The weimaraner: silver shades of grey

The weimaraner is perhaps best known for its striking good looks but beneath the sleek silver coat lies a powerful and versatile sporting dog that excels in the field says Sue Knight

How nice to see a weimaraner working.” It was a comment directed to me as a nervous novice in the beating line but I still remember this remark, made by a gun on a formal shoot near the Domesday village of Westerham in Kent. It was pleasing for three reasons. First, he recognised the breed, second he appreciated its working skills and third he pronounced the name correctly. Scholars of the classics will be aware that the Latin alphabet, from which modern European alphabets derive, did not have the ‘W’ character. This was represented by the Latin letter ‘V’ hence the ‘W’ pronounced as a ‘V’.

Although known as ‘the grey ghost’, strictly speaking this distinctive gundog is a rather more mundane-sounding brown. The silver-grey coat is a result of two genes: one for colour and a dilution gene that then modifies it. In the case of the weimaraner, the dilution gene is responsible for the grey. The breed standard states: ‘The only correct colour is grey. Silver-grey preferable. Shades of mouse or roe grey are acceptable.’ It is important to note that the colour blue, which comes from a black gene, is not recognised by any of the UK breed clubs or the country of origin, Germany. (You might like to read: the best gundog breeds from overseas.)

Breed history

There are many theories about how the breed originated. It is believed that crossing a blood-tracking hound to German and French hunting dogs resulted in the weimaraner we are familiar with today. Grey hunting dogs were found in the area of Weimar, a city in eastcentral Germany now known for its culture and castles. However, in the 1800s its surrounding forests were rich in large game. Old paintings show hound-like dogs that were used by foresters to hunt deer and boar, which required a powerful dog with good tracking skills. The Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Karl August, was an avid sportsman and developed the breed for his family and the nobility, carefully protecting ownership and keeping breeding programmes secret. In 1897 the Weimaraner Club of Germany was formed, and with the larger species of game decreasing the breed became an all-purpose hunting dog on smaller game. Once known as the weimar pointer, the breed is now classified as an HPR (hunt, point, retrieve). (Read more on HPR breeds here.)

It is agreed by the breed clubs that 1952 was the year the weimaraner was imported into the UK by Major Petty, who had seen the dogs work in Germany. The first weimaraner to be placed at a field trial, gain a working trial qualification, win in obedience and the first dog of the breed to earn a challenge certificate in the UK all carried his Strawbridge affix. Petty organised the inaugural meeting of the Weimaraner Club of Great Britain (WCGB), which had its platinum jubilee in 2023, celebrating 70 years of breed representation in Britain. Since then three further clubs have formed: the Weimaraner Association in 1985, the North of England Weimaraner Society in 1992 and the Weimaraner Club of Scotland in 1994. All work ‘to encourage, promote and protect the breeding of the weimaraner to meet the breed standard and to fulfil its role as a hunting, pointing and retrieving gundog’.

Uncommon sight

Weimaraner owner Chrissie Johnson is indebted to her HPR training club for the introduction to a local shoot. “I know gamekeepers can be wary about newcomers to the beating line, especially with a breed not commonly seen in the field,” she admits. “Having proved he could point, my three-yearold weimaraner, Jason, and I were soon allocated hedges to beat and allowed to work out the pens.”

Although now working her eighth generation of home-bred weimaraners, Suzi Burton acknowledges she knew little of the breed at the beginning: “I brought home my first weimaraner in 1994 without an inkling of what was to come. So began a huge lifestyle change, from town to country girl, learning about the breed, fieldwork and shooting as well as showing.” Dogs of her Trubon breeding have also had success in the show ring, agility and working trials. “I breed occasionally for driven but biddable workers, typey in conformation, well tempered and without health issues, from hip-scored sire and dam and within breedclub ethics and guidelines,” she explains.

She is currently campaigning three dogs: “One of them is already qualified for the HPR Championship for the coming two years. The other two are qualified in open gundog working tests and one is running in novice field trials.” Burton is also a Royal Kennel Club A-panel field trial judge and can now award challenge certificates for the breed in the show ring. After 10 years as WCGB field trial secretary, she is now focusing on her own dogs. I asked her why she thought there have only been two weimaraner field trial champions to date, FTCh Wobrooke of Fleetapple and FTCh Quadet Caterin, although two of her dogs have come close.

“All the stars have to align: dog on top form, ground suitable to show off the dog, birds in the right place at the right time, guns on their mettle and judges who can see everything. Times have changed,” she believes. “These days a lot of trials are held on open ground that shows how the dogs quarter and work the wind. They need drive, biddability and experience on moorland for finding grouse, as well as familiarity with root crops and the skill to manage running partridge and pheasant.”

