SAY the words ‘sausage dog’ or ‘dachshund’ to a serious sporting type and they’ll probably recoil as if you’ve uttered a shibboleth, such as ‘Veganuary’ or ‘Tony Blair’. Certainly, Sophy Coleman of Gingerfox Gundogs was dismissive of what she perceived as ‘those yappy, whippetty, fragile ones’. Until, that is, her gamekeeper husband suggested that she satisfy her need for a ‘little dog’ with a teckel, which, in this country, broadly means the working strain of the breed. ‘I didn’t want one,’ she recalls, ‘but my husband is very much of the opinion that you can’t have a dog that’s an ornament, it’s got to have a job.’
Since Mrs Tiggywinkle came into their lives 10 years ago, it’s fair to say that Mrs Coleman has embraced the breed with a convert’s zeal. ‘We have seven!’ she exclaims. ‘They all work—ratting, bolting foxes. On a shoot day
