Marie-Claire, just because I’m not saying that blues should be separated from greys, doesn’t mean that I support the deliberate breeding of blues – in and for itself, and because people want that colour.

When we breed any breed of dog, we should only breed to better the breed. In my eyes the function of the breed is the most important and defining factor and – because the breed is unfortunately one frequently bred for its looks, for show purposes and for pet homes – we are losing the working ability which the breed should have. Our breed standard explicitly states ‘hunting ability of paramount concern’, yet there are many breeders producing puppies from dogs which have been only shown, or not even that. The top producing Weimaraner kennels in the UK are show kennels, which do not work their dogs. Many of these breeders are up in arms at the idea of breeding blue Weimaraners – yet couldn’t care less that they are not even testing their own dogs’ working abilities before producing puppies. They are going against the breed standard as much as any blue Weimaraner breeder is – if not more, since ‘hunting ability of paramount concern’ is far more explicit than anything said about coat colour. Just because it’s not visible, doesn’t mean it’s not important.

Our breed clubs in the UK do not provide natural aptitude tests. We have no NAVHDA or non-competitive based testing system. Our Kennel Club offers only ONE field award which leads to a title in Gundog work – FTCh. Since there have been only 2 FTCh Weimaraners EVER in the Uk, this doesn’t help us select dogs for breeding purposes. In GSPs, there have been around 45 odd FTChs, so looking at pedigrees and breeding selectively for working ability is easier – in Weimaraners, there have been so few that we can’t use field awards to help us select breeding stock. Which is all to say that the state of the breed isn’t only down to the breeders, but to the lack of an existing testing system to allow breeders to better select stud dogs.

I have to say, Marie-Claire, that in my opinion, it’s not ethical to charge a different price for a blue or silver female visiting your boy. For starters, even using your reasoning, you can’t be sure how many blue pups will result in the litter for sure, if it is a grey girl: She could have blue genes and some blue pups could result if she is bred to a blue – or she may not have blue genes…. As you don’t know what the outcome is, your reasoning that it is dependent on different puppy prices falls flat, because you don’t know what the bitch owner will sell them for. You also don’t know how many pups will result: A mating resulting in 5 grey pups would earn more money than one which resulted in 2 blue pups. What the bitch owner will earn cannot be determined at the time of mating, so to base stud fees on that is a fallacy.

Secondly, the stud fee is for your dog’s service alone and for your support and help – it is for your (presumed) expertise as stud dog owner in handling your dog during the mating and advising the bitch owner, and for your time and trouble. This is the same, regardless of the colour of the dog.

Thirdly it is well known that ethical breeders in the breed charge the same for all pups unless there is something physically wrong with them (health-wise), or an obvious conformation fault – when a discount would be possible. Breeders – in this breed – don’t charge more for ‘show quality’ puppies, because no one knows what a 7wk old pup will grow up to be like. They also don’t charge more for females than males – since they reason that this encourages people to breed their females, that being the reason for the extra cost.

In short, the going rate is the going rate for Weimaraners in the Uk, and ethical breeders will charge that for *ALL* puppies, and only go down from that price for any issues or reasons. They will not go up from it, since that smacks of profiteering and having a financial reason for breeding a litter. Even incredibly desirable litters, from 2 highly qualified dogs with many titles, will not sell for more than 2 unqualified pet dogs. Because the agenda of the breeders is not to make money. It is to find the best homes.

I know of several people who have imported dogs from abroad – 2 who have imported grey Weimaraners from the US and several who have imported them from various European countries. All these people incurred similar costs to you, in importing your dogs – yet they will not be charging more for any resulting puppies. Why? Because that’s not how an ethical breeder works: When you breed (if you do so ethically), you do it knowing you might make a loss, or cover your losses, or make a small but not great profit. You don’t breed to pay for the expenses your dogs have incurred. (Sheesh, I haven’t bred either of my dogs and they’ve cost me a small fortune in many ways, and I hate to think how many puppies I’d have to sell if I decided I wanted them to earn their keep by producing litters.) To expect a dog to do that smacks of unethical breeding and puppy-farming. And if you acknowledge that it’s not possible to recoup all the losses which go with owning and even competing with a dog, and you haven’t had many litters, then why use that to justify charging different prices??

What other people decide to sell blue puppies for, is outside of your control, but you could set an example for other blue breeders by charging the same as for grey puppies. By doing so, you could go some ways towards redeeming the impression folk in the breed have of blue breeders…

You see, the stereotypical blue Weimaraner breeder, in the eyes of grey breeders is: Breeding purely for financial gain and the pet dog market. Pays little attention to health or qualifications of any kind. Works outside the jurisdiction of the breed clubs. Produces substandard puppies, because they are paying little attention to health and to qualifications in breeding stock. Produces puppies to meet demand, rather than because they are breeding a litter to keep one or to achieve an outcome… And so on.

When you carry out practices like charging different fees for blue and grey females visiting your stud, or for blue and grey puppies, you are only confirming, in these people’s eyes, that the agenda of all blue Weimaraner breeders is money. Wouldn’t it be better (for blue AND grey Weimaraners), if you aimed to be the best and ethical breeder of blue Weimaraners that you could be? If you hip-scored all breeding stock? If you only bred from dogs which had proved their ability in working tests and field trials? If you charged one price for all stud visits and puppies? If you rejected females which were not hip-scored? And so on, through the massive list of things which responsible breeders do – whatever the colour and breed of dog. Otherwise you are only confirming everyone’s fears about blue breeders.

There have only been 2 FTCh Weimaraners in the Uk ever. It is great that you want to achieve something in the field with your dog, but again an ethical breeder would be focussing on achieving this and making no mention of breeding until the dog had proved its worth in the field.

You say you are not a ‘breeder’, but anyone who has put 2 dogs together even once for the purpose of producing puppies is a breeder.

I think it’s important that I’m not seen, here, as a pro-blue person – and therefore supportive of everyone breeding blue Weimaraners. That is not my position. I believe the single most important factor – because it is the one most at risk and explicitly mentioned in the breed standard – is working ability. If a blue Weimaraner was a great field dog and won FT placings, then I think it would be insane not to include it in the gene pool – because we have lots of incredible-looking dogs and not many great working dogs, and we need an injection of that. Moreover, it would not threaten grey Weims for the reasons mentioned above, but that working ability would have been injected. There is also the genetic variety which blues would contribute to the UK genepool, and the health problems this would help offset. However, blue Weims – just as grey Weims – need to prove their worth.