Weimaraner
ORIGIN: Germany.
UTILIZATION: Versatile Hunting, Shooting, Pointing Dog.
BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY: There are numerous theories regarding the origin of the Weimaraner Pointing dog. Only so much is certain: That the Weimaraner, which at the time still contained a great deal of liam hound blood, was already kept at the Weimar court in the first third of the 19th century.
In the middle of the century, before pure breeding was started, breeding was mainly in the hands of professional hunters and game keepers in central Germany, mostly in the regions round Weimar and in Thuringia. As the days of the liam hounds passed, the dogs were crossed with the “Hühnerhund” and breeding was continued with this cross. From about 1890 on, the breed was produced according to a plan and regarded as suitable for inclusion in a stud book. Apart from the short haired Weimaraner, a long haired variety occurred, if only singly, since the turn of the century. Since being admitted to the stud book, the Weimaraner has been pure bred, remaining mostly free from crosses with any other breeds, in particular, Pointers. Therefore the Weimaraner is likely to be the oldest German “pointing” breed, which has been pure bred for about a hundred years.
GENERAL APPEARANCE: Medium to large size hunting/shooting dog, functional working type, pleasing in shape, sinewy and muscular. Difference in type between dogs and bitches easily distinguished.
IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS: Length of body to height at withers approximately 12:11. Proportions of the head: From tip of nose to stop slightly longer than from stop to occiput. Forehand: Length of elbow to pastern and length of elbow to point of withers about equal.
BEHAVIOR AND CHARACTER: Versatile easily trained, steady and passionate hunting / shooting dog. Persevering in search, yet not too lively. Remarkable ability to pick up scent. Ready to seize game and other prey; also able to do man work, yet not aggressive. Reliable pointer and worker in water. Remarkable inclination to work after game is shot.
HEAD
Cranial Region: In balance with size of body and facial region. Broader in dogs than bitches, yet in both, the relationship between width of cranial region to total length of head must be in good proportion. Median groove in forehead. Slight to moderately protruding occipital bone. Zygomatic arches easily traceable behind the eyes. Stop extremely slight.
Facial Region:
Nose: Noseleather large, protruding over the underjaw. Dark flesh color, merging gradually into gray towards the back.
Muzzle: Long and, specially in the male, powerful, appearing almost angular. Region of canines and carnassial teethes equally strong. Bridge of nose straight, often slightly arched, never with a down-ward curve.
Flews: Moderately deep, flesh colored, as are the gums. Tight fitting.
Jaws: Strong.
Cheeks: Muscular, clearly defined. Definitely “clean” head.
Teeth: Complete, regular and strong. Top and bottom incisors touching (scissor bite).
Eyes: Amber color, dark to pale, with intelligent expression. Sky-blue in puppies. Round, barely slanting. Lids well fitting.
Ears: Lobular, broad and fairly long, just reaching to corner of mouth. Set on high and narrow, forming a rounded off point at tip. In alertness, turned slightly forward, folded.
NECK: Noble appearance and carriage. Upper line arched in profile. Muscular, nearly round, not too short, clean cut. Becoming stronger towards the shoulders and merging harmoniously into the back and chest.
BODY
Topline: From the arched neckline, over the well defined withers the topline merges gradually into the relatively long, firm back.
Withers: Well defined.
Back: Firm and muscular, without a dip. Not running up towards the rear. A slightly long back, a breed characteristic, is not a fault.
Rump: Pelvis long and moderately sloped.
Chest: Strong but not unduly broad, with sufficient depth to reach almost to elbows and of sufficient length. Well sprung without being barrel-shaped and with long ribs. Brisket well developed.
Belly Line: Rising slightly, but belly not tucked up.
Tail: Set on slightly lower than with other similar breeds. Tail strong and well coated.
Carried hanging down in repose. When alert or working, carried level or higher.
LIMBS
Forequarters:
General: High on leg, sinewy, straight and parallel, but not standing wide.
Shoulders: Long and sloping. Well fitting, strongly muscled. Well angulated shoulder joint.
Upper Arm: Sloping, sufficiently long and strong.
Elbows: Free and lying parallel to median plane of body. Turned neither in nor out.
Fore Arm: Long, straight and vertical.
Pastern joint: Strong and taut.
Pastern: Sinewy, slightly sloping.
Front Feet: Firm and strong. Standing straight in relation to median plane of body. Toes arched. Longish middle toes are a breed characteristic and therefore not a fault. Nails light to dark gray. Pads well pigmented, coarse.
Hindquarters:
General: High on leg, sinewy i.e. well muscled. Standing parallel, turning neither in nor out.
