The Dobermann Pinscher - History And Development Of The Breed

By Philipp Gruenig

Gruenig's The Dobermann Pinscher is well renowned as the best and most knowledgeable book on the Dobermann available.
This title is designed particularly for the experienced breeders and owners and as a vehicle for bringing them exact information to supplement the knowledge obtained from his practical experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781447498490

Book preview

The Dobermann

Pinscher

History and Development of the Breed

By

PHILIPP GRUENIG

Translated by

MAXIMILIAN VON HOEGEN

ILLUSTRATED

1949

PHIL. GRUENIG

THE AUTHOR

Profound student of the Dobermann.

Upright and Meticulous judge.

Scientific breeder.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

THE work of translating this book was undertaken by me with many misgivings. To be sure, I had been given opportunity to inspect brief excerpts, as well as a sketchy outline of the scope and material upon which Philip Gruenig intended to rear his literary structure but owing to my experience with other literary blue-prints, I permitted the conclusion of just another dog book to possess my mind. The first few pages of the finished text, however, jolted me out of my complacency and into the realization that here indeed was a work eminently worthy of every effort to reproduce it faithfully.

In my career as a translator from and into French, German and English, it has been my privilege to dissect and reassemble many works of philosophy, science and art and it is my reasoned opinion that never before have I dealt with a single treatise that strikes its roots so deeply into all three branches of mental endeavor How stimulating is the author’s a priori reasoning (a highroad to conclusions based on speculative, inductive reasoning and accepted prior to actual human experience) a trait which the cultured world accepts as the hallmark of the philosopher and and which demonstrates his knowledge of and ability to utilize what is best in Kant and Schopenhauer! His treatment of the aesthetic qualities of the Dog, of the Dobermann Pinscher in particular, reveals an artistic spirit able and willing to spend years in formulating and giving expression to what is so badly needed in the world of breeders, exhibitors, judges and individual fanciers. The imposing array of scientists, to whose works reference is made throughout, is an assurance to the student as well as the casual reader that the conclusions, which at first blush may seem bizarre and far-fetched, are in reality fundamentally sound, scientifically established and made acceptable by force of human experience, incontrovertible logic and convincing evidence.

A striking example of the author’s approach to the entire problem of breeding and judging the Dobermann Pinscher may be found in the first of the fundamental precepts which he lays down for the guidance of the conscientious breeder in Chapter I (Page 47). A close examination hereof will cause most of us to feel a pang of dismay, the more so when we realize that the admonition comes from one who himself was in the forefront—by the requirements of his office—in bringing about the very situation which he deprecates.

Every effort has been made to preserve the sequence of each word, sentence, paragraph, page and chapter. The purpose of this is to facilitate the readers’ research into the original text and also to check its accuracy. The translator invites comment, criticism and correction to the end that the contemplated future edition for the purpose of revising and bringing the work up to date may be like the knight of old, without fear and beyond reproach.

As in every translation, some compromise with custom and idiom had to be resorted to herein. A readily comprehended example of this is to be found in the author’s terminology for the color groups. Throughout the book his term, Schwarzrot, literally, Blackred, meaning black ground color with rust red markings, is simply translated with the term black, taking the red markings for granted. The same treatment is accorded his Braunrot and Blaurot, translated with brown and blue. Please note that his term brown is used to designate the color of the group which the jargon of the American fancy has simply dubbed the reds to distinguish them from the blacks. Nowhere does the translation depart even in the slightest degree from the spirit and meaning of the author’s original expression.

In recommending this volume to your serious study, I sincerely hope that you will find in it what I did: a work of philosophy, science and art and one which has the triple virtue of being complete, profound and absorbing.

(Signed) MAXIMILIAN VON HOEGEN

"History is written only by those

to whom the present is important"

PREFACE

THIS book, with its text and table of consanguinity, did not spring from a momentary mood. It is, rather, the product of diligent labor and research extending over many years,—years replete with many obstacles and difficulties.

The work is designed to close a gap in Dobermann Literature. All publications to date address themselves exclusively to fancier and novice in the dog world and serve only as a means of recruiting them to the Dobermann standards. More than this it is designed particularly for the experienced breeder and as a vehicle for bringing to him exact information to supplement the knowledge obtained from his practical experience. It is, therefore, held strictly within the scope of this purpose and seeks to further the progress and the development of the breed which, sad to say, have stagnated in the years just past.

