WEIMARANERS

The Weimaraner breed was invented in Germany back in the early 19th century. These dogs are probably descendants of the bloodhound.  Weimaraners were bred to hunt big animals such as boars, bears, and deer.  But only members of the royalty were allowed to have a fancy hunting dog like a Weimaraner.  This doesn't seem fair, but that's the way it was.  The name of the breed came from Karl August, who was the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.  His court was located in the German city of Weimar, and he really liked to go hunting.

After a while, people stopped hunting big game and started hunting smaller animals such as birds, rabbits, and foxes.  Weimaraners were good at this kind of hunting, too.  And since the dogs were so valuable, they got to live indoors with their families, instead of outside in kennels, which is where most types of hunting dogs lived.  Nowadays, Weimaraners are still used by some people to hunt birds and as water retrievers.  But lots of Weimaraners are just happy being family dogs.

The official colors for Weimaraners range from charcoal-blue to silver-gray.  Their eyes can be amber, gray, or blue-gray.  Usually the tails are docked to one-third the natural length.  The AKC standard requires this, but in Europe, tail docking is illegal.  There is also a long-haired type of Weimaraner, and it is shown with a full-length tail, but the AKC doesn't recognize the long-haired variety of the breed.

Male Weimaraners are 26 to 27 inches tall and weigh between 70 and 80 pounds.  Females are 23 to 25 inches tall and weigh 55 to 70 pounds.  Because these dogs were bred to be hunting dogs, they are very strong and muscular.  Also they have a whole bunch of energy, and they can be high-strung.  They need lots of exercise, especially when they are young.  Otherwise, they might find some way to entertain themselves in the house, like maybe by chewing up the furniture or barking.

Weimaraners are good with children, but they are so rambunctious that they might knock small children down.  Also they have a prey drive that makes them want to chase small, furry things such as cats and hamsters and squirrels.  Weimaraners who live in the country might discover they can have fun chasing deer or sheep.

It's easy to train Weimaraners because they are very smart.  They also like to play, and they especially like fetching balls.  They are cheerful and affectionate, but they can be stubborn and hard to control, especially if they don't get enough exercise.  Besides hunting, Weimaraners are also good at tracking, retrieving, pointing, guarding, police work, search-and-rescue, agility, and being service dogs.

There's a famous photographer named William Wegman who likes to put clothes on his Weimaraners and then take pictures of them.  Also he has them pose in all sorts of places and positions that you would not think dogs would allow themselves to be put into.  You've probably seen some of Mr. Wegman's photos.  I'm just going to put one of them here on my blog, and I hope I don't get sent to jail for doing it, but if I do, maybe you can come visit me there!