Weimaraner breed guide

Weimaraners are excellent with kids and yearn to be with their people. A longtime breeder says the good news is that Weimaraners are smart and the bad news is that Weimaraners are smart: they learn quickly, good behaviors and bad alike.

To get to a training class and keep training methods consistent.

Weimaraners live 10 to 13 years. Being very active, they get more than their share of cuts, scrapes, sprains and pulls. They love to chew, which makes for mouth and gum injuries, so watch what they swallow.

The most serious health issue is gastric torsion, a life-threatening condition in which the stomach overstretches and twists shut, so discuss the symptoms with your vet and seek immediate help.

The biggest grooming job for a Weimaraner is keeping the nails short, which matters for comfort and health and cannot be overemphasized, since once the length gets out of hand it is hard to recover. If you hear tap-tap-tap on a hardwood floor, the nails are too long.

Weimaraners have high exercise requirements. They love a good run and while walking is fine, stretching their legs and getting up a full head of steam is far better, since a tired Weimaraner is a good Weimaraner.

Developed in the early 1800s, the Weimaraner is a very young breed. Its key figure was Germany's Grand Duke Karl August, who held court in Weimar and, like many European nobles of the age, was an avid sportsman dreaming of the perfect hunting dog.

He is said to have crossed Bloodhounds with various German and French hunting dogs to produce the Weimar Pointer or Weimaraner, which he and his fellow noblemen first used as big-game hunters.