Dachsund Association of Long Island

Est. May 26, 1950

On the evening of May 26, 1950, twelve Long Islanders, united in a common interest in Dachshunds, met at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Burr Hill, Jr. in Hicksville, Long Island. The outcome of this gathering was the formation of the Dachshund Association of Long Island, NY...DALI. The officers for the first year (subsequently re-elected to serve a second year) were: Howard Aldrich Rumpf, president Mrs. Ramona Lancaster Andrews, vice-president Mrs. Wm. (Grace) Burr Hill, JR., secretary and Coles A. Doty, Jr. as treasurer.

DALI quickly grew to a membership of 157 by 1952, the year which DALI held its first Specialty show in conjunction with the Westbury Kennel Association All Breed show in Old Westbury, L.I.

The first independent DALI Specialty was held in 1955 at the J.S. Phipps Polo Field in Old Westbury, L.I. & drew an entry of 260 Dachshunds. In 1959 the DALI Specialty moved its location to the front lawn of Grace Hill's Hicksville home & garnered an entry of 321 Dachshunds. The Specialty continued at this location through 1963 when Grace moved to Jacksonville, Fla. After Grace moved to Florida,

Laurence Alden Horswell was another driving force behind DALI in its early years. He was a major columnist for the AKC Gazette, Popular Dogs Magazine and, with his wife Dorothy Allison Horswell, authored the paperback book The Pet Dachshund (the original version is now out of print) He was an artist, prolific author, statistician, breeder, exhibitor and judge. He served at various times as the President, Secretary, Director & Information chairman of the Dachshund Club of America Through all his writings he was almost solely responsible for maintaining the status and continued growth of the breed here in the United States during the "anti-German" sentiment of the American public during the war years and was the first recipient of the "Gaines Dog Man of the Year" award.