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.
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 and rump, but more than a SH and less than a LH.
The coat 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.
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….
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!
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. They were DNA’d and verified to be LH carriers. 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.
[Editor’s Note: See follow-up in comments below.]
Photos courtesy and © Northlink Weimaraners, and Stonepoint Weimaraners.
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Liette is a huge supporter of the Weimaraner Association of Canada Rescue and also breeds under the kennel name Stonepoint Weimaraners.
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Very interesiting article 🙂 ! ,
We own a sister of Quell zum Laubwald ! Best Regards ! 🙂
As a follow-up to this article, the dog on the right in the bottom photo was DNA tested to be a LHC. He was bred to a SH and they produced a Stockhaar! He was bred a few other times to SH females and only ever produced that one Stockhaar.
We have recently bred a SH female to a LH male but we’re still unsure whether any of the pups are Stockhaar or not. There’s a few fuzzy ones for sure!
Was the bitch tested to make sure that she was short hair and not a longhair carrier
Hi Tasha, Yes the female was tested and did not carry the LH gene. Interestingly, the same female was bred to a stockhaar male and produced multiple stockhaar pups in that litter as well.
We have a male from a SH female x LH male breeding. His coat looks like a normal short coat, but when it’s wet you can see how fuzzy his neck and throat are. You can also feel how thick the hair is. He also has a really fuzzy belly.
Sounds like our “Mickey” in the picture of the Quell and his two sons- seems like a regular SH until you realize his coat is more dense and as you mention, the neck and back are thicker. Sometimes he shows a bit of wave around the top of his neck too. It’s a great coat for the colder Canadian winters, eh?
Is there any ffollow-up on this story? Very interesting… I think i have a Stockhaar in my current litter. It is quite a surprise.
Hi Nina, my 2015 litter between a short-hair female and a long-hair male resulted in 5 stockhaar pups out of 9! We were very surprised and quite excited! Because of the LH father, the entire litter will be longhair carriers. We have a couple breeding prospects from the litter who are stockhaars, so I’m anxious to see if it carries on. A good friend recently bred a short-hair female to a stockhaar male and did produce multiple stockhaars from that pairing.
Interesting! We have something similar in Ibizan Hounds. There are the smooths and wirehairs, but then there is a third coat that is slightly wirey. It was discovered a few years ago that it is linked to a furnishings gene, rather than being a mix of the two coats.
I’ve been searching for why my weims coat was so different from my last. This seems to answer what he is. Thicker back and neck hair that’s longer then normal and a hairy belly also. Glad I’m not alone out there, but it was a bit disappointing that he didn’t look like my old weims.
In Australia, the most common mating for a Longhair (LH) is to a shorthaired (SH), usually a Longhair Carrier (LHC), but occasionally to a Wei that is not a carrier. We have an extremely small gene pool, and must do this to add to existing lines.
I have heard of one pup that had a ‘weird’ coat, as it was called, but that’s it. All others have been normal carrier coats, or LHs. I have had two LH x SH litters, and four LH x LHC litters, and never had a Stockhaar.
When considering the Stockhaar coat, it is important to not confuse them with the normal carrier coat. I read in a paper (sorry, no idea where, all I recall is that it was online) that LHCs have twice the number of hair folicles per cm when compared with a SH. The places it is most obvious are the throat to beginning of the chest, and over the withers. It is especially noticeable when wet and the hair clumps together. Regular carriers do not have any extra furnishings around the ears, and the German standard (I think) wants hair on the belly of bitches, as well as properly paired nipples. Marcel waves can also be seen in dogs that are not even LHCs. Perhaps these dogs would prove to be carriers of a gene related to the Stockhaar coat, but as no gene is presently known, it would take samples of the Stockhaar dogs, as well as those who had produced one, to be studied by one of the DNA companies.
I just visited with a puppy I bred who is about a year old. Her coat is very different than any puppy I have bred, she has a really light colored undercoat, sort of downy looking and feeling, with longer darker colored guard hairs. She has a ridge(cowlick like) on back of her neck and is fluffier, denser coated. Belly is very hairy too. What do you think?
Hi Gail, Does she have dark toenails?
Anne
Our beautiful rescue boy is a Stockhaar with that beautiful marcel wave running down his back. Yes he is different to our other two weimaraners but just as handsome. We consider ourselves very lucky to have such a rare, special.. and fluffy boy in our lives 🙂 x