Long Hair Cream Dachshunds: Shaded vs. ee Cream

I wanted to take a moment to explain the difference between a shaded cream dachshund, like Rhiannon, and an ee cream (or clear cream) dachshund, like Chloe.  Both Chloe and Rhiannon are purebred AKC English Cream dachshunds.  I will explain what it means to be an  “English” cream in another post.

First, let’s take a look at the differences through photos.
As a newborn puppy, a shaded cream will appear almost black, while an ee cream will be all light with no black at all.  Shaded creams will have dark nails and black whiskers, while ee creams will have white nails and white or cream whiskers.

The photo above is Rhiannon at 7 days old (from Emerald Coast Doxies).  You can see that she is almost black.  Shaded creams will be very dark at birth. They lose their dark fur and the cream comes through as they get older.

The photo above shows ee cream pups at 11 days.   They are Chloe’s 3 ee creams from her first litter.

As an adult, some shaded creams will be almost indistinguishable from an ee cream, while others will still retain some of their black coloring.

The photo above is Rhiannon’s mom (from Emerald Coast Doxies), she is a shaded cream.  You can barely see the black tips on her ears.

Some shaded creams even lose all of their shading as adults, but you can still tell they were a shaded cream because of the black whiskers and nails.

The two photos above are of Skye (from Dreamheart Dachshunds), Rhiannon’s sister, as a puppy and an adult.  As an adult she has lost all of her shading, but she has black whiskers and dark nails.

The photo above is Chloe, she is an ee cream.  She has no black shading anywhere, and she has white whiskers and light nails.

Chloe, our ee cream, was born light and stayed light.   Here are some photos of Rhiannon over time.   You can watch the black disappear and the cream come in!

1 week, 3 weeks, 6 weeks*

8 weeks*, 10 weeks, 12 weeks

14 weeks, 16 weeks and 19 weeks.

I updated this article with a couple of photos of Rhiannon taken today (11.15.18), at 8 1/2 months below.  She has very little dark on her left; only her tail and a small amount on her ears.   In the 2nd photo you can see she looks lighter than Chloe!

Now for the genetics.   The words below are taken directly from the following breeder’s website (I am not sure they are using the term “English cream” correctly; just replace with cream and see my other post on “English Cream Dachshunds”.
https://royalworthkennel.com/about-real-english-cream-dachshunds-and-why-its-important-to-know-before-you-buy/
(I have searched many sites, and I felt this was well written and fairly easy to understand)

The Chinchilla Dilution (“C”) gene series is responsible for true English cream. It effects the base coat color red, and the points color, tan, (i.e., the color above the eyes, along the nose, etc.). This gene does NOT affect black and chocolate pigments. So, when two alleles for the chinchilla gene are present, the red base coat is diluted to the cream color, but any black overlay is unaffected. Hence, a true English cream dachshund may have a black overlay, whereas red dilutes will not.

When dominant reds are overwritten with two Chinchilla genes, true English cream puppies will be born very dark in color, almost black. However, over the course of the first 6 or 8 weeks, the true cream color emerges from the undercoat, slowly overtaking the initial black coat. The older the puppies get, the lighter in color they become. Some may lose almost all of their black overlay, while others may retain a great deal of it. The later are often called “shaded English cream”.  The key to identifying these pups is evidence that they were born black and are progressing toward cream.

When recessive reds are overwritten with two Chinchilla genes, true English cream puppies are born very light in color, a beautiful golden buff to near white, without any black overlay because the recessive red alleles (ee) prevent any black pigment from showing in the coat. These puppies are called “clear English cream”. “Clear” referring to their lack of any black overlay.  The key to identifying these pups is evidence that they were born very light without any trace of a black overlay and continue this way.

Now that you understand the difference, we plan on breeding Chloe one or two more times.   She carries for ee cream, shaded cream, and black and cream.   We hope her next litter will be in early 2019.   Stay up to date by following us on Facebook.   We will retire Chloe at that point and Rhiannon should be about 2 years old and ready to breed.   Rhiannon carries for ee cream, shaded cream, black and cream and chocolate cream.  We plan on using the same sire for Rhiannon and Chloe.  The sire, Preston, is a shaded cream and carries for ee cream.

*The early photos of Rhiannon came from Emerald Coast Doxies, and the photos of Skye are from Dreamheart Dachshunds, both located in Florida.