Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors

The Alpine Dachsbracke is a short-legged scent hound prized for its tracking abilities. With their dense and harsh double coat, these sturdy dogs from Austria come in two coat color patterns.

Standard Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors

Let’s have a closer look at the two distinct Alpine Dachsbracke color patterns:

Deer Red Alpine Dachsbracke

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors hirschrot puppy

The FCI breed standard states that the ideal color is a dark “deer red” with or without some black-tipped hairs. This is a direct translation from the German breed standard, which calls this color “hirschrot“.

In genetic terms, this refers to a black-based shaded sable (E/- k^y/k^y A^ys/-) with an orange-red to red phaeomelanin intensity. Dogs with lots of dark shading often have a pointy widow’s peak on their forehead.

In this breed, dogs can be homozygous for shaded sable (A^ys/A^ys) or they can be tan point carriers (A^ys/a^t). Since the A locus series is known to have an incomplete dominant relationship between alleles, tan point carriers are likely to have an overall darker pattern with more shading.

We can’t completely rule out the possibility that some dogs may be clear sable (E/- k^y/k^y A^y/-) which can come with some puppy shading that later clears into solid red coat. But this does not seem all too likely as about every adult dog seems to have at least some amount of black in his red coat^[2].

Black & Tan Alpine Dachsbracke

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors black and tan vieraugl 2

The second coat color pattern found in the Alpine Dachsbracke is black & tan (E/- k^y/k^y a^t/a^t). Dogs have a solid black coat on their upper body with clearly defined and symmetrical orange-red to red markings on their cheeks and above their eyes, on their chest, legs, and under the tail.

Just like the Austrian Black & Tan Hound, these dogs are often called “Vieräugl” for their eye pip markings (a diminutive that alludes to the illusion of “four eyes” in this pattern).

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors black and tan

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors Overview

The breed standard describes all the different traits an Alpine Dachsbracke should have.

This includes ideal conformation and temperament but also the coat texture and color. At present, the Alpine Dachsbracke is only listed with the FCI as a recognized dog breed:

	AKC	FCI	KC
Deer Red	–	✅	–
Black & Tan	–	✅	–

American Kennel Club (AKC), Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), Kennel CLub (KC)

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Color Genetics

A dog’s coat gets its color from two pigment types called eumelanin and phaeomelanin which can be combined into different patterns.

Alpine Dachsbracken can only produce a small number of all patterns and colors. These are the genes and alleles involved in the Alpine Dachsbracken’s standard coat colors and patterns:

E-LOCUS	E = normal pattern
K-LOCUS	k^y = patterned
A-LOCUS	A^ys = shaded sable A^y = clear sable (???) a^t = tan point
B-LOCUS	B = black
D-LOCUS	D = normal pigment
S-LOCUS	S = no spotting
M-LOCUS	m = non-merle

Eumelanin

All Alpine Dachsbracken are fixed for black eumelanin pigment (B/B D/D). Even if not that present in a red dog’s coat it is always eumelanin that gives color to its nose, skin, nails or eyes.

Phaeomelanin

The standard clearly calls for “dark deer red” color in sable-patterned dogs and “red-brown markings” in black & tan dogs. This means. the phaeomelanin intensity in Alpine Dachsbracke is limited to shades of orange-red to red.

White Spotting

Alpine Dachsbracken don’t come in white spotting patterns. But small white patches from residual white can happen in any dog without having a genetic cause.

The FCI breed standard permits a white star on the chest.

Color Patterns

All Alpine Dachsbracken are fixed for patterned coat (k^y/k^y). They come in sable or tan point.

Color Term	Genotype
Deer Red	E/E k^y/k^y A^ys/- E/E k^y/k^y A^y/- (?) + red phaeomelanin
Black & Tan	E/E k^y/k^y a^t/a^t + red phaeomelanin

Alpine Dachsbracke Nose and Eye Colors

All Alpine Dachsbracke have black eumelanin (B/B D/D). They have dark brown eyes, a black nose and black pigment on their lips, eye rims, paw pads or nails.

Light eyes are considered to be a flaw.

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors nose eyes 1

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Colors nose eyes 2

Alpine Dachsbracke Coat Types

This is a double-coated dog breed with a very thick top coat and lots of dense undercoat.

Genetically, it is a short-haired dog breed. However, its coat should never be too short or too thin since this is a hunting dog “used by the mountain huntsman“.