The publication of this work has been made possible by the energetic help of my esteemed co-workers, Messrs. Howard K. Mohr, of Philadelphia, (U.S.A.) and Francis F. H. Fleitmann, of New York (U.S.A.). Good support also came from Messrs. Carl Wittwer, of Liebefeld (Switzerland), H. Kloeppel, of The Hague (Holland) and L. Cyermak of Bruenn, (Czechoslovakia). Considerable financial assistance came to me from Miss Mary Fryling, of Philadelphia, Mrs. M. von Hoegen, of Towaco, and the Messrs. Fred R. Kingman, of New York, Maurice V. Reynolds, of Lake Villa, and John C. Zimmermann, of Detroit, all of the U.S.A. Also the former Dobermann Verband, of Duisburg, contributed a sum of money. Grateful acknowledgment of all this help is hereby made. Unfortunately a neighboring State (France) refused to furnish the information requested and I was reluctantly compelled to omit the dogs of that country from the lists and tables herein. Regrettable as it is, this action became mandatory in order to avoid the publication of necessarily incomplete and unreliable data.

The list of the dogs mentioned in this book was determined entirely by their ability to transmit their hereditary qualities and names them in their chronological order. The foremost dogs of today must justify their ancestors’ place on this list. The occasional omission of a dog, which at its zenith was currently regarded as one of the breed’s immortals, will become comprehensible when its failure to transmit its points of excellence and hereditary traits to its descendants was demonstrated and taken into account. Several kennels—formerly famous and successful—have been omitted from further mention on the same grounds.

I have steadfastly refused to make unjustified promises to the various breeding and training organizations and to genetical societies though conscious of the fact that my refusal to do so would hinder the sales of this book.

Only the breeder who knows how to use the Tables of Consanguinity correctly and to read the correlated pedigrees will derive the complete and ultimate pleasure from the results of his own breeding activity. During the years to come it will be his privilege to write the product of his own efforts into these tables, for the basic principles are fixed and their use the privilege of all. Even the breeder who is trained in the science of biology will be able to derive benefit from them. A great future awaits the researcher in the field of animal husbandry.

Just what is meant by this Biology?

As used herein it is the science which treats of the origin, nature and processes of life. One of its most important subdivisions is the biology of breeding, which concerns itself with the processes of transmission and heredity in plants and animals. When expertly observed and applied they can be made to serve the manifold needs and purposes of man.

The practical breeder, desirous of some measure of success, can no longer afford to ignore the conclusions and principles of this exact science but must apply them to his particular problems. Above all the breeder must analyse and understand the teachings of his practical experience, the results of which—now as ever—are equally useful to him. Mathematics and statistics must become accustomed implements in the scheme of every breeder, amateur or professional.

We will avoid the term "according to his chemical Law in favor of the simpler term rule, in view of the fact that the varying conceptions of the word Law" have precipitated widely divergent and antagonistic controversies.

Due to their many varieties, dog breeding offers a peculiarly fertile and attractive field to every one with any inclination in this direction. Particularly is this true in the case of the Dobermann to which have been attributed, erroneously but nevertheless, three main problems: 1, Beauty and Anatomical Perfection; 2, Utility and Working Ability; and 3, Color breeding.

Careful analysis, subjective interpretation and strict application of these rules of biology (breeding) will result in the realization that all three problems are bound up and fused in the one main problem of breeding true to comprehensive type and character.

Close study of the results obtained from selected matings always has been the best guide that the conscientious breeder could follow. Considering the fact that the Dobermann has been scientifically bred for less than a generation and a half of man and that it was my special privilege to have been contemporary with its development, I am able to report and record not only the progress of the breed as a whole but also the characteristics of its most prominent individuals from which it has inherited its distinctive traits. My personal knowledge of and acquaintance with these individuals enables me to determine their relative value in our table of consanguinity and other records.

As previously stated, not only will the teachings of practical breeding experience be discussed but also the exact science, with its aims and deductions, in so far as it can be simply elucidated. It must here be admitted that much in this science is predicated on postulates that have not yet been incontrovertibly proved but the truth and validity of which must be presumed.

