Weimaraner
The Weimaraner is a versatile German hunting dog, named after the court of Weimar, where it was already kept in the first third of the 19th century. Its standard calls it likely to be the oldest German pointing breed, pure bred since 1900.
What do you know about the Weimaraner?
Weimar, the town the breed is named after, is in which country?
Three short-coated pointing dogs. Which one is also German?
Which colours does the Weimaraner’s standard allow?
Its puppies have eyes of one colour, and grown dogs another. Which?
Where does the name Weimaraner come from?
From Weimar, in central Germany. The breed standard admits there are many theories about where the dog began, and keeps to what is certain: the Weimaraner was already kept at the Weimar court in the first third of the 19th century, when it still carried a great deal of the blood of the old leash hounds (Leithunde) used to track game.
By the middle of that century it was bred mainly by professional hunters and gamekeepers in central Germany, around Weimar and in Thuringia. As the leash hounds fell out of use, the dogs were crossed with the German bird dog, the Hühnerhund. From about 1890 the breed was produced to a plan and entered in a stud book, and since then it has been bred almost entirely without crosses. That is why the standard calls it likely to be the oldest German pointing breed, pure bred since 1900. A longhaired variety has turned up, now and then, since the turn of the 20th century.
What was the Weimaraner bred for?
Every kind of hunting. Its standard asks for a versatile hunting dog that can work in field, wood and water, before and after the shot: searching for game, pointing it, and carrying on the work once the shot is fired. The standard describes a steady, passionate hunter with a remarkable nose, a reliable pointer and a good worker in water, and a good watchdog without aggressiveness.
How do you recognise a Weimaraner?
- Colour: silver, roe or mouse grey, or shades between, with the head and ears usually a little paler. Only small white marks on the chest and toes.
- Eyes: amber, from dark to pale; sky blue in puppies.
- Two coats: the shorthaired, with a short, dense, smooth coat and little or no undercoat, and the longhaired, soft and slightly wavy, 3 to 5 cm on the flanks, with feathered ears and tail.
- Size: males stand 59 to 70 cm at the shoulder and weigh about 30 to 40 kg; females 57 to 65 cm and about 25 to 35 kg.
- Build: sinewy and very muscular, a little longer than tall, with broad, fairly long ears that reach the corner of the mouth.
Which dogs are like the Weimaraner?
Other pointing dogs. There are more German breeds on their own page, and every breed is in the atlas.
German Shorthaired PointerGermany
German Wirehaired PointerGermany
VizslaHungary
Deutsch StichelhaarGermany
Facts from the Weimaraner’s official breed standard (No. 99, 19 March 2015).