It’s not the kind of bragging rights that an owner or breeder of a particular breed wants to have, but with only 200 Austrian Pinchers in Austria, and only 20 to 40 additional registrations every year, the Austrian Pinscher is a rare breed, and one that is far from flourishing. An ancient breed deserves better. Dog skulls found during excavations of 4,000 year old settlements by the Mondsee Lake in Austria are said to be virtually identical to the Austrian Pinscher of today. 

Still, things are better than they were. By the 1970’s, only one fertile registered dog remained, a female by the name of Diocles of Angern, and many Austrians didn’t even know the breed existed. Recognizing the danger to this native breed, devoted breeders began to collect working line dogs without pedigrees, pinschers of the traditional type known as Landpinschern or Land Pinschers.  These Pinschers had managed to survive in neighboring countries and were often owned by people who had no idea their dog was anything but a mutt, and it was these dogs who helped restore the breed.

Austria’s only non-scent hound breed was recognized by the FCI in 1928, and accepted by the United Kennel Club in 2006.

Image:”Young Austrian Pinscher” Oil on Canvas by Mirek Kuzniar is available for purchase here