without Sharron, we would not have had the pleasure of breeding our own Champions.

Monica Canestrini, breeder of the famous Canebrake standard wires and AKC judge, who has been so kind as to school me on the finer points of both wire grooming and Dachshund conformation, both priceless acquisitions. She is a gem and we wouldn't have accomplished what we have without her free sharing of knowledge and absolute kindness.

Then, in a fateful twist, I became dear friends with the man who bred Reilly's sire, "Warrior", CH Sunrise Red Warrior MS, after Warrior found himself without an owner. In good Rescue style, I tracked down Warrior's breeder, Valerio Hernandez, Val found Warrior a new home, and we became fast friends. Then Valerio, wanting to start a wire line with Reilly, who was at the time the only wire grandson of BISS CH Add-Sim's Good Time Charlie ROMX (Val's foundation stud dog), sent me the lovely "Tania", Sunrise Lightly Tanned MS. Tania was expressly chosen to complement Reilly both in conformation and in pedigree, and boy, does she! From one litter of 4, this girl was eligible for her ROMX and Reilly was well on his way to his. Valerio has almost a sixth sense of what dogs will do well together and without Val, Sharron & the knowledge I have from Monica, I would not have had the pretty and talented "Gladiator" litter and all that have come after.

My sincere and grateful thanks to all...Ruger would not be without you!!

Jody and I are members of the Columbine Dachshund Club & Rocky Mountain Earthdog Club.

I am also a member of the Badger Dachshund Club, Madison Area Dachshund Club, the National Miniature Dachshund Club and the Dachshund Club of America, which is the breed parent club for the United States.