Dachshund Coloring Page

This dachshund coloring page shows just how long a long dog can be. The body stretches almost across the page on four very short legs, with a striped sweater wrapped around the middle. The dog trots along the sidewalk past a bakery, a bookshop and a cafe. A street lamp stands behind it, and a small car rolls along the road in front.

Kids from about 4 to 10 will get a laugh out of that shape. The sweater makes a good lesson in patterns for younger children, and the three shop fronts give older kids plenty of small windows to fill.

Dachshund coloring page color guide

Start with the dog and leave the sweater for later. Smooth dachshunds often come in solid red, or in black and tan. Red here means a warm reddish brown.

• Solid red: use a warm brown on the body, and a darker brown on the long ear.
• Black and tan: use dark gray on the body and tan on the legs and muzzle.
• Dapple: color it tan first, then add gray spots with a light touch.

Now for the sweater. It has eight bands, which makes it a perfect pattern game. Ask your child to pick two or three colors and repeat them. Red, white, yellow, white looks cheerful. Younger kids can say the pattern out loud as they go.

A street full of color

Each shop can have its own look. Try a cream bakery with a red and white awning, a pink bookshop with green stripes, and a pale blue cafe. The doors are good spots for strong colors, so try red, teal and yellow.

Look closely at the shop windows. The bakery has two loaves on a shelf, the bookshop has a row of books, and the cafe has a steaming cup. Those tiny things reward a sharp pencil. The window boxes hold small flowers too. Keep the sidewalk a soft gray and the road a darker gray, so the dog pops out between them.

What makes a dachshund long

The name is German for badger dog. The word comes from Dachs, meaning badger, and Hund, meaning dog. These dogs were bred to go after badgers and other animals that live in burrows, and a long, low body fits nicely in a tunnel.

There are three coat types: smooth, long haired and wire haired. There are also standard and miniature sizes. A dachshund named Waldi even made history as the first official mascot of the Olympic Games, at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich. The Dachshund article on Wikipedia shows all three coats.

Measure the dog

Here is a fun math activity. Use a ruler to measure how long the dog is on the page, then how tall it is. Which number is bigger, and by how much? Kids can then measure a pet, a stuffed toy or a sibling and compare.

For a classroom, try a town map. Have students cut out their colored page, and tape the pictures in a row to make one long street. Ask where the dog might be going, and what it could buy at each shop. Readers will spot that the signs are simple words, which is handy practice for early readers.

The long ear is a nice place to practice shading. Go darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, so it seems to hang down from the head.

Time and tools

Allow twenty five to thirty five minutes for the full page. If your child is short on time, color only the dog and the sweater and leave the shops white. Colored pencils work best for the windows.

Dog lovers can keep going with the dog with a bone coloring page. Cute pets are a favorite for a reason, so the Christmas dog coloring page makes a good next pick.

Questions