Because this book is designed primarily for the breeder it avoids all padding which is usually found in books concerning the Dobermann. The author takes for granted that the reader is concerned entirely with the problems arising out of breeding and rearing, that he knows when a dog is sick or well, that he has a working knowledge of genetics and that his experience with the breed extends over a period of years. If he does not possess these qualifications and persists in breeding he is guilty of treason to the breed.

Training has not the remotest connection with breeding. While the latter is our sole concern herein the breeder would not be doing justice to himself or to his dog if he did not train him in line with the purpose and utility of the Dobermann.

Breed characteristics have been given little consideration herein as the rules of their descent are not, and probably will not be, regarded. Had they been so considered the Dobermann of today would present the same general picture that he did at the turn of the century.

Organizations, which have for their professed aim the improvement and welfare of the Dobermann, are only mentioned herein in connection with their stud books and registration records. Thirty years of experience has taught me that such organizations do less for the professed purpose of their existence than for the individuals composing their management. They are frequently turned into arenas for the riotous exaltation of personages and a brand of politics most oppressing and damaging to the breed. The best proof of this can be found in the demonstrable fact that with few exceptions the leaders in these organizations have never produced anything worth recording.

The use of foreign words which frequently occur in this text has for its justification their exact meaning in scientific discussion on the one hand and on the other our desire to be of assistance to the non-German readers.

The Dobermann breed is essentially of German origin and no sensible breeder of any other country will assert the contrary. As our desire is to win international recognition for our breed it would be out of place to write its history from a nationalistic point of view. Within the breed no distinction arising from origin can be tolerated and all dogs must be accorded the equal right of being judged on merit alone. The conception embodied in the terms Recognized or Not recognized must no longer be a part of the critic’s equipment. As soon as partisanship enters his judgment he loses his foundation of objectivity and his deductions become worthless.

Therefore I have dedicated this book to him who in the spirit of love and sacrifice and at great cost brought our breed to the present state of genetic excellence, who is its real creator, its guardian and sponsor: The Breeder.

PHILIPP GRUENIG.

Duisburg a/R, 1934.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Phil. Gruenig

Alarich v. Thueringen

Graf Wedigo v. Thueringen

Two Promoters of the Dobermann Breed in the U. S. A. with Their Dogs

Primus v. Thueringen

Fedor v. Aprath

Marko v. Luetzellinden

Prinz Modern v. Ilm-Athen

Bob v. Elfenfeld

Adelfried v.d. Wendenburg

Edelblut v. Jaegerhof

Fernando v. Merseburg

Prinz Bodo v. Hoernsheim

Burschel v. Simmenau

Angola v. Grammont

Prinz Carlo v.d. Koningstad

Big Boy of White Gate

Lux v.d. Blankenburg

Benno v.d. Roemerhof

Lotte v. Simmenau

Faust

Prins Favorit v.d. Koningstad

Prinsessin Elfrieda v.d. Koningstad

Prinsessin Illisa v.d. Koningstad

Claus v.d. Spree

Cilli v.d. Spree

Lord v.d. Horstburg

Ari v. Sigalsburg

Alto v. Sigalsburg

Apollo v. Schuetzeneck

Amerant of White Gate

Claus v. Sigalsburg

Hyde of Pontchartrain

Illisa of Westphalia

Sonia of Westphalia

Lotte II v. Simmenau

Figaro v. Sigalsburg

Rival v. Kranichstein

Modern v. Simmenau

Alli of Rhinegold

Egil Zum Ziel

Alraune v. Abendrot

Kanzler v. Sigalsburg

Nicholas of Randhof

Shadda v. Verstaame

Jessy v.d. Sonnenhoehe

Falko v. Lindenhof

Ferry v. Rauhfelsen

Troll v. Engelsburg

Dow’s Dodie v. Kienlesberg

Alcor v. Millsdod

Duvetyn of Foxcroft

Christie v. Klosterholz

Quo Shmerk v. Marienland

Dictator v. Glenhugel

Doricka v.d. Elbe

Westphalia’s Uranus

Emperor of Marienland

Favoriet v. Franzhof

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

Putative Pedigrees of the Mongrel and Full Bred Domestic Dogs

Example of Close Inbreeding and the Practical Application of the Bruce-Lowe Theory

Example of the Application of Extreme (Incestuous) Inbreeding

Diagram of Bruce-Lowe Theory of Breeding

Heredity Diagram

Designation of the Individual Parts of the Body of the Dobermann

Skull of the Dobermann

Skeleton of the Dobermann

Color Pedigree Table

"You gave me stately Nature for my kingdom,

Power to feel and to enjoy it. You did

Not restrict me to a coldly staring visit.

