Weimaraner's in South Africa

Updated : August 2002

This is an official home page representing the Weimaraner Klub of the Transvaal and the club breeders who wish to be listed. This page and those linked are still in their infancy and hope to be improved on in the near future. This web authouring has/is quite a learning exercise and with your help and suggestions, can always be improved. Kindly e-mail us any positive comments.

As a brief introduction to the Weimaraner, one would be quite accurate as classifying this breed as "an all-rounder" i.e. versatile dog. In South Africa, the Weimaraner falls under the Gundog Group for registration and showing purposes. This Group is solely for hunting dogs i.e. used in conjunction with a gun. The specific class is known as HPR, which means Hunt, Point and Retrieve.

Comparatively speaking, the Weimaraner is still a "New Breed" in Southern Africa, other HPR breeds have been around many years earlier. The hunting and field trialling fraternities are starting to see the Weimaraner in a better light, particularly since some breeders are focusing on stronger hunting lines and working at improving these traits from which the Weimaraner originally gained its fame. Without a doubt, it is a striking figure in a show ring, particularly with the silver and silver grey coats - thus its nickname, The Grey Ghost.

The Weimaraner as a hunting dog in Southern Africa has proven itself in the sport known as rough shooting, its tenacity and courage winning hearts where ever they go. Rough shooting entails a wide variety of terrain's in this country, the terrain to which the Weimaraner is best suited is that of medium to thick grasslands and light, medium & thick bushveld (grass with thorn trees/shrubs). The light grasslands and Karoo terrain's are more suited to your medium to far ranging dogs which hold solid points and can be easily seen over these distances - predominantly German Shorthaired Pointers and the English Pointer. Generally speaking, the Weimaraners in this country have not quite proven themselves (yet) in this area. With Field Trial events, Weimaraners can be found, but still have some way to go to prove their worth (both dogs and owners) when competing against GSP's and English Pointers!

In the show ring, Weimaraner's are seen, but it has been some years since a truly striking Weimaraner has won a Group in a show. Several placing's from time to time, but the judges are still looking for that dog/bitch that will steal the show - repeatedly!

In other sphere's such as agility, obedience, carting, working trials etc., the Weimaraner has the capability to do well, but very few owners have made any attempt. Watch this space!