Weimaraner Grooming

About the Weimaraner

The Weimaraner carries an extremely short, fine, sleek single coat in the silver gray that gives the breed its nickname. There is no undercoat, nothing to cut, nothing that mats, and five minutes a week covers it entirely.

Almost everything on the Vizsla page applies here, and for the same structural reasons: no undercoat, minimal body fat, thin skin, a lean athletic frame, and a breed so attached to its people that being left at a salon for a day is a genuine problem rather than a mild inconvenience. Both are Continental hunting breeds developed to work in close contact with one handler, and both got the temperament that goes with it.

Where this page earns its place is two things the Vizsla does not have: the coloring, which is a genuine dilute and comes with its own considerations, and a longhaired variety that is a completely different grooming proposition and that most owners have never heard of.

The longhaired Weimaraner, which is a different appointment

Most people do not know this variety exists, and it catches salons out.

The longhaired Weimaraner carries a medium length, silky, slightly wavy coat with feathering on the ears, the chest, the backs of the legs and a long feathered tail, which is traditionally left undocked where the smooth variety historically was not.

It is caused by a recessive gene, so two smooth coated parents that both carry it can produce longhaired puppies. It is fully recognized in most of the world, though less common in the United States, and it is not a fault or a cross.

The grooming is a different job entirely. Where a smooth Weimaraner needs a weekly mitt and nothing else, a longhaired one needs combing through the feathering every two or three days, the ear feathering dried after swimming, the feet cleared, and a tidy every couple of months. It behaves much more like an Irish Setter than like the dog on the rest of this page.

Say which you have when you book, because a groomer expecting a smooth Weimaraner will have booked twenty minutes for something that needs an hour and a half.

There is also an intermediate, occasionally seen, with slightly longer coat and light feathering but nothing like a full longhair. Treat it as a smooth with a comb through the tail and ears.

The coat, the color and the skin

The smooth coat needs a rubber mitt or hound glove once a week, in circles then along the lie. That lifts the loose hair and spreads the skin oils, which is what produces the metallic sheen the breed is known for.

Shedding is moderate and steady with no seasonal blow, since there is no undercoat. The hairs are short, fine and pale, and they show on dark fabric.

A bath every couple of months at most. Over bathing strips a thin single coat and leaves the skin dry and flaky, and there is no coat mass to hide it.

On color: the gray is a genuine dilute, the same mechanism that produces a blue Doberman. That raises an obvious question and the honest answer is reassuring. Color dilution alopecia, which affects a meaningful proportion of blue and fawn Dobermans, is uncommon in Weimaraners despite the shared dilution, because the whole breed is dilute and has been selected on it for two centuries. Thinning coat on a Weimaraner is more likely to be something else and is worth a veterinary look rather than being written off as a color problem.

What the breed does have is thin skin over a lean frame on a dog that works through cover at speed, so scrapes, thorn punctures and the occasional tear are routine. Check the dog over after a run in the countryside.

Sun burns the thinly coated belly of a dog that sunbathes, and hot spots appear more readily than expected after swimming, so dry properly.

Cold, and being left

No undercoat, very little body fat, and a big lean frame with a lot of surface area. A Weimaraner loses heat quickly and a coat in cold or wet weather is practical equipment rather than decoration.

Shivering, hunching with an arched back, lifting feet off cold ground and getting under blankets are all real signals. Most Weimaraners will be in the bed with you given any opportunity, and that is heat seeking as much as affection.

Bath time follows: warm water, a warm room, and a prompt thorough dry rather than a towel and out.

And then the same problem the Vizsla has, which is worth repeating because most salon booking patterns assume the opposite. Weimaraners are intensely people-dependent, and separation distress is a recognized issue in the breed rather than an individual quirk. The standard pattern of dropping a dog off in the morning to wait in a crate or run until its turn, then waiting again to be collected, is several hours of genuine distress for one of these.

Ask for an appointment where the dog is worked on and handed straight back, or use a mobile groomer. Given that the smooth coat needs almost nothing, most owners are better off bathing at home and using a salon only for nails, which is a fifteen minute visit.

This does not apply in the same way to a longhaired Weimaraner, which genuinely needs the appointment, so plan it deliberately.

Ears, nails, feet and the rest

Ears are long, thin, velvety drop ears that lie flat over the canal, and this is a breed that swims. Lift the flap weekly, look and smell, and dry the ears after every swim and wet walk. Healthy smells of nothing; yeast is sweet and musty.

Nails every three to four weeks. A dog this athletic on soft ground wears down less than people assume.

Feet want checking between the toes after any run in cover, for grass seeds and thorns.

Teeth, as with any large breed with a long life ahead.

One thing worth flagging that is not grooming: Weimaraners are a deep chested breed and carry a real bloat risk, so no vigorous handling around a large meal, including a long grooming session. Restlessness, a distended abdomen or unproductive retching is an emergency.

And exercise. This is a high drive hunting breed that needs serious daily work, and one that has not had it will not stand still for anyone. Walking the dog before the appointment is the most useful thing an owner can do and it costs nothing.

What to tell your groomer

Say whether it is a smooth or a longhaired Weimaraner. They are completely different appointments and most people do not know the second exists.

Say the dog does not cope with being left, and ask to be worked on and handed back rather than kept for a day.

Ask for a proper dry, because this dog gets genuinely cold.

Ask for the nails, which is usually the main reason to book a smooth one at all.

Say if the dog swims, mention any ear or hot spot history, and point out any scrapes on thin skin so they are worked around.

Mention when the dog last ate, given the bloat risk.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Weimaraner