Permitted me to look into her deepest recesses

As if She were the bosom of a friend.

You lead the procession of the living

Before my eyes, and teach me to recognize

My brothers in the silent wood, in air and ocean."

—GOETHE.

I

THE SCIENCE OF BREEDING AND HEREDITY

(a) Breeding

IN THE interests of complete understanding we tap sources of information dating from prehistoric times and on Page 3 submit a formal genealogy in order to spread before the reader a picture of the presumptive evolution of the domesticated dog from its paleolithic beginning to the specimens of our acquaintance. We lay special emphasis upon the word presumptive because the branches of science concerned with tracing the genesis of the dog are proceeding by different methods, however much their aim may be in common. So vast is the wealth of material which is the object of their research and so great is the number of scholars engaged in it that a conclusion to which all can subscribe in every detail has not yet been arrived at. Hence the reservation implied in presumptive.

My inclusion of the Dobermann in the descendants of the canis familiaris decumanus will be comprehensible to anyone who has more than just casually examined the material used by me. To include this breed, as has been done occasionally in the past, in the group springing from the canis familiaris palustris and among Terriers, Schnauzers, Spitzes, etc., is not particularly logical. It is much more reasonable—and anatomically considered, on a sounder foundation—that the relationship between Mastiff, Rottweiler, Boxer, etc., and Dobermann is closer. All but conclusive is the historically established and recorded separation of the Rottweiler as a distinctive breed from the Dobermann in the first half of the 19th century. In the carefully retouched photographic studies of today the difference between these two breeds is as obvious and emphatic as their resemblance was formerly.

This genealogical table demonstrates convincingly how strong the instinct of breed determination became with the beginning of recorded history. Apparently, at first, there was no co-operation of man toward the evolution of the distinctive breeds but his economic need supplied the impulse to control and accelerate the process of selection. How many breeds were so brought into being, most of them to perish before their characteristics were recorded, is in the realm of conjecture, but I may say hundreds and still remain conservative. A breed of dogs would disappear faster than a race of men. Of most of the breeds recognized by us it may be truly said that they shall be known to scientists, say three centuries hence, only from their portraits and our description of them.

At this point it becomes important to define and differentiate the terms Genealogy and Pedigree. The genealogy has its beginning in the root and may freely be described as generating a trunk, limbs, branches, twigs, leaves and flower. All considerations proceed from the first known ancestors. Our Table of Consanguinity may therefore be correctly described as the genealogy of the breed. The pedigree which every conscientious breeder gives the purchaser of a dog, begins with the individual purchased and lists only those of its immediate ancestors required to identify it. A pedigree is therefore lacking in the essential properties of the genealogy which begins with the roots and must name every generation between root and flower. The pedigree dwells in the present while the genealogy marches into the past.

PUTATIVE PEDIGREES OF THE MONGREL AND FULL BRED DOMESTIC DOGS

No Apparent Record of Dogs in the Tertiary Age. Diluvian Age. Early Stone Age (Palaeolithic).

In order to give the pedigree the validity of a breed document it should correctly list the following:

1. The full individual and kennel name of the dog described.

2. The date of whelping (birth).

3. Full name and address of breeder at the time of breeding.

4. Exact color and markings, sex and the dates (by years) that its immediate ancestors were whelped. (born)

5. The breed and stud-book registration numbers of the individual, if registered, and of its immediate ancestors.

6. The technical and scientific symbols denoting generations: F1, P1, P2, P3, etc.

What the pedigree must not list or contain is a recital of prizes, awards or titles won at shows, exhibitions or trials because they do not indicate the individual’s breeding value or its ability to transmit its hereditary qualities.

When examining a properly constructed pedigree the experienced breeder will be able to determine at a glance whether a contemplated mate for his dog will be productive of the desired hereditary results: color, etc. Also whether the successive parental generations offer assurance of suitability for the continuation of the desired traits with constitutional health. By referring to this book he will be enabled to deduce valuable conclusions concerning the hereditary probabilities of the individuals involved in the proposed mating and to apply them practically. His breeders pride and ambition will be stimulated when he finds his judgment vindicated and his efforts rewarded with a physically and mentally improved breed specimen. The road to success—hitherto dark and subject to the detours of chance—becomes clear and straight.

