German Hunting Terrier
Temperament:
The German Hunting Terrier is a German dog breed. It is recognized by the FCI (No. 103, Gr. 3, Sec. 1). Although it is fond of children, the German Hunting Terrier is very little suitable as a family dog. He is persistent, temperamental and vital and has been bred for hunting. The German Hunting Terrier needs an owner who spends a lot of time with him in nature. You should also be conditioned enough to keep up with the dog's urge to move.
Characteristics
The black and red small hunting dog should be compact and well proportioned. A male reaches a height at the withers of 30 to 40 cm, a bitch 33 to 40 cm. The desired working weight is 9 to 10 kg for males and 7.5 to 8.5 kg for females.
The coat texture is either dense, harsh and rough or coarse and smooth. A good breeding can be recognized by the coat color from black to dark brown or black-grey mottled. The eyebrows are sharply defined. A dark as well as a light mask is permitted. The small eyes protrude slightly inward to protect against injury during hunting. The ears are erect at the base.
Tail docking is only allowed if the German Hunting Terrier is used as a hunting dog. Here you are subject to sharp conditions as an owner. In the loin area and the croup the German Hunting Terrier shows strong muscles.
The German Hunting Terrier needs consistent training. Like all terrier breeds, he can be very stubborn. If he has been well trained, he will be your reliable companion with a strong character. He will also only listen to you as a caregiver.
The German Hunting Terrier will not take instructions from others. He gives all his attention only to your person. He may also react with distrust towards strangers. Nevertheless, the German Hunting Terrier shows itself accessible. During his training he wants to learn and can be educated well.
A dog from good breeding must not be afraid of water and he likes to swim. With its characteristics, the intelligent dog is a first-class helper in hunting. He convinces with his performance.
He is trained to put predators such as foxes or badgers and penetrate their burrows. His good nose tracks game immediately. He retrieves ducks from the water and brings shot game to the hunter.
In the family it is somewhat problematic with keeping such a specialized hunting dog. He only wants to hunt. Many are not aware of the problems that can arise here. You should consider his high performance in hunting. If you want to keep this dog as a family dog this is important.
The German Hunting Terrier needs to be exercised as a hunting dog. Even though he is not aggressive and not shy, he is considered a full-blooded hunting dog for the hunter or forester.
However, you can hardly buy a puppy if you are not a hunter. Breeding clubs were urged by the German Hunting Terrier Club to give the puppies of the working dog only to foresters and hunters. Because this club is very important for breeders, they also comply with it.
Coat care:
Shedding:
Energy level:
Trainability:
Children suitable:
The right food
Each dog is individual, therefore it needs individual food. For the German Hunting Terrier is suitable food, which covers its needs and no undersupply occurs. The German Hunting Terrier can cover up to 150 km a day when it does its work as a hunting dog.
The feed should always be adjusted to its specific characteristics. This includes age and weight. The power consumption and also possible allergies are to be considered. When working in the foxhole under the ground or hunting in the water, the consumption of strength is enormously high.
If the German Hunting Terrier consumes more energy, it also depends on the intensity of the load, which food it must take. When trotting for several hours on a hunt, the energy requirement increases to two and a half times. In rushing hunts, mountainous terrain or stress, he needs even more.
The main suppliers of energy for the German Hunting Terrier are sugars, starches and fats. Protein can be added, but is used specifically for building up the body tissue.
The minerals calcium and phosphorus are needed by the hunting dog to keep the bones stable. All carbohydrates, proteins and fats are combined in larger molecular units. Thus, the German Hunting Terrier receives the optimal nutrition.
In case of great stress, the German Hunting Terrier should be fed a high-fat diet. With special feed mixtures it is possible to cover his need for energy. This will make the German Hunting Terrier more efficient and the stomach will experience less strain.
German Hunting Terrier Care
Grooming the coat of the German Hunting Terrier is really simple. Trimming (removing the undercoat) is not necessary. Brush him regularly once a day. This is enough.
You should bathe him only in extreme emergencies. As a rule, this dog bathes itself in lakes or rivers during hunts for waterfowl. The natural fat protection of the sensitive dog skin should not be unnecessarily destroyed by shampoos. If you must bathe him, then only with a special dog shampoo or a mild baby shampoo. A regular control of the eyes, ears and the teeth should be natural for you.
The robust German Hunting Terrier loves nature and prefers to sleep outside. As a pure apartment dog he does not feel comfortable. Therefore, in his case, it is quite possible to keep the terrier only in the kennel. Nevertheless, he should be with you and the family in the house from time to time, because he is a pack animal. He automatically considers your family as a pack.
The German Hunting Terrier needs at least three to four times to run. You should be able to offer him a house with a garden to keep him balanced. However, you should be prepared for the fact that the garden will not look like you are used to from the beginning. The German Hunting Terrier loves to dig and your well-kept garden will be history. He can undo hours of work in a matter of minutes.
The German Hunting Terrier moves a lot in nature. Therefore, you should give him a worming treatment several times a year as a precaution. Also a remedy against ticks should always be in the house in the summer. As a hunting companion, tick bites cannot be avoided in the German Hunting Terrier.
Suitable accessories
For the adult and trained German Hunting Terrier, a normal collar is sufficient. He is then less exposed to the danger of getting caught in the bushes while hunting. For temperamental puppies, a harness is more suitable to minimize the pull around the neck.
A strong leash made of indestructible leather is useful if the dog is not allowed to run free. As a hunting dog, the German Hunting Terrier has a natural gift for retrieving. Fetching sticks or balls is his favorite activity.
Origin & History
Already in 1760 the German Hunting Terrier is described by the writer Daniel. He was also a terrier breeder. He describes the two species, the coat and the color and body shape as we know them today.
The painter de Wilde painted a black and red short-haired fox terrier in 1806. It shows the color of the German Hunting Terrier, whose progenitors obviously come from the Fox Terrier breed. In that time these dogs were bred in all possible colors. The coat also existed in a rough-haired and a smooth variant.
These colors are also found in other terrier species today. All these variants are close to the colors of this terrier. Between 1920 and 1930 the Fox Terrier was on the best way to lose his hunting characteristics. He was highly stylized as a fashion dog. That is why a group of German ground hunters separated from the sport breeding of the Fox Terrier.
This group consisted of Karl E. Gruenewald, Dr. Herbert Lackner, Werner Zangenberg and Rudolf Frieß. They wanted to promote, preserve and improve the inherited hunting characteristics of the breed again. Attention was also paid to the longer back, the muted, darker color of the coat and the leg position.
Werner Zangenberg bought the litter and started breeding the German Hunting Terrier. Fox terriers were crossed in to bring back the full performance of the dogs. But the white color reappeared more and more. Eventually Karl E. Gruenewald and Dr. Herbert Lackner succeeded in locating the Old English Roughhaired Terrier in England.
This brought good qualities for hunting and the desired color. They imported three dogs and the black-red color was finally consolidated by crossing.
It is thanks to these men that the breeding was successful. The breeding produced a dog that has qualities for hunting, which are still preserved in the German Hunting Terrier.
