Gundog Breeds in the Heritage Breeds Pavilion – Weimaraner

In the Gundog Pavilion at the Kelmarsh Country Fair and Midland Game Fair we are proud to work alongside the breed representatives to provide the most comprehensive display of working gundogs. Here we see the characteristics and heritage of the Weimaraner, taken from the Breed Society’s website.

The Weimaraner is one of the sub-group known as the Hunt Point & Retrieve breeds, within the gundog group. He is an all-purpose gundog but his character and temperament is quite dissimilar to that of other gundogs.

The Weimaraner was originally bred to be the tool for the foresters who worked him. He had to be capable of tracking and holding at bay such game as boar and deer. He had to have the ability to find, flush and retrieve fur & feathered game as a gundog for the pot. He had to catch and kill predators that deprived his master of sport and also defend him and his property. He was intended to be a powerful hunting dog with a strong protective instinct.

Despite the comparative rarity of this gundog breed in Great Britain, the Weimaraner has been maintained as a pure breed for well over a century in Germany and its ancestry can be seen clearly in paintings dated as long ago as 1630. The dogs were originally bred in the independent state of Weimar, for their qualities of intelligence, companionship and beauty, and especially for their all round gundog abilities to hunt, point, track & retrieve in all sorts of cover whatever the terrain.

Once developed, the Nobles of Weimar, who jealously kept their dogs from other ownership, preserved the excellent characteristics of these dogs, and when in the course of time, the independent state of Weimar became part of a United Germany the German Weimaraner Club followed in this tradition. It was only in 1937 that the first Weimaraners were exported to the U.S.A. and not until World War II that any numbers reached owners outside Germany. The Weimaraner was introduced to Britain by Major R.H. Petty in 1952. He had hunted with them whilst serving in Germany, and was taken by their outstanding qualities as a gundog.

More information on this fascinating gundog breed can be found at the Weimaraner Club of Great Britain website.