Tanaray Kennels were started in 1975 by Ray Smith and Paul Gluchy. After the demise of the last Pekingese in our household, we decided that our next breed had to be small enough to live in a city townhouse with a small yard, but big enough to handle stairs. It also had to be a non-cropped, non-docked breed with a short coat. After 15 years of brushing, the next dogs had to be “wash and wear”. We chose Standard Smooth Dachshunds!

We acquired a puppy from Francar kennels and aptly named him “Trouble”; decided he looked like a nice dog; took him to a Sanctioned Match where he won a lot of ribbons and we were hooked. We went back to Francar and convinced them to part with “Tara” (Francar’s Laurie Ann). At her first show she won Best Puppy in Group, and went on to several Group placements before we bred her to a Falcon Favorite son. She produced 6 Champions in her litter of 10 and every Tanaray Standard Smooth traces directly to her through her daughters Ch Tanaray Topaz, and Ch Tanaray Tartara. After showing Topaz to Best of Winners at Westminster in 1978, we added 3 more Francar dogs to our kennel. Not long after we sold the townhouse and moved to the country.

In 1976 we helped found the Eastern Canada Dachshund Club, and at the first two ECDC Specialty Shows in 1978 and 1979, won Best of Breed in both Std Smooth and Std Longhaired. Since that time we have won 7 Bests in Specialty Shows and have bred over 40 Group placing dogs. We bred two litters each of Standard Longhaired and Wirehaired and have owned Miniatures, but Standard Smoothes have always been our main interest.

Over the years we supplied foundation bitches as the start of several kennels. We worked closely with our friend, the late Pat Kearney of Drisheen kennel, and the Drisheen bloodlines were very closely related to our own. In more recent years Abnaki kennel has also played a role. Today the Tanaray name can be found on many Dachshund pedigrees around the world.

Breeding was greatly reduced after Paul passed away in 2000, but in 2003, Eric Schweichler joined the Tanaray bunch with his Siberian Huskies. With Eric’s help, Tanaray is active again, breeding about once every two years and showing at local shows. Who knows what the next 30 years will bring?

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