Long-haired Weimaraners were known to exist for many years before they were officially accepted in 1935, but have always been less common than the short-haired variety. Outside of Germany, the largest group of field-oriented breeders is in the US where dedicated individuals have made tremendous progress in the last 30 years. When this is done, the handler and dog re-enter the circle. After digging as deep as I could into the history of the breed, I came to the conclusion that the theory that makes the most sense is the GSP Theory. This led to a decline in the number of dogs listed and to a decline in the overall population of the breed. And, to be fair, some Weimaraner breeders do select for dual dogs capable of winning in the field and the show ring. I have owned Weimaraners for the past 41 years. As a result, many breeders select almost exclusively for looks and ignore the most important feature of the breed: its hunting instincts. A members directory is also published allowing members to keep in touch. This can be a double-edged sword when it comes to training. Weimaraners can be substantial dogs, among the biggest of the Continental breeds. It is a double coat with a medium-length, flat-lying topcoat, and thick undercoat with a slight amount of feathering sometimes seen on the backs of the legs. But the disqualification only applies to the show ring, so long-haired Weimaraners may participate in any other event open to pointing dogs. Those selected for field trials in the US and Europe tend to have a very strong pointing instinct that develops earlier. Thank you for pointing this out. Their breeding programs developed these specific traits and qualities. The club maintains a liason to Germany and has members in Australia, Austria, Bermuda, Brasil, Canada and other places throughout the world. But the fact that so much ink was spilled trying to come up with a plausible backstory is very revealing. Once outside of the circle, the handler calls the dog. So they published all kinds of stories about the breeds supposed noble past and its connections to royal dogs from France. By the mid-sixties, the breed began emerging from this devastating growth period and breeders began working on correcting past abuses. Ive had Weimaraners for over 12 years, and I am still flattered when my hunting buddies tell me my dogs are handsome. The Weimaraner Club of America and its affiliates organize 20 to 30 trials every year, including a National Championship held near Ardmore, Oklahoma. If a Weimaraner is bred to a dog of another breed with a non-diluted coat color, the resulting pups are never grey. The interest generated by Major Herber and others eventually reached across the Atlantic to America, where New England sportsman Howard Knight first heard about the breed in the 1920s. Then, in the 1990s, the breed was dealt another blow as a new generation of fast-buck operators rediscovered the lucrative market for grey dogs. They required of the Weimaraner an exceptional tracking ability, speed, courage and durability. As therapy dog, the training shows that she will improve with maturity. The breeds silver-grey color has always been its most distinctive feature. In subsequent years, the entries were sparse, but then, in 1904, a record high of 121 were made. So is giving voice on track, a behavior called spurlaut. If they detect the slightest amount of either, the dog is prohibited from breeding.. To the few serious Weimaraner fanciers, it must have looked like the party site on the morning after a world-class New Years Eve bash. Like most other Continental breeds, natural backing is occasionally seen, but it is not particularly common. Gullible Americans realized they had been had. Legends developed about the great gray hunting dog. Training the All Seasons Birddog wrote that: Mr. Recovery, however, would not have been possible without the original strong gene pool. What is unique to the Weimaraner, at least among the pointing breeds, is that breeders specifically select for the silver-grey coat color. Of course, that is not to say that there arent any good blues out there; there certainly are. He was determined to acquire foundation stock. Here again many older dogs born in 1894 are found. Strong -willed and proud, but very smart in the obedience class. A former president of the Cesky Fousek Club, Dr. Jaromir Dostal, has also confirmed that grey pups can also occur in Cesky Fousek litters. The original Weimar Pointers appeared in the 19th century. The dog should then go to the handler. The new protocol approved by the Weimaraner Club of America Board of Directors on December 5, 2020 can be found here: https://www.weimaranerclubofamerica.org/puppy_protocol.php. What we do know is that in both the US and in France there are still very few Weimaraners capable of winning all-breed field trials. as a kid I got a runt from him but of course it soon