German Jake Vom Eagle River
Master Hunter, NAHRA
22 Inches tall, 64 Pounds
(Owned by Jason Moen, Russian
Mission, Ak)
(Authored by Dave Pepe, November
2003)
If your interested in buying a Wachtelhund, please take
the time to read the
Breed Description and Standards
. It is important for new buyers to know the
Wachtelhund standards. Buyer's should also check the
Orthopedic Foundation for
Animals (OFA),
search records for
"Wachtelhund", to ensure the
parents of the planned puppy purchase where certified free of hip dysplasia, and
elbow diseases. Buyer's should avoid buying Wachtelhunds from
breeders where sire and dam are not certified free of hip or elbow disease by
OFA or Penn Hip and blood lines that include identified genetic disease.
This is extremely important, since there are a limited number of breeders and
people having Wachtelhunds capable of being bred in North America.
Breeding a dog with genetic disease and faults will quickly spread problems
through our small Wachtelhund population.
The Wachtelhund is basically a healthy dog with few genetic problems.
However, seven Wachtelhunds in North America have been identified as having
elbow
disease (DJD). All seven of these
dogs are decedents of one blood line. Roughly 1/3, of our North American
Wachtelhunds are related to this one blood line. DJD is a genetic
disease with a recessive mode of inheritance. This means it can skip a
generation or affect just one or more pups from a given litter. Therefore,
Wachtelhunds from these lineages should not be bred.
Some Wachtelhund breeders now sell our Wachtelhunds with contracts prohibiting
the breeding of our dogs to Wachtelhunds of those blood lines.
Buyers should asked specific questions
of breeder's of the Sire and Dam and if they exhibit any faults. Buyers
should insist on contracts insuring their Wachtelhunds will meet conformation
standards and be free of genetic faults.
The German VDW
prohibits the breeding of dogs with the following conditions:
Height under 42 cm
(16 1/2 inches). Crooked or bowed legs, splayed feet. Thin
skeleton or bodied dogs with short backs. Loose shoulder muscles. A
prominent stop at the eye junction between muzzle and head. Teeth with an
under or over bite. Loose eye lids. Loose drooling lips that
do not close. Dogs having only one testicle. Wachtelhunds with black
hair color, or thin silky hair.
Wachtelhund standards are defined by the Federation of Cynologique
Internationale (FCI), Standard 104, dated December 1999. The FCI is a
world wide organization and defines standards for all pedigree dogs. The
AKC and UKC follow the standards set forth by the FCI. Wachtelhund
standards have been revised several times since 1910, when they were initially
established. Today, most dog books written in English show out dated size
standards.
In Germany,
these standards are enforced by the VDW, when judging the dogs conformation
after completion of juvenile and subsequent hunt measurement tests.
Dogs failing conformation judging or exhibiting faults, are not entered in the
VDW breeding book, equivalent to our stud books. This effectively culls
undesirable dogs out of the breeding pool. Unfortunately, we have no
effective means to conduct conformation judging in North America.
Therefore, not only breeders, but buyers must know and insist their Wachtelhunds
will meet desired standards.
The size standards are: Males, 48 to 54 cm (18 7/8 to 21
1/4 inches); Females, 45 to 52 cm (17 3/4 to 20 1/2 inches); (dogs 3/8 to 3/4 of
an inch over the standard stall not be disqualified) and Weight, 20 to 30 Kg (44
to 66 lbs.)
One weight standard is provided
for both male and female Wachtelhunds. However, since the females are
expected to be smaller than the males one would expect the females to weigh in
the lower half of the range and the males to weigh in the upper half of the
weight range.