Breed characteristics

Nature

Thanks to it´s interesting colour, Weimaraner is often bred like a companion dog at present. The dog longs for being with his master all the time. Although he loves the life of a family dog, he is also a hunting dog with an excellent nose. He is very popular with hunters due to his easy handling, versatility and endurance. He hasalso a strong protective instinct, therefore, he is also a very good guard with good hunting abilities as well.

This breed is energetic and self-confident, and for those reasons suitable not only for hunters but for active people who are able to give him sufficient space for running or another type of activity as well. He is used to getting his own way and it´s very important to teach him who the master is. The beginner can handle this breed, but it´s necessary to be uncompromisingly consistent.

Education

Weimaraner is able to learn quickly, but he will always take an advantage of an opportune moment to try to get his way. However, a hard approach does not count for much with him, on the contrary, it will do more harm than good.

With their intelligence, training requires the right approach, which should not be a routine and it is appropriate to choose an entertaining form. The basics of training such as summoning and others should be taught right from the puppy age with consistency, but through love and playing. An ill-mannered and bored weimaraner can cause a lot of trouble for his owner and everybody around.

Despite his size, he´s very compact dog. He has no problem to be calm in the household, he has no problem to be in an apartment, but then he needs some compensation with many different activities. Long walks are ideal for him, he likes to run very much. He needs to be occupied not only physically, but also keeping his mind busy, e.g. by searching things or with various games. It is not a breed that should be outside  in a dog shed or penall year round.

Physique

This breed comes from Germany. Weimaraner is of medium sized to large sized, originally a hunting dog with sporty appearance. A male reaches height of 59-70 cm at the withers, a female 57-65 cm. Adult weight is 30-40 kg for dogs and 25-35 kg for bitches. The average lifespan is 11-14 years.

Their bodies are slim, perfectly shaped and beautifully muscular. The head is in ideal proportion to the body, the lips are slightly overhanging, the teeth are scissor-shaped. The ears are set high and hang down reaching roughly to the corner of the mouth. The round eyes are slanted. Beautiful massive chest, well sprung ribs. Limbs are sinewy and well muscled. A strong, well-furred tail is set lower. In some countries it may be shortened. The short-haired Weimaraner has a smooth, very dense coat with no or little undercoat.

Weimaraners do not suffer from many diseases, they belong to healthier breeds, but even here we can find a bigger susceptibility to certain diseases such as hip dysplasia, susceptibility to gastric torsion or skin allergies.

Blue weimaraner

You can find a detailed history of this breed on the American website https://blueweimaraner.com/

You may have ever seen a breed that had the same body structure and features, but it  was dark – colored like blue. This might be a “blue dog” – a blue Weimaraner.

In the USA a lot of silvergrey weimaraners have the blue one in their history. Cäsar von Gaisberg (Tell) is the originator of blue weiomaraner in the USA. He was born in Germany on February 25, 1947. Tell came from excellent german lines and had great offsprings, 8 of them were even champions.

This color is “diluted” black and while gray is “diluted” brown. Regardless the colour, a blue weimaraner is exactly the same as a grey one. A blue weimaraner has minimally one of his two genes blue and this is the reason why he can reproduct a blue colour. The blue gene is dominant and if a dog inherits a blue gene, he´ll be blue. A grey puppy coming from blue parents didn´t inherit a blue gene and, therefore, it´s grey and thi s dog will never reproduct the blue offsprings (in case you don´t connect it with blue weimaraner). 

If you mate a blue and grey weimaraner, you never have a mixture of the colours for one puppy. These two colours are two different entities and they remain the same. A blue puppy then carries genes of both the blue  and grey colours.

Blue weimaraner by AKC standard (American Kennel Club)

In the USA, the blue Weimaraner is recognized as one of the color shades in the standard. All puppies from litter with both parents registered in AKC can be registered in AKC, too. They can participate in dog shows and compete for many titles (including various exams, e.g. hunting, agility, obedience). The blue weimaraners were AKC champions, since the blue coat color was accepted in the earlier standard until 1972. Blue weimaraner, registered in AKC, is allowed to compete in all AKC disciplines, which means that also in the circle at the dog shows.

Blue weimaraner by FCI standard (Fédération Cynologique Internationale)

FCI is the only organisation which doesn´t have a blue colour in the standard. Each breed is the “property” of a certain country, which writes down the breed standard with the relevant association, for most clubs in Europe it is the FCI, but on our continent several associations have developed activities that care about the quality purebred breeding (WCHSA, UCI, …) .

Germany, the country of origin of weimaraner, is the member of FCI and, therefore, this regional club sets the standard for weimaraners. Unfortunately, FCI doesn´t recognise a blue weimaraner in the standard. The purebred dogs´registration is different from the USA in many FCI countries. However, there are a few known cases of registered blue weimaraners in FCI countries in which they were judged as an accepted shade of “grey”. In any case, it is possible to keep Blue Weimaraners under the organizations all arround of Europe, other than the FCI (some of the above-mentioned ones), which allow their full-fledged breeding, a participation in exhibitions and dog sports.