At the Zuchtschau 2001 breeders were provided with opportunity to have their dogs evaluated by the DTK Chief Breed Warden Hans Woerdemann. Carrie Hamilton pictured with one of her minis.

Some of the NATC teckels are used to track wounded deer. Gerte vom Dornenfeld is shown with one of her finds.

The North American Teckel Club (NATC) was formed in the fall 1999 and its first election was held on March 11, 2000.

You may ask - why do we need yet another dachshund club?

The NATC members consider the dachshund to be a serious hunting dog and the club's mission is to maintain the physical and mental hunting aptitudes of the breed and to test these qualities in the field. We are dedicated to preserving the dachshund's hunting heritage, to promote its usefulness in the field and to support the breeding of dachshunds with sound bodies and stable temperaments. We believe the dachshund should combine functional soundness with an aesthetically pleasing appearance that avoids extremes. Hunting qualities are an integral part of the complete dachshund. Hunting desire and a fine nose must be combined with intelligence, physicall fitness, agility and obedience. NATC promotes these characteristics and the friendly temperaments and eagerness to please so desirable in dogs that are both hunters and family companions.

The NATC is deeply committed to ethical hunting and animal welfare. We are training and testing dogs to track wounded game (either as a result of hunting or accidents), therefore, avoiding long suffering of the wounded animal. Our members are donating their time and work to answer the call and are providing an invaluable service to the authorities and the hunting community. We are involved in several states to change or modify the laws to allow the tracking of wounded game with trained dogs.

Deutscher Teckelklub (DTK), which has its main office in Duisburg, Germany, is our parent club. Founded in June 1888, the DTK has almost 30,000 members organized into more than 300 groups/sections. The DTK is a member of the FCI, which maintains the international standard for dachshund.