 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
Uk breeders of Weimaraner and Hungarian Vizsla
Weimaraner Information ABOUT THE WEIMARANER
Photo Above left Silvestre Port Royal in the sea at our outing. Right Silvestre Karnaks Delight at 10 years young.The Weimaraner is an active dog, so you should ask yourself "Is this the right breed for me"? More importantly one of the most stubborn dogs to train and you must ask if you can cope with a dog that ignores you if he wishes.When I am asked if I find the Weimaraner is an easy dog to own? The answer is no they are not. They are not a dog that will always respond to your commands. They can please themselves if they wish. With out training a breed of dog which is a nuisance to others, and a danger to farm animals. The breeders that are telling you they are easy dogs and great with children are the ones who just want to sell a dog and get rid of it. Please do look at every aspect of the Weimaraner. Many go into rescue because owners cant cope. Lets not make you another rescue statistic because you cant cope with the dog. Look into all you can before you purchase this breed. Look firstly and understand this dog was bred to hunt. It was not only bred to hunt but to kill the game it caught. It was bred to live in packs. I personally think they are a life changing dog to own. We certainly put our lives in and around our dogs, not the other way around, so in that fact they are life changing. They are not your usual dog. They are intelligent. With intelligence, comes boredom. With boredom comes destructive dog. So this challenging dog is a breed of dog which needs house crating or a kennel outside, somewhere safe you can put him whilst you are not around during the day time. A hunting dog always has more energy than a dog not bred for hunting. They have an acquiring mind. They may bring you something nice and smelling dead such as a rat, pheasant, rabbit or fish when you are walking out. You do not have to work your dog to own a Weimaraner, they much prefer your arm chair so long as they have had good exercise. These wonderful dogs just need commitment from their owners. If you can commit to the Weimaraner you will have the most beautiful yet entertaining dog you have ever owned, and a dog that will show you more love than you have ever known from a large breed of dog. The coat of the Weimaraner is wonderful, the beauty of the silver grey is stunning. Did you know their are two types of coat in Weimaraners. The Long Hair and the Short hair. LEFT LONG HAIR WEIMARANER RIGHT SHORT HAIR WEIMARANER
Thanks go to Gillian Reed (left) pictured with the late Willow a Long Hair Weimaraner & the late Alley a short hair Weimaraner shown by Rachel http://www.weimclubamerica.org/worldweims/longhair/index.html This link is worth a read on long hairs. Their are many books to read on the breed, and available from www.amazon.co.uk I recommend you read Weimaraner Edited by Patsy Hollings if you are thinking of buying a Weimaraner as her in-depth knowledge on the history of the dog is worth reading. The Pet owners guide to the Weimaraners by Gillian Averis,is a good book with info on how to bring up your puppy. I also like Weimaraner by Laviona Harper. The Weimaraner was first bred by the Royal court in Germany in the Weimar Valley. They were prized hunting dogs of Duke Karl August. The dogs earliest origins are still a mystery although many people have given thoughts as to how they came about. A Van Dyck painting from the early 1600's shows a dog that bears distinct likeness's to the Weimaraner although its difficult to prove if they are related. The Weimaraner was used for hunting, tracking and for large game. Today the Weimaraner in the UK is more of a pet than anything else although is worked successfully. The Weimaraner is classed in the gundog group. The Weimaraner is worked in the UK. The other term you may here for the Weimaraner is HPR dog, this simply means a hunt point retrieve breed, which originates from Europe. In Europe the Weimaraner is used much more for working, and even blood tracking. It was in America that the Weimaraner breed gained its name "Ghost Dog". It is easy to see why the Weimaraner was called this especially at dusk.