was not a runt and he took it back. In total, during the first ten volumes of the Deutsch Kurzhaar stud book, 265 Weimaraners were registered.. Several kennels have been very successful in the field trial arena and have done an outstanding job of keeping the hunt in their lines, while working toward developing class bird dogs for all-breed competition. While the over-popularity is not as extreme as the 1950s, both breeders and buyers need to educate themselves about the Weimaraner temperament and needs before selling or buying a friend for the dogs life.The Weimaraner Club of America has a growing membership of interested persons. However, most Weimaraners have a close to medium range and hunt at a medium gallop. Today, the Weimaraner is enjoying a renewed popularity. Dogs can earn titles for upland bird work and/or retrieving. In the first few years the numbers of Weimaraners entered was from five to 19. If you deal only with breeders who actually hunt and/or prove their dogs in tests and trials, you stand a very good chance of getting a great Weim. The Austrian and the Czech clubs run similar tests, although they use a slightly different scoring system. Thus, a steady stream of exports began in 1948 and continued throughout much of the 1950s. And since the further back it goes, the fuzzier it gets, all we have are theories based almost entirely on speculation. In the US, claims and denials of crosses to Pointers and GSPs have been around for years. When I asked club members in Germany about those years, one of them said, That is a chapter in the history of the Weimaraner that is now closed, thank goodness!. In the early days, the Weimaraner struggled for survival, coming close to extinction several times. Many made fortunes from the breed. Eventually, alarmed by the declining quality of the breed and the exodus of good stock to the US and elsewhere, the German club passed a resolution forbidding its members from selling more than half a litter for export. SUBSCRIBE to the AUDIO VERSIONbrought to us by:ESP Digital Hearing Protectionfor FREE :Google|Apple|Spotify, East of the Rhine Pointing Dog Breed Origins: HDC Episode #4, How to Choose a Pointing Dog Breaking Down 38 Bird Dog Breeds, Origins of the Pointing Dog: Hunting Dog Confidential Episode #1. While it is reasonable to assume that over the last 100 years the Weimaraner has been bred to fairly high levels of purity, rumors persist that crosses to other breeds have occurred. My American dogs from field lines have more style. According to the breed standard, it is silver, deer or mouse grey, as well as shades of these colors. The color is actually a dilution of black. First, they had to get the drunks (fast-buck operators) up and out. 2iH#h The follow-up to the first volume, Pointing Dogs, Volume Two, the British and Irish Breeds, is slated for release in 2020. However, the breed continued to grow rapidly outside the country. Weimaraners began attending field trials in 1948. Generally speaking, training a Weimaraner from good, proven stock is fairly straightforward. The Complete Weimaraner History, Profile, and Hunting Dog Story, Understanding Shotgun Chokes How to Choose a Choke Size for Hunting, The Difference Between a Deutsch-Drahthaar and a German Wirehaired Pointer, German Shorthaired Pointer The Most Popular Versatile Dog in the World, Training and Troubleshooting the Recall Command with Dogs, Pheasant Hunting Ammo and Chokes A Pheasant Hunters Guide, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Information, History, and Eduard Korthals, Defining the Differences of the British Lab and the American Lab, Recovering Americas Wildlife Act with Senator Martin Heinrich, Vizsla: How the Hungarian Pointing Dog Propelled Through History to Today, Women in American Field Trials: Paving the Way, How Dogs Develop on Ruffed Grouse A Guide to Preparing a Dog for Grouse Hunting, https://www.weimaranerclubofamerica.org/puppy_protocol.php. Slowly, the people move toward the center. They were prized for their versatile hunting skills and remarkable character. Other areas showing progress in producing good hunting stock are France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Weimaraners are also reported to be at a higher than average risk for a severe form of hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD), an inflammatory condition of the bones and other organs that can be fatal. There are probably close to twenty-thousand Weim pups born every year in the rest of the world. The dog is expected to show courage and willingness to defend its handler. But, of course, the dogs couldnt perform up to their Wonder Dog billing. Steve Graham, an American who has imported Weimaraners from Germany, explains: The man-sharpness test (Mannscharfprfung) was replaced by the new Wesenstest in 2001. Nevertheless, from 1897 to 1922, Weimaraners did not have their own registry, but