Other names/Nicknames:
- Gray Ghost
- Weimar Pointer
Country/Date of origin:
- Germany
- Early 19th century
Height:
- Females: 23 to 25 inches
- Males: 25 to 27 inches
Weight:
- 70 to 86 pounds
Personality:
- A one-family dog that is not friendly to strangers.
- Intelligent and assertive. A combination that makes for difficulty in training.
- Can be rambunctious.
- Bubbles with energy and cannot stand to be confined.
- Can be very destructive if not given enough exercise.
History:
The Weimaraner is an all-around hunter that was bred by aristocratic sportsmen in the Weimar region of Germany. The breed was jealously guarded and no dogs were sold outside the close-knit circle of nobility in the Weimar court. It was most likely created by crossing a Bloodhound type dog with German Shorthaired Pointers to get hunters with a better nose and a larger size. This enabled them to hunt larger game such as wild boar. In 1929, an American named Howard Knight got a pair of dogs ostensibly for breeding purposes, but the Germans had secretly neutered them. These were later replaced with fertile dogs and the breed, amidst a great public relations campaign, flourished in the United States. The short-haired variety was admitted to the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1943, but the long-haired variety is still unrecognized here.
Body Type:
- A heavy, muscular, hunting pointer.
- Long, hanging ears are rounded at tips and not altered.
- Tail is docked to about six-inches long.
Coat:
- The short, sleek, gray coat is the hallmark of the breed.
- The gray color is slightly lighter on the head and ears.
- The nose is also gray, and the eyes are a light amber or blue-gray, giving the dog the nickname of gray ghost.
- Minimal grooming.
Health and Wellness:
- Hip dysplasia.
- Autoimmune thyroid disease.
- Gastric dilatation and volvulus syndrome (GDV, also commonly called bloat).
- Tricuspid dysplasia.
- Hemophilia.
- Spinal dysraphism.
- Immunodeficient dwarfism.
- Cryptorchidism.
- Metabolic bone disease.
- Demodicosis.
- Muzzle pyoderma.
- Mast cell tumor.
- Oropharyngeal neoplasia.
What you should know:
- There is a long-haired version of the Weimaraner but it is not recognized by the AKC. Consequently, it is not often seen in the United States.
- Popular with hunters who favor an all-around dog.
- The Weimaraner can point, retrieve, and track. It will also face big game that other softer pointers will refuse.
