- Silver, roe or mouse grey, as well as shades of these colours.
- Head and leathers generally slightly paler.
- Sometimes a more or less defined trace occurs along the back
Permissible
- Only small white markings on chest and toes
Large, sleek, athletic sporting dog with distinctive silver-gray coat and striking amber or blue-gray eyes, known for speed, stamina, and intelligence. Originally bred for hunting large game, earning the nickname 'Gray Ghost' for its coat and stealth.
Developed at the court of Weimar, Germany, in the early 19th century by German nobility who sought to create an all-around hunting dog for large game. The breed's parentage was a closely guarded secret for many years.
“Versatile, easily trained steady and passionate hunting dog. Persevering in systematic search, yet not too lively. Remarkable ability to pick up scent. Ready to seize game and other prey; he is a good watchdog, without aggressiveness however. Reliable pointing dog and worker in water. Remarkable inclination to work after the shot”
Quoted from FCI standard n°99. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: FCI breed standard; Weimaraner Club of America — 2021 CHIC Breed Health Testing Profile. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
What a judge marks the Weimaraner down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.
Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.
Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.
The Weimaraner standard is published by the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale), the international federation of pedigree-dog clubs, and it is what show judges apply. This section sums up what it says about coat and colour and size. It does not assess any one animal: use it to know what to ask the breeder.
Short-haired: Short (but thicker than with most longer and comparable breeds), strong, very dense, smooth lying topcoat.
Without or with only very sparse undercoat.
Smooth or slightly wavy.
Long flowing hair at ear set on.
Velvety hair is permissible on tips of leathers.
Length of coat on flanks 3–5 cm.
On lower side of neck, forechest and belly, generally somewhat longer.
Good feathering and breeching, yet less long towards ground.
Tail with good flag.
Hair between toes.
Hair on head less long.
A type of coat similar to a double-coat (Stockhaar) with medium length, dense, close fitting topcoat, thick undercoat and moderately developed feathering and breeching, sometimes occurs in dogs of mixed ancestry
Notes
Permissible
Shortened from FCI standard n°99 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
The colours and patterns the standard admits, and what it prefers, discourages or disqualifies in each. An accepted colour says nothing about health.
Height at the withers (cm)
The same scale for every breed: no source defines size categories by height.
Weight (kg)
Size categories by adult weight, from Montoya et al. 2023.
The standard's words
“Height at the the withers: Males: 59 – 70 cm. Females: 57 – 65 cm. Weight: Males: about 30 – 40 kg. Females: about 25 – 35 kg”
Quoted from FCI standard n°99.
FCI divides the Weimaraner into these varieties, listed in the registry's own words. Depending on the breed they separate colour, coat, size or line — they are not a full list of colours, which no registry we hold publishes. Ask a breeder which variety their line is.
An adult's measurements, per the standard. It does not say how big this puppy will be. Quotations from the FCI are in English, as the standard publishes them; the headings are ours.
Known hereditary risks for the Weimaraner breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
5 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Found in more than about one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened, or described as common in the sources.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Weimaraner in general; any individual animal can differ.
Elevated uric acid in the urine (SLC2A9 gene) that predisposes to bladder or kidney stones. It is manageable with diet and monitoring once known, but a stone blocking a male dog's urethra is a veterinary emergency. In a screen of 647 Weimaraners roughly one in four (about 27%) carried at least one copy.
What to ask for
DNA test result for the SLC2A9 mutation on both parents; required for a CHIC number under the Weimaraner Club of America's breed health testing profile.
Elevated uric acid in the urine (SLC2A9 gene) that predisposes to bladder or kidney stones. It is manageable with diet and monitoring once known, but a stone blocking a male dog's urethra is a veterinary emergency. In a screen of 647 Weimaraners roughly one in four (about 27%) carried at least one copy.
What to ask for
DNA test result for the SLC2A9 mutation on both parents; required for a CHIC number under the Weimaraner Club of America's breed health testing profile.
Documented in this breed, but no source says how many of its dogs carry or have them. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign they are rare.
A painful inflammatory bone disease of rapidly growing puppies between roughly 8 weeks and 8 months old, causing limb swelling, fever and reluctance to move. Whole litters and related dogs are sometimes affected, which points to a real hereditary component, though no causative gene has been identified. A suspected link to modified-live vaccine timing rests on one small case series with no control group, and the breed is also known to develop HOD without any vaccination — that link is not established.