were listed in the German Shorthaired Pointers stud book. There is a wide range of personalities in the breed, running the gamut from eager-to-please gundogs to hyperactive basket cases. Meanwhile, in Germany, Weimaraner breeders suffered the terrible effects of the Second World War. For hunters, however, the recovery was not without a price. The historical record from before that time is much less clear. In America, many breeders prefer a higher head, but do not ignore tracking ability completely as it is an important aspect of upland game hunting and NAVHDA testing. Anyone seeking one as a hunting partner needs to keep this in mind. Wild pigeons and some two months ago even ran in a Haneda, before take-off. Thanks. Others joined Howard Knights efforts and in 1942, the Weimaraner Club of America was formed, a standard was created for the breed. Karl Brandt, a founding member of the Weimaraner club, supported this theory, as did Dr. A. Stoese, who wrote in 1902 that the Weimaraner descended from a yellow and white smooth-haired English Pointer bitch imported into Germany in the 1820s. This is a drop of two points from thirty-ninth for most of the past decade. As a lover of the breed, it pains me to admit such things and I expect to receive some hate mail for doing so, but I would be less than honest if I did not point out the fact that most Weimaraners being bred today are not really hunting dogs. A group of about a dozen people forms a large circle around the handler and dog. In Germany, a lot of emphasis is placed on selecting and testing for tracking ability. Again, it really depends on what lines they come from and how they are raised. The breed was in shambles. Even in lines where the run and point have almost been completely bred out, the desire to retrieve often remains quite strong. The breeds development since that time is relatively well documented. Elsewhere, rumors of crossbreeding continue to make the rounds. They are often slow to mature, both physically and mentally. Blue Weimaraners have black noses and lips, and may have black mottling on the skin inside the mouth. Only one story can be confirmed. If it were not for a small, dedicated group of field trialers and hunters, Weimaraners could have faded completely from the field, forest, and waters of North America. The last half of the fifties brought fame, fortune and problems to the breed. Gives me a lot more understanding of my wiem and what to expect from him. By the 1970s, the Weimaraner was quickly becoming yet another breed of gundog transformed from hunter of game to hunter of blue ribbons. The so-called blue Weimaraner has a distinctly blue-grey coat color similar to that of blue Great Danes, Dobermans, or Italian Greyhounds. Despite his promises to protect the purity of the breed, the club sent Knight two sterilized dogs. In the modern standards for the Griffon, Picardy Spaniel, and other breeds, the term gris (and grey in the English translation) is used to describe the tight mix of white and brown hairs in their coat. I remember a few years ago now you put up something similar in FB and it ruffled a few feathers (pardon the pun) especially here in Australia. In my younger years, I saw look like a German bloodhound with hanging lips and watering eyes, but now it has arrived at the form of the German Shorthair and so it has certainly changed for the better. (Carl Linke quoted by William Denlinger, The Complete Weimaraner, 36). Questions about the WCA? A Weimaraner was a status symbol and the more it cost to obtain the more status it afforded. Then they had to clean up the mess these guests had left.. It seemed for a while, though, that all the hard work and careful planning of the early years had gone for naught. The club encourages responsible breeding and dog ownership. Americans, in particular, place more emphasis on style of point, and look for dogs that display a higher head and tail. Most Weimaraners have a short, silver-grey coat and cropped tail. Personally, I dont think the Grand Duke had anything to do with the breed at all and I would challenge anyone to provide evidence to support this position. Perhaps because of its Leithund heritage, the Weimaraner has always been known for a deep nose. To insure the future of the breed, the German Weimaraner Club was formed. The pointing instinct can be slow to develop in some Weimaraners. The official history of the Weimaraner begins on June 22, 1897 when a club for the pure breeding of the silver-grey Weimaraner pointing dog was formed in Erfurt, Germany. There has also been a significant increase in the number of Weimaraners being tested in NAVHDA and, while only a few of them have earned the title of Versatile Champion, that number will surely increase as a new generation of NAVHDA-oriented breeders develops more lines based on fully tested dogs. 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