WIP - Dachshund

My daughter hit me with a challenge - she asked me to work up a dog for her that resembled her little Ziggy, a miniature Doxie. Since Ziggy is two-toned, almost black with tan markings, I was left scratching my head on how I can re-create this dog in crochet for her. Not only re-create him in crochet, but write up a pattern as well. Ok, I am up for the challenge. I did some reasearch online about Doxies, and was quite surprised to see how many different color variations there are to this dog, even long haired! But alas, hers is the traditional two-toned variety. So in my yarn stash I went, looking for a yarn that would be comparable to her Ziggy, and this was my decision, a medium brown. I decided to do it one color, for many reasons. Ease in crocheting, ease in writing the pattern, and ease for a novice to work up. I can remember when I first started crocheting, I would see these beautiful crocheted items, look at the pattern, sigh, and leave it, becuase it seemed almost impossible to do as a beginner. Well, since I have been writing patterns, I kept that in mind. I like to keep my patterns as simple as possible, with basic crochet (sc, inc, dec, etc, etc) so if someone who has minimal crochet experience can pick up my pattern and crochet the item. And if I have techniques that may seem a bit complicated, I include pictures and a step-by-step tutorial. I didnt see many patterns out there like this when I first started to crochet.

Ok, back to Ziggy. I worked up the head and one ear, and I think it looks pretty good so far. I think I captured the long nose and shape of the head, but I am always very critical of my work. I sent her the pics for her opinion/comments/suggestions, havent heard from her yet. So here goes.... what do you think? The head and one ear is done, almost finished with the second ear - then on to the body, legs and tail.

Head View 1

Head View 2

The "Infamous" Ziggy napping (He is only 5 months old... awwwwww)

A pic I am using from the internet as a base for my dog pattern.

Ok, with all that said, I think it will work out. So onward and forward, back to my pattern and my crochet. Comments welcome... =^.^=