THE BLUE WEIMARANER
The Blue Weimaraner By Homer L. Carr
The warm slate-gray color, otherwise known as "blue" in the Weimaraner dog is the result of what the science of genetics calls a mutation.
Available evidence apears to indicate that this same mutation has appeared at rare intervals during the entire history of the breed. So far as is known, this blue mutation has occured only twice in the last quarter of a century, both times in Europe.
In Austria, a single blue puppy appeared in the 1940's in a litter of siver-gray puppies owned by Robert Pattay, past president of the Austrian Weimaraner Club. In Germany, a single blue puppy appeared in a litter of silver-gray puppies, whose parents were owned by Ludwig Gaul of Gaiberg, a village near Heidelberg. This puppy, born February 25, 1947, is Cr von Gaiberg, who is the progenitor of the blue Weimaraner in America.
During the Second World War, Capt. Harry J. Holt was connected with the American Army's automobile tire rebuilding establishment in Germany. In the course of his duties, Capt. Holt, who is an experienced dog fancier, traveled extensively through all parts of occupied Germany. Mr. W.A. Olson of Minneapolis, Minn., an old-time friend of Capt. Holt, requested the captain to be on the lookout for an outstanding Weimaraner and to purchase such a dog for him if he could find one. In the course of this search, Capt. Holt visited many of Germany's most prominent Weimaraner breeders, but it was not until he saw Cr von Gaiberg that he found a dog which he considered to be basically sound. Capt. Holt purchased Cr von Gaiberg from his breeder, Ludwig Gaul, and shipped him to Mr. Olson in Minneapolis, who is still the listed owner of Cr. Cr von Gaiberg was registered by the German Weimaraner Club, and his official pedigree was signed by the president of the German club.
After Cr von Gaiberg arrived in the United States, Mr. Olson entered the dog and showed him at American Kennel Club dog shows until Cr had won 10 points towards his bench-show championship. When this requirement had been fulfilled and the American Kennel Club had checked and approved the dog's German pedigree, Cr von Gaiberg was registered by the American Kennel Club under the number S-390,759. When bred to A.K.C. registered or approved bitches, Cr's progeny were eligible for A.K.C. registration as pure-bred Weimaraners.
The Genetics
Genetically, the blue color in the Weimaraner is dominant over the more common silver-gray color. The blue color is definitely not a recessive trait as stated in error in the present (1957) Weimaraner standard. The silver-gray is recessive to the blue. The blue color is not a "throw-back," an unscientific term which is sometimes applied to the re-appearance of a long-buried recessive trait.
The chances against the appearance of another blue mutation are almost astronomic, but barring such a chance, it is genetically impossible for a blue Weimaraner to be produced from the breeding of two silver-gray dogs, regardless of the color of the parents or other ancestors of the dogs being bred. Barring a mutation, the only way that a litter can be produced which has one or more blue puppies in it, is for one or both parents to be blue. In the determined effort to smear the blue Weimaraner, which has been going on steadily since 1950, many deliberately false and malicious statements have been made, verbally and in print, regarding Cr von Gaiberg. Most of these statements either hint that his German registration and pedigree were falsified (a charge rejected by the A.K.C.) or that there was a prohibition against breeding endorsed upon Cr's official German pedigree, which was signed by the president of the German Weimaraner Club.
When a blue Weimaraner is bred to a silver-gray Weimaraner, there is no mixing or blending of colors. The two colors are two distinct entities or units, and they remain so. It is not like the mixing of cream and coffee, but rather like the mixing of 50 gray marbles and 50 blue marbles in a bucket. When you grab out a handful you will, on the average, get some blue and some grays, but no intermediate colors. If you grab out enough handsful, you will have 50 percent blues and 50 percent grays, just as you do if you breed blue Weimaraners to gray Weimaraners enough times to permit the law of averages to operate. These blue Weimaraner puppies will carry genetic factors for both the blue and gray colors and they are known as "Blue Dominants."
When the blue offspring, of one blue and one gray parent, is bred to another blue offspring of one blue and one gray parent, the genetic expectation will be for a litter of 25 percent pure grays and 75 percent blues. These grays will be pure grays; they will carry no blue factor and if bred to grays, they will never produce blue offspring in future generations. The 75 percent of the litter which are blue in color are, genetically, two different kinds of blue - pure blues and blue dominants. Twenty-five percent of the 75 percent will be pure blue; they will carry no gray factor and regardless of whether they are bred to blues or grays they will produce litters having nothing but blue puppies in them. The remaining 50 percent are blue in color, they are blue dominants; they carry factors for both blue and gray and if bred to grays will produce litters of 50 percent grays and 50 percent blue dominants.
Every gray Weimaraner, regardless of whether his parents and his ancesters are blue or gray, is a pure gray and carries no blue color factor.