Breed of the Week: The Stichelhaar!

[chiendog]

Since we looked at one of the foundation breeds of the Deutsch Drahthaar (German Wirehaired Pointer) last week, I thought we should look at another one of the breeds that went into the mix.

So here it is, the Deutsch Stichelhaar. The rarest, by far, of all the German versatile breeds. A breed I used to think was actually extinct, until I had my own private "Jurassic Park" moment in north east Germany a few years ago.



There are some photos of Stichelhaars, a couple of excerpts from the breed chapter in my book and even a (really bad) video I made of a couple of Stichelhaars swimming and running in Germany on MY BLOG.

Have a look and happy reading!!

[k2k]

Very cool (albeit a little scarey-looking) dog! How many would you say are still in existence?

[chiendog]

Very cool (albeit a little scarey-looking) dog! How many would you say are still in existence?

Its hard to say, but there are usually never more that about 30 or 40 pups born in any given year. Some years, it is more like 10 to 20. So if a dog lives on average 8 years or so, there might be a total of 200 to 300 Stichelhaars in the entire world!

[quanah labs]

Just out of curiousity what would it cost to get a Stichelhaar to the states? If price was not an option and a guy wanted the best posiable one. I ask out of curiousity so a educated guess would do, no need to make any calls to Germany.
I love your breed of the week post, even though I'm not a pointer owner, keep it up.

[Cajun Casey]

What's the origin of the name? "Haar" I know.

[chiendog]

Just out of curiousity what would it cost to get a Stichelhaar to the states? If price was not an option and a guy wanted the best posiable one. I ask out of curiousity so a educated guess would do, no need to make any calls to Germany.
I love your breed of the week post, even though I'm not a pointer owner, keep it up.

It is my understanding that some German breed clubs set min/max prices for pups or at least give their members strong suggestions as to what the should ask for. Typically it is in the 600 to 800 Euro range. I think the last Weim I helped import from Germany was about 700 Euros. And I would see no reason why a Stichelhaar would be much more or less than that. Add the price of shipping from Germany to the US which would be about the same for a similar sized pup of any breed and I'd say you are probably looking at a couple grand in US dollars, maybe two and half or even three...no more or less than any other German bred DD or DK or Weim or SM etc.

So in a nutshell, a Stichelhaar pup would probably cost you about the same as a pup from another breed but would not be as easy to find and your choice would be very limited. That said, here is what looks like a nice litter of 9 pups whelped about a month ago ( I have no connection to the breeder, I found the link on the club website)

http://www.zwinger-vom-bodensee.de/inde ... &Itemid=28

[chiendog]

What's the origin of the name? "Haar" I know.

Haar = hair

A "Stichel" is a sort of gouge or etching needle, kind of like an awl. It refers to the breed's harsh coat. The Italian word "Spinoni" is similar. A "spina" is a kind of sharp thorn...like a needle or awl.

[4ShotB]

for heaven's sake, if a man came across something that looked like that out in the woods he'd be scared to death. Looks like a cross between a coyote and an ewok. something that looks like that must be one fine hunting dog for them to be bred intentionally. thanks for posting that.