If you’re looking for hunting dogs to keep as a pet, you should opt for Weimaraner dogs since they have pretty sharp hunting instincts, and they’re not even afraid to attack large animals because of their solid physical attire.
What do Weimaraner dogs hunt?
Weimaraner dogs are a challenging game for big animals like boars, bears, and deers and can also take down small animals such as foxes, rabbits and fowls. They can retrieve both water and land effortlessly, and you can train them to hunt birds and ducks.
Table of Contents
Weimaraners were solely bred to hunt big games like wild boars and bears. In the wild, such dogs attack animals for their livelihood. You can, however, train your Weim to hunt small games also.
Weims can locate small animals in the wild with their intense sensory receptors. They are also capable of catching birds, ducks and fowls. They are smart enough to hide and wait for the prey to take their guards down and then attack.
List of animals that Weimaraner can hunt-
- Wild boar
- Bear
- Deer
- Wolves
- Fox
- Mice
- Duck
- Chicken
- Rabbits
Can a Weimaraner Duck Hunt?
A Weimaraner being an energetic and intelligent dog, are suitable for duck hunting. You can easily spot a Weim on duck hunting because of their coat colors such as black, silver, or blue.
While hunting duck, you start it with a starter aim. The Weim will become alert and start looking for a duck. With your subsequent aims, he will get in the water and locate a duck. Then he will eventually bring the aport to you from deep water.
However, look out if you’re going to hunt on a freezing lake or cold weather since Weimaraner has thinner fur and might catch a cold. You may even see your pup shivering during extremely cold weather. Hence, try not to hunt ducks with your Weim in such weather.
Are Weimaraners good hunting dogs?
Weimaraners are the high-quality hunting dogs since they were originally bred for hunting large game like wild boars and bears. You can train your Weim to catch small game like rabbits and foxes, and even birds.
The solid physical structure, speed, energy and intelligence of Weimaraners make them just perfect to accompany you whether you’re going to hunt on land or water. Their sharp smelling sense allows them to locate and fetch rabbits, bird carcasses and even ducks from deep water.
Being hunting dogs, they have pretty big barks, and you can hear them bark from quite far away. Thus, you will be able to track your potential prey following your pup’s bark.
How do Weimaraners hunt?
Weimaraners being hunting dogs have 25 times more smell receptors than humans allowing them to smell odor 100 million times lower concentrations than humans can smell. Hence, a Weim uses this unique smelling technique while hunting.
If your Weim is trained, then he should know what he’s supposed to hunt and will signal you by barking when he locates one. Weimaraners also run smelling birds and will fetch you bird carcass.
Now, if you go hunting with, then your Weim must be familiar with the sound of your device. His strongly built physical structure allows him to run with great speed in the wild and will wait and follow your sound to fetch your games.
Weims will play a bit trickier if he goes hunting ducks in deep water. He will make his move in complete silence and help you track the ducks after he successfully brings you the beautiful duck that you’ve claimed.
You can also train your Weim to catch small games like rabbits and foxes. He’s going to use his great sense of smell to track these animals and hide in the wild.
He can easily blend into the wild because of his grey-coloured fur and becomes invisible. When the prey comes nearer, he will hunt them and bring them to you.
Are Weimaraners hard to train?
Weimaraners are intelligent and quick learners; hence, you can train them with just a little effort. They have an instinct to please their owners, so you can quickly train them with reward and praise.
Sometimes, you may face difficulties as Weims love to be bossy. They will become dominant if you’ve not established yourself as a pack leader.
A few Weimaraners may get easily distracted by thrilling sound, sights and scent. You have to develop potential training skills to overcome those distractions.
Nevertheless, Weimaraners are not too hard to train. With dedication and patience, you can prepare your Weim to be a good watchdog and go hunting games.
How to train Weimaraner to hunt?
Six ways to train your Weimaraner to hunt-
Teach him to listen to your command:
To hunt with your Weimaraner, you need to teach him to obey some basic commands to coordinate while tracking. Train your dog to sit when you say ‘SIT’ and stop whatever he’s doing when you say ‘QUIET’. These basic rules will help you guide your dog during hunting.
Establish you’re the pack leader:
Weimaraners have leadership quality, and they like being group leaders. So you need to be very careful while establishing yourself as a pack leader, so make him listen to you. Give him meals regularly; this will create the feeling of you being the provider in them.
Support and help them when they sense danger; it could be like if guests or strangers come to your house, you have to have his back.
Make him acquainted with the wilds:
Take your pup out in the wilderness where birds like pheasants or grouse, chickens, small animals like foxes are available according to your preferences. If you want to hunt ducks, take them to lakes or near water bodies. He should be comfortable getting in water whatsoever.
Let him sniff your device and make blank aims up in the sky for him to understand the entire situation.
Reward him when he flushes a bird:
From natural hunting instincts, your Weim is likely to flush out birds when he sees one. Acknowledge that behavior and praise and treat him. So he will know when to flush birds at your command the next time.
Take him to a controlled environment:
Make him familiar with bird scent by bringing a bird carcass or chicken. Take him to a fenced or wooden cover area and let him smell, observe and track the birds while being alert not to harm the tame birds. Many local hunting and sport dogs clubs provide such facilities.
Teach him to fetch birds:
Teach him to obey you when you say ‘Fetch’ so he fetches the bird carcass for you as soon as you’ve claimed a bird. Reward your dog every time he brings birds for you.
What are Weimaraner dogs good for?
Weimaraner dogs are good for a couple of things like – hunting, hiking, being a watchdog, family dog, and sports.
Weimaraners were bred to hunt big games in the wild. Being fearless and full of energy, a Weim can attack and catch a giant animal in size. Also, he is smart enough to hide and attack cunning small animals like rabbits and foxes.
Your Weim can run a long distance, and you can even go hiking with him. He also has the potential to take part in various sport dogs full of energy. Because of his high speed, he’s most likely to win race competitions as well as tricky games.
As Weims have natural hunting instinct, they have sharp hearing and smelling receptors which is why they can play an excellent role being a watchdog and protecting your family. Your pup can also blend with your family easily since he’s highly social and likes to feel included.
What are Weimaraners bred for?
Weimaraners are German dogs bred for hunting in the 17th century. Weims have been the companions of many noblemen, including Grand Duke August (1757 – 1828), ruler of Weimar, the capital city of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach Grand Duchy.
The Grand Duke started to bred Weimaraners because of their passion for hunting and needed a reliable companion. He managed to keep it a secret from the world until the 18th century; afterwards, Weims finally arrived in America in the 1920s.
The duke bred Weimaraners to hunt big games like wild bears and boars. So naturally, they were very energetic and intelligent dogs as they also have to protect their owners.
Hunting dogs have three roles to play – pointer, retriever and flusher. The desire of Weims of pleasing their owners made them exceptional hunting dogs.
Gradually, when big games started disappearing from Europe, Weims adapted to hunt small games like foxes, rabbits, fowls and even birds. Hence, they excel in all three roles to catch small games.
They act as pointers while hunting birds by freezing in a place; they point toward the prey and help in hunting.
Weimaraners make exceptional hunting dogs since they have superior hunting skills, with many smells and sensory receptors making them excellent retrievers.
Weimaraners have been outstanding hunting dogs throughout history and gained immense popularity to hunt big games. With time, hunters have trained them to hunt small games. You can entirely rely on a Weim even if you’re a newbie hunter.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What can & can’t Weimaraners dogs eat?
Why is my Weimaraner always hungry?