owyheeStar's Benton
      ~ Blue Longhair Stud Dog

Benton's appearance in a litter born to Stormy (sired by Dusty) was the first OwyheeStar litter to produce a longhair. Cliff and Shela were well aware of the longhair's existence. For some time, they had discussed whether they should add the longhair to their breeding program. 
Earlier alliances afforded them some experience with the longhair, and they ended up having many questions. It seemed there were pros, and possible a few cons, to raising the longhair. However, when Benton made his appearance, it was clear he was going nowhere. Cliff and Shela knew both Storm and Dusty's lineages for several generations. No one knew of a longhair being born. Clearly, the (fluffy-coat genetic marker) was resident in both Storm and Dusty; they are both smooth-coat carriers of the longhair DNA marker.

  • Note: There was no known probability of longhairs being born to an OwyheeStar litter prior to Benton's arrival. Since then, Cliff and Shela DNA coat length test their Studs and Dams. Had they had known Benton was a longhair (at birth), he would not have had his tail docked. The fact that his tail was inadvertently docked makes the Cliff and Shela sad, but there is no putting of the tail back on. For reference, they will not dock a longhair. There is not a single breed-club (worldwide) that accepts (or endorses the docked tail on the Longhair Weimaraner. This might beg the questions if that is the case why OwyheeStar will leave the traditional smooth-coat Weimaraner undocked, when the American Breed Standard calls for the docked tail. The answer is simple. Throughout the world, there are many places where the undocked (some want to call the European-style) tail is the accepted norm for the shorthaired Weimaraner. Therefore, no one accepted a docked Longhair, but much of the world not only accepts but embraces the undocked shorthair Weimaraner.
  • Additional Note: Benton has a DNA marker anomaly. He doesn't carry the DNA marker needed to produce gray, or silver gray pups. All of Benton's offspring will be blue--the entire litter.
Benton Sired Pups....

  1. Pups (everyone in the litter) will be a Blue Weimaraner.
  2. If the Dam is a longhair, the pups will all be Blue Longhair Weimaraners.
  3. Mating Benton to a longhair carrier will produce some Longhair and some Smooth Coat pups; all will be Blue Weimaraner.
  4. When Benton is mated to a smooth coat (non-carrier), none of the pups in the litter will be longhairs. 
Above is the first litter that Benton sired. Rosie (pictured at the top of this column) was the mother (she is a silver gray smooth-coat).

Many of the pups in this litter are infamous, and most of them live in (and around) the Portland area. Keep in mind, that Rosie doesn't carry the longhair DNA marker; therefore, it meant there would be no longhairs in this litter. Below is one of the Rosie X Benton litter of ten--Sahra.