Congrats on considering adopting a little doxie! Did you have doxies before? How did you decide on a dachshund? Thank you for coming on the forum and asking questions! Good for you!
Here is a link on the subject of Color Dilution Alopecia
Colour Dilution Alopecia - WikiVet
Treatment
There is no effective treatment for this disorder. The disease is progressive and incurable, but some palliative measures can be taken early on in the course of the disease.
Hair loss due to shaft fracture can be minimised by avoiding excessive brushing and shampooing. Moisturisers may help make the hair less brittle and gentle bathing with antimicrobial and keratinolytic products can be tailored to the needs of the individual case.
Folliculitis should be treated with systemic antimicrobial therapy.
If scaling is severe, oral vitamin A or synthetic retinoids may help.
A high-quality diet and essential fatty acids might also be beneficial.
Now, my question to you is, since this is something that is very easily avoided by breeding non dilute dogs, why would you willingly support a breeder who obviously does not have the puppies (and their families) very best interest in mind? To say "because I like the color" is hardly a good reason, isn't it? A respectable breeder would steer clear of these known health issues. In my opinion, they should charge *less* for a dilute puppy, not more. Like they do when a puppy has a kink in it's tail, and really, a kink in the tail will not involve a life long health issue that needs to be managed, including ongoing veterinary visits for help.
When you adopt a blue puppy, you really can't know how severe the issues might become. I can bet the breeder will say that they don't have issues with their dogs. If the issues start to show up after age 3 and their dogs are under 3, they may sound convincing to prospective buyers. Just know that these issues are very easily avoided and to purposely breed for dilutes, *and charge more for them*, is a despicable practice motivated by greed. There are breeders who do the available health testing and do their best to provide families with the best possible puppies. They won't be getting dilute puppies.
Glad you're here asking questions!! Good luck as you search for that perfect puppy.