Upper Thigh: Sufficiently long, well muscled.
Stifle: Strong and taut.
Lower Thigh: Long with clearly visible tendons.
Hockjoint: Strong and taut.
Hock: Sinewy, almost vertical in position.
Hind Feet: Tight and firm, without dew-claws, otherwise like front feet.
GAIT / MOVEMENT: Movement in all gaits is ground covering and smooth. Hind and front legs set parallel to each other. Gallop long and flat. Back remains straight when trotting. Pacing is undesirable.
SKIN: Strong. Close, but not too tight fitting.
COAT:
Make Up of Coat:
- Short Hair: Short (but longer and thicker than with most comparable breeds), strong, very dense, smooth lying top coat. Without or with only very sparse undercoat.
- Longhaired: Soft, long topcoat with or without undercoat. Smooth or slightly wavy. Long flowing hair at ear set on . Velvety hair is permissible on tips of leathers. Length of coat on flanks 3 – 5 cm. On lower side of neck, chest and belly, generally somewhat longer. Good feathering and breeching, yet less long towards ground. Tail with good flag. Feathering between toes. Hair on head less long. A type of coat similar to a double-coat (Stockhaar) with medium length, dense, close fitting top coat, thick undercoat and moderately developed feathering and breeching, sometimes occurs in dogs of mixed ancestry.
COLOR: Silver, roe or mouse gray, as well as shades of these colors. Head and ears generally slightly paler. Only small white markings on chest and toes permitted. Sometimes a more or less defined dark eel stripe occurs along the back. Dogs with definite reddish-yellow marking may only be given the classification “good”. Brown marking is a serious fault.
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT:
Height at withers:
Dogs: 59 – 7O cm (ideal measurement 62 – 67 cm). Bitches: 57 – 65 cm (ideal measurement 59 – 63 cm).
Weight:
Dogs: about 3O – 4O kg.
Bitches: about 25 – 35 kg.
FAULTS: Any departure from the above points is to be regarded as a fault whose seriousness is to be regarded in exact proportion to its degree.
- Clear deviation from type. Untypical sexual characteristics.
- Gross deviation from correct proportions.
- Slight deficiency in temperament.
- Gross deviations from size and proportions.
- Facial region: Gross deviations e.g. too strong flews, short or pointed muzzle.
- Jaws and teeth: Lack of more than two P1 or M3.
- Eyes: Light faults in eye lid above all light and unilateral faults.
- Ears: Definitely short or long, not turned.
- Throatiness (dewlap), great deviation in neck shape and muscle.
- Back: Definite sway or roach back. Rump higher than withers.
- Chest, Belly: Barrel shaped chest. Insufficient depth or length of chest. Tucked up belly.
- Sexual organs: distinct departure from normal in testicle shape, size or consistency.
- Gross anomalies in stance i.e. lack of angulation, out at elbows, splay feet.
- Pronounced bow legs or cow hocks.
- Bad movement in different gaits, also lack of free forward movement or drive, pacing.
- Serious deficiencies i.e. skin very fine or very coarse.
- Mixture of coat varieties defined in the standard.
- Lack of feathering on belly or leathers. Widely spread woolly coat in short hair Weimaraner or curly or sparse feathering in long hair variety.
- Departure from shades of gray, such as yellow or brownish. Brown marking.
- Strong departure from correct height or weight. e.g. more than 2 cm from average.
- Other serious faults.
DISQUALIFYING FAULTS:
- Completely untypical, above all too heavy or too light in build.
- Completely out of proportion.
- Faulty temperament i.e. shy or nervous.
- Absolutely untypical bulldog – type head.
- Facial Region: Absolutely untypical i.e. completely curved nose bridge.
- Jaws and teeth: Overshot, undershot, missing further teeth other than quoted.
- Eyes: Entropion, Ectropion.
- Ears: Absolutely untypical, i.e. stand-off.
- Particularly pronounced dewlap.
- Back: Severe sway or roach back. Pronounced run up at croup.
- Chest, Belly: Markedly barrel shaped or malformed chest.
- Sexual Organs: Monorchidism, Cryptorchidism.
- Legs rickety or malformed.
- Hip dysplasia.
- Totally restricted movement.
- Skin defects and malformations.
- Partial or total hair loss.
- Color other than gray. Widespread brown marking.
- White markings other than on chest and feet.
- Definitely over or under size.
- Other malformation. Illnesses which must be considered hereditary, i.e. Epilepsy.
The compilers can, naturally, not list all faults which occur, the above are to be regarded as examples.
N.B.: Males should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.