I had the local firearms officer to thank for my first invitation to a grouse moor. He recommended me when asked to suggest a handler and dog to join a party for walked-up grouse on a Scottish estate near Balmoral. My five-year-old weimaraner, Jessie, was used to partridge and pheasant and it took her a day to ignore pointing the meadow pipits. With sudden explosions of grouse in front of us, I realised why it was essential for dog and handler to walk in line but Jessie quickly adapted to quartering between my neighbouring guns who were spread out an extended distance. When she went on point, the whole line stopped and she made some memorable retrieves. Jessie was the only HPR among the labradors and spaniels, and in the heat of an August day her short coat was a definite advantage.

A great outlet

As with dogs of all breeds, things don’t always go to plan. My first agility competition ended with another of my weimaraners, Becky, scaling the A-frame, clearing jumps, passing through the tunnel and straight out of the ring to where my family sat with a picnic. “Any gundog breed can be a challenge as you are fighting against natural instincts, in particular finding and following scents, especially during the summer months when shows are outside in wide open spaces frequently populated by furry and feathered creatures,” says Alison True, agility secretary of the WCGB. “Mid-course, the dog’s nose goes up or down and off they go on a scent. It can be infuriating,” she admits.

However, True feels passionately that agility is a great outlet for any gundog, particularly those with high prey drive such as weimaraners. She has often heard people say “agility, it’s all just fun and games” spoken in a derogatory way. “Agility draws on that innate drive to chase; we replicate the twists and turns and, at the end of a run, we reward either with food or with a game of tug,” she explains. “The energy and chase drive of the dog are used to our advantage. It is a physical and mental workout like no other.”

The multiskills of a trained weimaraner make the breed an ideal rough-shooting companion, according to James Beecher: “As a shooting man used to cocker spaniels, I was persuaded by my girlfriend to buy ‘one of those gorgeous grey dogs’ and I haven’t looked back,” he recalls. “Yes, they take a lot of patient training but Henry, now seven, has proved himself a good provider for the pot. He does the work of a beater, informs me of game ahead and flushes on command. If I am successful he will retrieve to hand but if I miss, I get a vexed look.”

Dual-purpose dogs

Top UK show breeders Stephen and Patsy Hollings bought their first weimaraner in 1976. They are now world renowned for their Gunalt Weimaraners with more than 97 champions but at the core is their belief in breeding dual-purpose dogs. As such, the Gunalt affix is also associated with successful working gundogs. “We lived on pheasants that Stephen shot when we were first married,” Patsy Hollings says. “I used to take out our show champion Sh Ch Hansom Portman in the beating line. He was very steady and excellent at finding lost birds. Portman became the first weimaraner to win best in show at the Leicester championship in 1989.” Gunalt dogs are still regularly seen in the field. “A daughter of Hendricks, Sh Ch Gunalt Wavelength, is shot over regularly in Cumbria,” she confirms. “We also supplied weimaraners to our patrons, the Earl and Countess of Harewood, which their gamekeeper worked when there was a shoot on the estate.”

David Jenkins is a devotee of both shorthaired and longhaired weimaraners. “I have owned the breed for over 40 years, using them purely as gundogs on a small, informal walk-and-stand shoot. Visiting guests often ask what they are, with suggestions ranging from funny-coloured German pointer to golden retriever cross,” he recounts. The first longhair was imported into the UK in 1973 and in the same year the first UK-bred longhair was born to shorthaired weimaraners. One of the best descriptions I have read says simply: ‘The longhaired weimaraner is just that: a weimaraner with a long coat.

Although numerically small compared with shorthairs, they are becoming popular in the shooting field and have excelled in working trials and scentwork.

Sadly, as with many breeds, Margarita Booker of the WCGB rescue/rehoming service found herself inundated with dogs post-pandemic by owners ill-prepared to meet the needs of a dog such as a weimaraner. She stresses: “These dogs had not been socialised with either other dogs or visitors. No research had been done by owners on the strong prey drive that the weimaraner retains, nor had they realised the importance of training and teaching the dog to walk on a lead.” (Read: bloat in dogs – why you need to act quickly.)

The late Margaret Holmes and former breed club president wrote in the 1978- 1981 yearbook: ‘Underneath that beautiful grey silk coat there is a powerful hunting dog. He still retains his instinctive drives and needs firm, kindly discipline from an early age. If you are willing to give time and patience to his training and allow him to be a family member you will find that you have a loving, grey shadow whose greatest joy is to be with you always.’ This remains unchanged.

With stalwarts of the breed introducing proven hunting lines from Europe, the future of the ‘grey ghost’ looks assured. While never commonplace on formal shoots, the weimaraner holds its own on the shooting field and still presents, as the breed standard states, ‘a picture of power, stamina and balance’ with ‘hunting ability of paramount concern’.

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