A dachshund (known as the hot dog with paws) is very tall. How did that happen? And does that have to do with the crossing of the dog species? If yes which one? Thank you!:-)
Answer
Dear Fleur,
Although a dachshund does indeed look like a long sausage on legs, I’ll have to ask you to look at this dog differently: dachshunds are all in all normal in size, but have far too short legs, which makes them look so long.
This is because in these dogs the longer bones cannot grow as well. This is a hereditary defect, an error in the genetic code in these animals. By repeatedly crossing animals that show such deviations, the breed was eventually established, whereby the deviation was ‘raised’ to the breed standard.
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dr Pieter Cornillie
Veterinary Morphology: Embryology incl. Teratology Anatomy Histology
http://www.ugent.be
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