There’s the Shorthair (SH) Weimaraner, the Longhair (LH) Weimaraner, and then there’s those in-between…. You can’t breed for them, but rarely, a breeding of a SH to a LH will produce what is called Stockhaar.
Three Coat Typles: This is Quell, (Longhair) and his two sons, Shooter (Stockhaar) and Micky (Short-coated Longhair carrier). Photo courtesy of Dave and Liette Fadden.
Stockhaar coats are an in-between coat with both shorthair and longhair characteristics. They are usually single-coats with longer guard hairs around the shoulder, neck, ears, tail area – very limited furnishings on back of legs, rump but more than a SH and less than a LH. It is usually thicker (more dense) than a regular short coat. Some may have ripples along the spine sometimes referred to as “Marcel waves” which was a popular type of hairstyle in the 1920′s.
Boomer and Shooter. Photos courtesy of Dave and Liette Fadden
We’re in a unique situation having bred our 2 SH females (who are half sisters) to the same LH German import male (Quell zum Laubwald). Both girls were part of the DNA study to ensure that that they were indeed homozygous SH and their sons would DNA correctly as LH carriers. That was proven in the DNA results as we expected.
What we didn’t anticipate was the 4 Stockhaars we had in one of the litters (Raven X Quell). The other dam (Scout) only had 2 pups and they appeared to be SH looking (no Stockhaarig coats) although their coats were quite dense. So essentially we had the same sire produce a litter of “normal” LH carriers (appear to be SH) and a litter of “mixed” – 5 that appeared to be SH and 4 Stockhaars. But having only 2 pups in one litter wasn’t really a great “working sample” statistically speaking – perhaps with more pups we might have seen something different and that would have been very interesting….
9 day old puppies. The two pups at the top of the photo and the one at the bottom are Stockhaars. Photo courtesy of Dave and Liette Fadden
From a DNA point of view though, there is no distinguishing the “normal” LH carriers vs. the “mixed” coated litter – they would all be LH carriers. Period. The DNA test is not developed enough to figure out which ones would be Stockhaars . No one has been able to determine why some LH carriers appear to be SH and occasionally a Stockhaar appears.
One thing to keep in mind that people often think that all LH carriers look like Stockhaars because that’s what people “expect” – a union of a SH and LH coat. But in fact it is very rare. Several LH breeders in Canada have bred mixed litters and never produced Stockhaars – not sure how we got so lucky! Is it something the our SH dam contributed or did it originate from the LH sire – we may never know!
Shooter, Stockhaar puppy, looking almost LH at this age. Photo courtesy of Dave and Liette Fadden
When we bred our Stockhaar “Shooter” to our SH female Scout, we had some pups with Stockhaar characteristics although to a lesser degree than their sire. But both their coats are the perfect hunting coat for our conditions and they definitely stay warmer than their SH (but LH carrier) siblings.
These pups still have not been DNA’d to verify whether or not they are LH carriers but they appear to be.
Father Shooter (Stockhaar) with Lincoln (SH with Stockhaar characteristics). Is Lincoln a LH carrier? DNA test yet to be done! 
Photo courtesy of April Mallon.
About Liette Fadden
Well, the results are in…both Lincoln and 1 of his brothers were DNA tested and both are long-haired carriers!
~April
COOL!
Just thought I would drop you a line to say that one of the bitches I bred (DNA tested for LH result negative) gave birth to a Stockhaar male a year ago. Didn’t know this could happen! Interesting item
Crs
Somerset, England
Hi I read an article (sorry no reference) that mention LH was originally being bred out of the breed and was later bred back in because other traits were disapearing over time. No more info than that but it suggests to me that there are several linked genes to the long hair alleles. That is, genes that are so close to this gene that when chromosomes randomly shuffle themselves they are almost always kept together. In this case they would be a seperate gene cluster coding for thicker coats or more of an undercoat. Most if not all long hairs would show this trait but you wouldn’t notice it with their longer overcoat. Most short hairs wouldn’t have this but if their ancestry included long hairs or carriers it is possible that these linked genes were passed onto them seperately (randomly shuffled without the LH allele) at some point. This would occur rarley. If these linked genes were also recessive they would have to be present homozygously to produce the thick undercoat , further increasing the rarity that they were seen. But this would also mean that there would be some long haired weimaraners that had thin to no undercoat.
Thanks for your comment, Jessica. Very interesting. So, have you see LHs with little to no undercoat?
As far as I can tell, my Piezl (www.duckswild.com/Piezl) indeed has a thin or no undercoat.
Which is most widely seen from reputable breeders – LHs with no undercoat or LHs with double coats?
I can only speak for my two German dogs. Our late Baika (f) had a thick, soft undercoat that shed constantly. Our Piezl (m) has no such undercoat visible.
Sadly, I haven’t been attentive to this sort of thing when I’ve been among more longhairs.
I am a proud owner of a 5 month old LH Weim and she is just gorgeous. Her long coat is very smooth and soft and the feathering is just starting along her legs and chest. We get stopped all the time when we are out in public asking what breed she is. Even people who are familiar with the Weims didn’t know that the LH’s even existed.
Congratulations Marcia! Were both your pup’s parents Longhairs too?
Parents were LH carriers.
Just an update to this article…Lincoln (the SH pictured above with Shooter) was bred this year to a SH and they produced 1 stockhaar out of 9 pups.
LHC x SH = Stockhaar!
However he was bred again to a different SH and they produced no Stockhaars in a litter of (I think) 5.
The Stockhaar is a lovely coat for our Canadian winters, and not so thick as the LH’s for our blistering summers – I wish there was a way to breed FOR it!
Excelente su aportacion!! la verdad que hay hasta veterinarios que ni saben que esxiten los weimaraner LH, es increible que alguien que se dedique a conercer sobre canes sean ignorantes en este tema, hasta gente que aman y tienen weimaraner no saben de que existen LH… yo fui afortunada por que mi primer weimar MAX es un stockhaar en su primer camana no salio nungun LH, fue hasta en la segundo camanda que lo cruze con una hija de el que es una SH, me salieron 3 LH de los 8 que tuv0… a mi criterio personal me encantan mas los LH ya que su pelaje unico mas su belleza y porte nato de la raza es una convinacion fascinante!!
¿Donde estás, Sonia? (Where are you?)
¿Tienes fotos de Max? (Do you have photos of Max?)
Saludos