What to ask for
No DNA test exists. Ask whether the sire, dam or littermates had documented HOD as puppies, and what vaccination protocol the breeder follows.
An overgrowth of bone in the jaw and skull of young, growing dogs, usually before a year old: the jaw swells and is painful, so the puppy struggles to open its mouth and eat, and it often runs a fever. It usually settles by itself once the skeleton stops growing. In this breed its genetic cause is not settled: a frameshift variant in SLC35D1 was found in a single affected Weimaraner, and its authors could only call it a likely cause. That variant turned up nine times among 28 Weimaraners in a small screen — too few for a firm figure — while the terrier variant was in none of 647.
What to ask for
Craniomandibular osteopathy (SLC35D1, Weimaraner type) DNA test result, on both parents — its link to the disease is not yet confirmed; also ask whether the parents or close relatives had a painful, swollen jaw as puppies
A deficiency of myelin in the central nervous system causing tremor from early puppyhood. It has long been described as often improving with age, but a 2024 study found affected dogs also had lipofuscin-like accumulations alongside the myelin abnormality — evidence the condition may be more than a simple developmental delay, not yet reflected in the older, more reassuring breed-club description.
What to ask for
DNA test result for the Weimaraner-specific hypomyelination mutation on both parents; required for the same CHIC number as HUU.
A painful inflammatory bone disease of rapidly growing puppies between roughly 8 weeks and 8 months old, causing limb swelling, fever and reluctance to move. Whole litters and related dogs are sometimes affected, which points to a real hereditary component, though no causative gene has been identified. A suspected link to modified-live vaccine timing rests on one small case series with no control group, and the breed is also known to develop HOD without any vaccination — that link is not established.
What to ask for
No DNA test exists. Ask whether the sire, dam or littermates had documented HOD as puppies, and what vaccination protocol the breeder follows.
Found in roughly one in a hundred to one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened.
A congenital malformation of the spinal cord (NKX2-8 gene) causing an abnormal hopping gait and hind-limb weakness, visible from early puppyhood. It is a developmental defect rather than a progressive one, so affected dogs generally neither improve nor deteriorate once past the growth period. It is recessive; in the study that found the mutation, three of 109 unrelated unaffected Weimaraners carried one copy (roughly one in thirty-six).
What to ask for
DNA test result for the NKX2-8 spinal dysraphism mutation on both parents; required for the same CHIC number.
A congenital malformation of the spinal cord (NKX2-8 gene) causing an abnormal hopping gait and hind-limb weakness, visible from early puppyhood. It is a developmental defect rather than a progressive one, so affected dogs generally neither improve nor deteriorate once past the growth period. It is recessive; in the study that found the mutation, three of 109 unrelated unaffected Weimaraners carried one copy (roughly one in thirty-six).
What to ask for
DNA test result for the NKX2-8 spinal dysraphism mutation on both parents; required for the same CHIC number.
Median survival 12.8 years
95% confidence interval 12.6–13.0 years, from 1,229 recorded deaths among 3,112 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.8 (0.75, 0.84) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
A deficiency of myelin in the central nervous system causing tremor from early puppyhood. It has long been described as often improving with age, but a 2024 study found affected dogs also had lipofuscin-like accumulations alongside the myelin abnormality — evidence the condition may be more than a simple developmental delay, not yet reflected in the older, more reassuring breed-club description.
What to ask for
DNA test result for the Weimaraner-specific hypomyelination mutation on both parents; required for the same CHIC number as HUU.
An overgrowth of bone in the jaw and skull of young, growing dogs, usually before a year old: the jaw swells and is painful, so the puppy struggles to open its mouth and eat, and it often runs a fever. It usually settles by itself once the skeleton stops growing. In this breed its genetic cause is not settled: a frameshift variant in SLC35D1 was found in a single affected Weimaraner, and its authors could only call it a likely cause. That variant turned up nine times among 28 Weimaraners in a small screen — too few for a firm figure — while the terrier variant was in none of 647.
What to ask for
Craniomandibular osteopathy (SLC35D1, Weimaraner type) DNA test result, on both parents — its link to the disease is not yet confirmed; also ask whether the parents or close relatives had a painful, swollen jaw as puppies
