In March 2006 I picked up from the airport my first longhaired Wei, I couldn't wait to get her home and start all the fussing that comes with a long haired dog ie bath, brushing, clipping the hair between the toes, trimming around the feet and nails. And much to my surprise after the bath it only took me a couple of minutes to clip the hair on her feet, I was actually feeling a little let down as I was looking forward to doing all the grooming that comes with a long coated dog and apart from the feet and a quick brush there wasn't any.

I am also surprised to learn that a lot of people from Mackay area and up the north of QLD have never seen a longhaired Wei or didn't know that there was a longhaired Wei. Which is ashame as they are a beautiful dog.

The longhair has occurred within this breed historically long before the short haired Wei was actually recognized as a breed in the early eighteen hundred's. It has come along way since the early day's, when it was intially excluded from the German stud book. The German Weimaraner Club changed this policy in 1935, the decision was influenced in part by several traits that began appearing in the short coated Wei's, in which all of the modifiers linked with the longhair recessive had been eliminated.  (a) The coat was very short spars and brittle (b) The sparse coat provided little protection from the cold and insect bites (c) The skin was more sensitive to allergens.  Therfore, the Germans decided to stop trying to eliminate the longhaired trait from the breed. Today the two coat types are judged separatly in the show ring. 

Some questions that are being asked.

How much brushing does the Longhair need?

Dependng on the circumstances I find with my girl, a quick brush especially the ears and tail once a week or when I bath her that way she doesn't get any knots forming in behind the ears or in her tail. If she has been up the bush tracking or through long seeding grass, I will brush and check her over which I do with all my dogs incase of injury, paralysis tick or if they come into contact with a plant out here called spear grass. If that gets into their coats and you don't get it out it will continue to borrow into their skin and cause infections.

Do they shed more hair than the short coat?     

They shed their coat twice a year like the short coat, but the hair is thicker & longer and therefore more noticeable.

Ears:    

Inside the ear surprisingly enough doesn't get as dirty as the short coat but I find it's seems to be more moist, so they all get their ears checked weekly if their dirty or moist they get cleaned out with ear cleaner. I usually squirt some ear cleaner into the ear give the ear a good rub then wipe it out with a piece of cotton wool.                     

  Feet: 

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Gabby 2 yrs old

Gabby with her first litter three Shorthaird girls and a Longhaired boy

Gabby's smile "so pleased with herself"

The Babies

"Cruz" 4 weeks old

Zoe at 5 weeks

Miss Zoe 14 weeks old

Cruz now 21 weeks

Zoe at 21 weeks