Weimaraner

We know very little about the ancestry of the Weimaraner and such knowledge as we have comes mainly from the United States rather than from German.

In fact German Dogs in word and Pictures, published in Germany in 1928, does not mention the breed although it is fulsome in its praise of other German working dogs such as the Short-haired Pointer and the Pointing Griffon

It is usually accepted that the Weimar Pointer came into existence somewhere in the first quarter of the seventeenth century and was exclusively owned by the Dukes of Weimar and a favored few around his court. How the strange slate-blue colouring and light-coloured eyes came into the breed has never been satisfactorily explained. One suggestion being that they were brought about by faulty pigmentation caused by excessive in-breeding over a considerable period of time. The basic breeds involved were almost Bloodhound much esteemed for the excellence of its nose. Beyond the fact that these dogs are said to b have been carefully bred at the court of Weimar where great emphasis was placed on their scenting ability, speed and courage, there is little more we know about their early history.

Before the last war there appears to have been a club or clique interested in these dogs and whose rules, like those of many German breed societies, organized the members and their dogs with typical Germanic thoroughness. The dogs and their pedigrees were inspected by an official of the club and instructions issued as to which dog each bitch should be mated to; six puppies were the maximum number to be reared in any litter and these had to be registered. No exporting was allowed and all purchasers of puppies had to join the club. Quite a closed shop, in fact! In 1929 an American, Mr. Howard Knight, became a member of the club as was eventually allowed to take two specimens of the breed back to the United States, where he founded an American club and endeavored to run it on the same lines as the German.

Then end of WWII widened the breed’s horizons considerably. American troops and others who were occupying Germany saw these strange "grey ghosts", while the hard conditions of the time brought down the club barriers. A number of the best dogs sailed to the States, where the breed made a considerable reputation for itself at obedience competitions.

In 1953 Weimaraners were first seen at Cruft’s, most of them being dogs that had been imported to the country from the U.S.A. These dogs met with a mixed reception but six years later they had aroused enough interest for twenty-five of them to be registered and this number increased to seventy in the following year. Not a vast number in comparison to tome breeds but enough to encourage English breeders who, in the short while they have been at work on these dogs, have done much to improve their soundness. The wobbling hocks, loose shoulders and nobby knee joints as well as weak pasterns of the early exhibits are fast disappearing.

In character the Weimaraner is a nice, friendly and rather clownish fellow whose unfamiliar pale amber or grey eyes make it hard for us to interpret his moods. They are a medium sized, short coated dog that stands 23-25 inches tall with a silver or mouse-grey coloured coat.

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