THE WEIMARANER – SIXTY YEARS IN THE FIELD by Nigel Wroe

1953 – Foundation and Vision

The Weimaraner Club of Great Britain celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in 2013. The Club was founded by an inaugural meeting convened by Major RH Petty, importer of the first Weimaraners into the UK, and held at Crufts on Gundog day on 7^th February 1953, and became registered with the Kennel Club on 17^th November later that year.

From the outset the founders of the Club were determined that the Weimaraner breed in Great Britain would be dual purpose in that strict conformance to a breed standard formed part of their vision for the breed, but importantly insisted that “hunting ability is the paramount concern and any fault of body or mind which detracts from this ability should be penalised”.

Sadly this laudable aim has lost emphasis over the years and the current breed standard truncates the hunting requirement to be simply “of paramount concern”, with no mention of penalising any detracting traits. Major Petty’s earnest plea that “the membership do their level best to ensure the continuity of the breed as it was” ¹ has at least been embraced by those who have worked and/or trialled their Weimaraners home and abroad over the past sixty years.

The Weimaraner competed in field competitions from the very early days of their arrival in Britain, originally alongside Pointers and Setters in their pointing competitions, but very soon after were able to compete in dedicated HPR (hunt point retrieve) breed club working tests and then field trials.