When looking into owning a dog you must not only look at the demand the dog may put on you for exercise, but can you cope with the daily grooming care of the dog. The one good thing about a Weimaraner is its short coat, and lack of grooming that needs to be done. Even though a short coated dog is easier to look after they still need a bath every 2-4 weeks if living in the home with you, and they need their nails trimmed every 2-4 weeks. Ears should be looked at least once a week to check for ear mites. Their coat may need a groom with a hand glove. But that is really it, no real big groom with their coat. If your Weimaraner lives outside then it rarely needs a bath because it needs the oils in its coat to keep the rain out and warmth in. Do not buy a Weimaraner if you are allergic to dogs. People have done and had to return dogs back to their breeders months later. Firstly you need to find out if you are allergic to dogs full stop. A simple test done by your GP/Hospital will determine if you are allergic to a dog. If you are looking for a dog which does not shed its hair, then you are looking at a wool coat. The poodle, sky terrier, Belington terrier, etc...... Weimaraners can soon develop bad habits through boredom, such as bin raider. He is a dog that will steal your cooking joint from the work top, he can open doors. This breed can be so stubborn and they can really test their owners patience. Do not take this dog on if you cant be top dog yourself. They really can be the most demanding dog to own. The Weimaraner is so strong willed. He can get on scent and completely ignore you. Needs training and constant training as they forget. But their are also rewards because the breed loves their owner more than anything, and wants to be with you. The Weimaraner responds well to a happy voice when training, and reward training. You also need to be firm with a Weimaraner, and no must mean no. I am asked from time to time what is this breed like living with other smaller dogs. How long is a piece of string, they are either fine or they are not. I had experience myself of buying a Cocker spaniel years ago and I had to re-home to my mother in law because the dog I had demoralized the cocker spaniel. Weimaraners can be rough, and some breeds cant cope. Yet you could get a terrier breed that is full of spark which will fit fine with the Weimaraner. Certainly they are not the kind of dog I would willingly stick with a toy breed. But this is my experience of owning them. Also being asked what are the breed like with rabbits and hamsters etc...Again some are fine, but the truth is most puppies are fine but their comes that day when maturity hits that I would not trust the Weimaraner with fur as he could kill it.
The Weimaraner loves human companionship, and he is not a dog you can leave every single day on its own, other wise he is very unhappy. An unhappy dog can present itself in many ways, a vocal dog whilst you are left, a destructive dog, or a pent up energy when you get home. He can get mischievous with the furniture if you are not there. I have known dogs rip up the flooring just because the owners gone to bed. For this reason crate train your Weimaraner. Do not buy two Weimaraners together, it is double trouble!. I do not think you need to live on a farm with acres of ground to own a Weimaraner, a home is what is required that knows it has to take the dog out at least twice a day when the dog is an adult, and someone around most of the day. The Weimaraner needs exercise off the lead as well as on the lead. Free running your dog will run off his abundance of energy. A walk once around the block at night is not for the Weimaraner He needs open spaces to have a good run. Mental stimulation is often what a Weimaraner requires, more than hours of exercise. You should not always expect a male Weimaraner to get on well with other males of other breeds. Although our dogs I have to say do, their are some Weimaraner males which are not castrated which do not have the best love towards other dogs. Social skills are important with a puppy, introducing other breeds through out the puppy's first year of life will stand you in much better stead with other dogs later on. If you ignore training, well its your problem later on. Do not have two male entire Weimaraners together. More often than not it will end in tears as they can easily become aggressive at maturity. It is much better to have a male and a female together and neuter both! Because they were bred to be pack dogs, its the top dog that wins. Therefore two males together can cause dominance between themselves just as two females also can cause the same problem. In some cases two female Weimaraners if left un-spayed can be tetchy with each other and can fight. It is better to spay them both at an earlier age. The Weimaraner loves water if introduced to it early on. But you should not push dogs into water, let them gradually go into water, by playing with their favourite ball in a river which is shallow to get in. Never push dogs into deep water as they will develop a hatred for it.
Costs of keeping a Weimaraer are medium and I highly recommend insurance to own a Weimaraner. A healthy Weimaraner can live up to 13 years. The Weimaraner is a scavenger breed and will eat anything it chooses to eat, that may mean stones off the drive. So for this reason alone insurance is pretty much a must in this breed. As to open a dog up costs money now a days. I find the Weimaraner an interesting dog to own because they are a "Silver Shadow", you are never alone when you own one. Their love for you is immense. They think the world of you. They would protect you with their life I am sure of it. They will bark if strangers come to the door, but generally would let anyone in. If you think you could offer a Weimaraner a good home, then please get in touch as we plan our next litter to be born January 2010. The Breed Standard for the Weimaraner by the Kennel Club http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/97 Weimaraners are hip scored before breeding. To find a quality Weimaraner the breeder should be a Kennel club assured breeder and a member of a breed club, but do not stop there go and see your breeder first and check out their premises is clean, tidy and that the dogs show a happy disposition and clean conditions to where they are kept. Rules for breeding under the Kennel club assured breeder scheme is a bitch must not be bred before 2 years old and she must not have more than 4 litters in her lifetime. She must be hip scored. She can not be bred too closely to her relatives such as father/daughter and mother/son. You will find many of the same dogs in a 5 generation pedigree due to small gene pool on a small island in England. All pedigrees will go back to introduction of two dogs and then a few more that were imported into the UK and bred from. The introduction of some imported dogs over the generations has widened the gene pool and breed lines appeared. It is a good thing to use imported dogs even today, but its not done frequently as it is very expensive to bring in new blood lines into a country.
Please do not copy or reproduce our website, do not copy photographs with out express permission from Mrs R Savage Copyright@2011SilvestreGundogs |
