LIBRARY

DEUTSCHER WACHTELHUND
AUSSCHLIEßLICH VOM JÄGER FÜR DEN JÄGER
(BY A HUNTER FOR THE HUNTERS)

BY J. WILLIAM WRIGHT III, BOULDER BROOK KENNEL

The Deutscher Wachtelhund is a 300 year old breed developed in the forests of Germany as a versatile hunting dog. It ranges in weight from 44 - 64 pounds and is slightly larger than the average Boykin Spaniel. It is a water lover, and has a temperament like the Boykin Spaniel. It is often called the German Spaniel.
The Wachtelhund flushes game like a spaniel, and tracks like a hound making voice or giving tongue on the trail. It is a courageous dog used to hunt wild boars in Germany and bears in Canada. It retrieves both feathered and fur game. In the United States it is used to hunt upland birds, ducks, turkeys, and for blood tracking wounded game.
It is renowned for its tracking ability of game such as the wild boar, and following wounded game blood trails. A well trained Wachtelhund will track a hare's trail 5 miles in a large circle back to its home territory. The Wachtelhund is alleged to have a nose as good as a bloodhound and proves it in advanced hunting or tracking tests by following 40 hour old blood trails.
The German breeders consider this the last of a special group of dogs called stöberhunds. This is a dog which hunts alone in the forest to find game, track it while giving tongue, cornering, or killing it. The dog must bring killed game such as the fox or hare back to the hunter.
Although there are no stories concerning the Wachtelhund turkey hunting in Germany, the Wachtelhund is beginning to build its own legends as a turkey dog here in the United States. David Pepe, at Deutscher Wachtelhunds of America which is the Official Deutsche Wachtelhund Information Site of North America, relates the story of 11 week old Jacob on a turkey hunt in Georgia in Spring 2005.
The young Wachtelhund was near his master who shot and wounded a turkey. The turkey was nowhere to be found when they arrived where the turkey was hit. The owner had Jacob smell a few fallen feathers and blood. The little pup took off to locate the turkey. After following an 80 yard trail, the 11 week old Jacob found the dead turkey in a hard to detect location and saved the day. In the last two years hunters I know have been bagging 10 to 15 turkeys each in the Fall using them as turkey dogs.
The German breeding practices are well defined and strictly enforced. Since 1965 the DW registry (VDW) enforces a breed order that requires both excellent health and proven hunting skills before the dogs may be bred. The dogs must have hip XRAYS and passed hip dysplasia exams, a hunting test, and physical exams conducted by the VDW for conformation, bite and number of teeth, and other characteristics. When a litter is born, the regional breed manager examines the litter at age 8 weeks old to ensure all the pups meet the requirements of that age, or the pup is not registered. The breed manager tattoes pups passing the preliminary examination with their lifelong number on the inside of the ear.
Because of the strict enforcement of the breed order, all registered puppies are guaranteed to have over 40 years of good hips, good bites, and proven hunt skills in their heritage.

DID YOU KNOW?
"hund" is the German word for dog.
"hound" is a derivation of "hund"
"Wachtel" is a German quail bird.

"Spaniel" is from the French:
Main Entry: span·iel Pronunciation: 'span-y&l also 'spa-n&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English spaniell, from Middle French
espaignol, literally, Spaniard, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin
Hispaniolus, from Latin Hispania Spain
1 : a member of any of several breeds of small or medium-sized
mostly short-legged dogs usually having long wavy hair,
feathered legs and tail, and large drooping ears

The French name for the Deutscher Wachtelhund is Chien d'Oysel
Allemand. Literally this translates from French to English as
"dog of the bird german". Oysel appears to be a variation of the
French word for bird, "oiseau" or plural "oiseaux" pronounced
"wah-so" in French, but sounds like "oysel" in English.

At site http://www.caninehealthnutrition.com/medorigin.html
on medium dog origins it states:
The English Cocker Spaniel is descended from the spaniel that
inhabited Great Britain since the fourteenth century and was
used for netting game birds ("spaniel" comes from the word
espainholz, derived from the Old French term epaignir, meaning
"to lie down", which is exactly what setters did in order not to
disturb the hunter as he threw his net over game).
The Brittany Spaniel is one of the descendents of the Chien
d'Oysel, a breed trained in the Middle Ages for netting game
birds. It is the product of the initially accidental 19th century
crossbreeding of Brittany farm dogs - short, broad-backed,
hardy, and used on woodcock - with English Setters, English
Pointers, and English Springer Spaniels left in France during the
off-season by British hunters in order to improve the new breed's
nose and speed. The Brittany Spaniel became increasingly
popular. Mr. de Pontavic and Mr. de Combouz presented the breed
in 1896 in Paris, and a breed club was founded in 1907 in Londéac.
The first standard was adopted in 1908 and revised in 1938. The
Brittany Spaniel is the second most popular dog in France, and
the most popular French breed abroad. It is one of the most
common pointers in the United States.

Like all the other spaniels who became the first pointers, the
French Spaniel is a distant descendant of the longhaired Chien
d'Oysel "setter" of the Middle Ages. By the 16th century, the
French Spaniel was widely used by game bird hunters. After a
decrease in population due to competition with English breeds,
the French Spaniel was revived in the 19th century by Father
Fournier. The first standard, written in 1891 b J. de Connick,
describes the breed as larger and more powerful than the
Brittany Spaniel. The French Spaniel is virtually unknown abroad,
and the breed's population in France is low, despite renewed
popularity.

It appears at first glance that the ancestor of the Wachtelhund as
well as the Brittany and French Spaniel, and many likely other
spaniel breeds, is the chien d'oysel. The Wachtelhund is a
flusher, but my two DW's interestingly seem to have a natural
tendency to fall flat on the ground with little encouragement -
makes me wonder if this is a leftover from 300 year ago netting
activity and breeder selection for that characteristic.

FCI lists the dog with several foreign language names as
Deutscher Wachtelhund - FCI Standard No. 104 (Chien d'Oysel
allemand, German Spaniel, Perdiguero Aleman)

CLASSIFICATION F.C.I.: Group 8: Retrievers, Flushing Dogs,
Water Dogs. Section 2: Flushing Dogs. With working trial.
The FCI lists the wachtelhund in the spaniel group flushing dog
section 2 as follows by country:
www.fci.be/nomenclatures_detail.asp?lang=en&file=group8
(NOTE: Because cocker spaniels, water spaniels, boykin spaniels
are American spaniels they are NOT listed in the FCI which is a
primarily European dog syndicate.)

Bill Wright,
Boulder Brook Kennel, Box 1, Markham, VA 22643
PHONE CALLS: 540-592-3193 (Am on internet a lot)
Kennel: http://jwwiii.tripod.com/
Newsletter:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boykinfans/join
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DID YOU
KNOW....
Bill Wright’s Deutscher Wachtelhund:
Xanto Vom Sauerland