Because a reference to zoological science cannot be avoided in the discussion before us we list the salient terms used and define them with particular reference to the Dobermann.

We will regard all species as groups differing among themselves in characteristics resulting from controlled and conscious breeding but all partaking of the properties indigenous to the type. Logically we must construe the word species liberally and not permit it to become identified with immutability. Specie then becomes breeding and even breed, giving to it a true relative and somewhat elastic meaning.

When we speak of breeding in this history of the Dobermann we refer to the output of a kennel the work of which, due to its methods and degree of success, has achieved the recognition of experts in whose minds its name has become the symbol of definite mental, physical and hereditary qualities. This distinction demands a minimum requirement of four to five unbroken parental generations of recognizable type transmitted to a considerable number of offspring. Fixation and durability of the type and ability to impress it progressively would seem to be another condition to such recognition.

By origin we may signify climatic, geographic, ethnologic, ethnographic or any other definable location to which breeding and rearing may be properly attributed.

The individual is the single specimen of a species, breeding, etc., and known to us by its name, sex, color, etc.

Degrees of blood relationship are referred to in dog breeding by the following terms: direct lines of descent; grandmother, mother and son; grandfather, father and daughter; or father, son, etc.

ALARICH v. THUERINGEN–1897†–DZ

An ascending line is: son, mother and grandfather; or daughter, mother and grandmother.

The reverse of this: grandmother, mother and daughter, etc., is called a descending line.

Side— or collateral lines refer to lines descended from sisters or brothers.

Individuals of one litter are referred to as litter brother or sister or as full brother or sister.

Individuals of a litter having the same parents as another litter are referred to as full brothers and full sisters of ascending or descending interval.

Individuals of a litter having but one parent in common with another litter are referred to as half brothers or half sisters.

Children and children’s children are referred to as progeny or descendants.

Parents, grandparents, etc., are referred to as ancestors.

When we use a mating or breeding pair as the starting point for exploring their ancestry we refer to them—in connection with their progeny—as the parents and use the technical term First Parentalgeneration, abbreviated and symbolized as P1. The first generation of their descendants we refer to as the First Filialgeneration, abbreviated and symbolized as F1, the second as F2, etc.

In the science and practice of breeding we recognize various types of breeding, but each of which is again subdivided according to the degree of blood relationship between the mates. The only division with which we are concerned here is:

1. Outbreeding (or Outcross).

2. Inbreeding.

We intentionally avoid all pseudo-scientific distinctions and controversies inherent in the conceptions of so-called pure-breeding and cross-breeding. While at a later occasion we will give them our attention, for the present we proceed with the premise that Dobermann mated to Dobermann, a mating, that is, within the recorded limits of the breed, is pure breeding and that, by way of example, Dobermann mated to Manchester Terrier is no Dobermann breeding at all but cross breeding (see later).

1. Outbreeding (or Outcross)

The principle underlying this type of breeding is that of mating two individuals of unrelated blood lines. Theoretically this is no longer a possibility within our Dobermann breed. In the last forty years a blood mixture of even the furthest geographically outlying strains has been accomplished. Each and all of the original fifteen genealogically proved ancestors of the breed as a whole have been thoroughly mixed and infused in their descendants. But the beneficial effect of outbreeding can be obtained by mating to an individual which because of environmental changes, far and distant removal from animals enjoying a common but remote ancestry and because of the operation of idiogenetic factors, has so changed its hereditary qualities and traits that to all intents and purposes it has become an unrelated strain. Such a mating, however, has never affected the breed or even the individual strain.

2. Inbreeding

We will consider this term only as referring to matings between closely related individuals (although this is not even a theoretical essential) and refrain from a discussion of its remoter meanings. Even the limited phase we consider may be differentiated as follows:

(a) Distant Inbreeding.

(b) Close Inbreeding (See Diagram Page 11).

(c) Extreme (Incestuous) Inbreeding (See Diagram Page 12).

Distant inbreeding (a) is the rule of most matings. The reasons for this have already been referred to and stated in our discussion of outbreeding. All individuals of the Dobermann breed