Vicsta

Found out my Weimaraner pup will still have his dewclaws, he will be my first of the breed and I plan to do tracking with him in the bush. Apparently weims have detached big floppy dew claws that often grow well set apart from the leg, I imagine this could be a hazard for us, firstly my young children could easily cop an injury from an excitable puppy/dog with huge growing almost sideways dewclaws, second, they have a genuine threat of being ripped off during a sport like tracking. So I'm planning to have them removed at time of desexing, but I don't want to desex before I'm satisfied the dog is done growing so I've got a long wait to have them removed. Would have been so much simpler at 3 days old when they're less than a cm big.

Hi sparky, I got that info from another breeder, but I won't mention names here, who told me that many breeders don't score. Another breeder told me that only breeders with hd in their lines bother to score, of course I don't believe this. I've spoken with previous puppy buyers and they haven't had any problems, one of them is a repeat puppy buyer. Sparky do you mind me asking your prefix? Or is that against forum rules? I wouldn't know. I might have spoken to you in the last few months. Thanks for your info.

'should' at the moment, here in Australia, is a matter of opinion unfortunately, in my opinion all large breeds should be tested prior to breeding but I've recently discovered it is not mandatory to score weims currently in Australia. And alot of breeders here are of the opinion it's not even a problem in weims, which has apparently been proven false, still many don't do it. I have no clue why not, is it expensive? Does it require the dog to be sedated and breeders don't want to do that? I've seen the parents, and they look good but it's still a concern for me. If I were a breeder, for my own peace of mind, I'd cover as many bases as possible, have everything that might cause a problem checked, but I'm not a breeder.

Hi, erinonthefarm, Yes I've discovered trackwest already, they are holding a begginers workshop local to me this weekend so I'll be able to gets a heads up on what to expect, can't wait!!

Weimaraner. I'm probing the breeder, gently, but to keep to the original content of this thread. Breeders are not always easy people to deal with. Of course going into this in a few years after having had my first dog of this breed will be much easier, I'll know what I need to ask to ensure I'm dealing with a great breeder and great dogs. But the first time anyone approaches a breeder, instead of either being ignored or grilled with questions immediately, they should be praised for seeking out a registered breeder, rather than going underground. THEN, the questions should start, there's absolutely no reason not to be friendly at minimum. Luckily I have also had many other weim people contact me and invest some time into educating me on the breed and clubs available so I know I'll have friendly contacts to call on if I need to.

Hmmm... This is an interesting find. I'm about to purchase my first purebred pup, and I have spoken with a couple of different breeders. It's difficult as a first time buyer to know what to ask, I knew I'd chosen a suitable breed after speaking with other owners so it was just a matter of finding a transparent breeder, and the healthiest, nicest looking sire and dam as I saw it. Health tests are not a requirement of the breed I'm after so there's usually no written proof of the health probability of the litter other than the breeders word. After asking mine if she performs any health tests or hip scores, I was told there was no need to as they only breed from healthy stock. I also asked if the pup would come with any kind of health guarantee to have this question completely ignored. I'm a serious buyer, have already put down a substantial deposit just to show my interest, I've informed the breeder all about myself and my family, our situation, and my intentions with the pup. All of which they were more than happy about yet my simple questions are ignored. I've written it off as breeders are busy, don't like nosy buyers or ones who ask too many questions, I really didn't want to wait until we pick up the pup to still be asking these questions but I'm told that's when all will be explained. I hope so, after reading on here about so many people purchasing purebred pups just to have hip/elbow problems which require expensive surgery in the first year of the dogs life, its concerning. We've always had rescued crossbreeds, most from very young and we've never ever had to have surgery on any of them. I think all anyone expects is transparency and honesty from both sides.

Hello! Just read through the whole 15 pages, getting a Weimaraner pup in a fortnight and intend to make tracking our sport. Obviously the pup won't be able to even socialise for the first 5-6 weeks until last vacc but I think the earlier you can start with training the better, so as well as starting some basic obedience, I'll play some tracking games with him and see how I go. Just ordered a book suggested on here so hopefully I'll be able read through that before picking up the pup, and have half an idea what I'm doing. Very excited, looks such a fun activity to do with your dog! Any other tracking participants here in Perth?