Drayton Lady and Eng. Ch. Coronation, a brace of show and working Pointer bitches owned by Mr. H. Sawtell, circa 1935.
The Pointer and His Predecessors, written by William Arkwright of Sutton Scarsdale, near Chesterfield, England, is the most universally accepted work on the development of the Pointer breed. He began work on his book late in the 19th century and researched the material included over a period of 30 years. Throughout this work, Arkwright, while fully admitting the existence of a Spanish Pointer in England, maintained that the influence of the Spanish dog had little, if any, effect on the development of his chosen breed.
POINTERS ON THE CONTINENT
Every major European nation has produced its own version of the Pointer, with Germany and France leading the list. France has nine such breeds, including the multi-talented Brittany, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, also called Korthals Griffon, and the seven Braques named for their regions, such as the Auvergne, Bourbonnais and Saint-Germain. Germany has six distinct pointing breeds, including the Stichelhaar, Weimaraner, Pudelpointer and the German Short-, Wire-and Longhaired Pointers.
Hungary boasts its talented Vizsla; Slovakia its Cesky Fousek; the Slavs their incredibly popular Dalmatian; Italy its Bracco Italiano and Segugio Italiano, both gaining fans in the UK; Spain its Perdiguero de Burgos and Navarro; and Portugal its Perdigueiro Portugueso. Belgium’s Shorthaired Pointer is considered extremely rare, as are the two Danish breeds, the Old Danish Bird Dog (or Gammel Dansk Hønsehund) and the Hertha Pointer.
ADAPTABILITY AND SOPHISTICATION
Hunting has demanded different skills through the ages, and the dogs that man has used in this pursuit have also changed. In the earliest stages, man hunted to obtain food and to get rid of dangerous beasts. As man developed his techniques, and hunting began to be regulated by the government, it became a sporting event and the duties of his dogs became increasingly complex. Those who fancy the Pointer as a hunter believe that their breed represents the highest level of canine adaptability and sophistication.
Lending credence to Arkwright’s belief is Anecdotes of Dogs, written by Edward Jesse, Esq., and published in 1880. Jesse wrote of the Spanish Pointer in England during his day and describes a dog so unlike the Pointer as we know it that it is difficult to associate the two breeds. “How well do I recollect in my early youth seeing the slow, heavy, solemn-looking, and thick-shouldered (sic) Spanish pointer, tired with two or three hours’ work in turnips, and so stiff after it the next day, as to be little capable of resuming his labors.”
In 1895 this rare black bitch, Leader, made a name for herself in the field. She belonged to breed expert William Arkwright.
Although he does go on to explain away the streamlining of the breed by a simple cross to the “fox-hound,” certainly one would question whether the so-called foxhound of that era had the conformation that would produce the lithe lines and increased speed of the Pointer as we know it. Arkwright not only dismisses the Spanish dog as the foundation of the Pointer, he also casts doubt on Spain as the origin of the pointing breeds in the first place. He refers to a letter written by the US Vice Consul in Valencia, Spain in 1900. In that letter the Vice Consul stated that pointing dogs existed in Spain for many generations and were the descendants of an original pair that were presented as gifts to the Spanish court “by an Italian prince.”
The famous Lloyd Price’s Pointer, named Wragg. This painting was published in 1881 and is an interesting comparison to the Pointers of today.
Sandford Dum Dum is an example of an old-time Pointer, produced from Foxhound and Spanish Pointer breeding.
Colonel David Hancock has researched this question of origin quite thoroughly in his excellent work The Heritage of the Dog, and the Drury book British Dogs revealed that the first record of the Pointer in Great Britain is the Tilleman painting of the Duke of Kingston with his kennel of Pointers in 1725. Drury describes these dogs as “…the same elegant Franco-Italian type as the pointing dogs painted by Oudry (1686–1755) and Desportes (1661–1743) at the end of the 17th century.”
Eng. Ch. Flagon of Ardagh was a top winner of the late 1920s/early 1930s. He added to his many honors two further Challenge Certificates in 1933, at the age of seven.
Finally, and contrary to what has been readily accepted by many theorists, research indicates that the pointing dog was well established in France long before the Spanish Pointer made its way to Great Britain. Moreover, those French dogs, very frequently seen throughout Great Britain, far more closely resembled the Pointer of today than the Spanish dogs.
DOG SHOW CONQUERED
England’s prestigious Crufts Dog Show has been conquered by the Pointer on two occasions, the first of which was in 1935 by Pennine Prima Donna, owned by A. Eggleston, and the second in 1958 by Eng. Ch. Chiming Bells, owned by Mrs. W. Parkinson.
OTHER INFLUENCES
“Horses for courses” is an old saying among British stockmen that has served as the basis for the development of many kinds of prized livestock. Translated in layman’s terms, this adage simply refers to choosing a breeding formula that will produce a horse best suited to work in the terrain of the region. This formula not only applied to horses but also was the basis upon which many of Britain’s outstanding dog breeds were developed. Often this practice required going to totally unrelated breeds for what was needed. At times a dash of one breed, a smattering of another and perhaps even a sprinkling of two or three others were necessary to complete the recipe for the ideal dog! Although this practice was not particularly something to be shouted from the rooftops, it is to what we owe the incredible characteristics of some of our modern-day breeds, including the Pointer.
THE POINTER’S RANGE OF SKILLS
The Pointer owes a good deal of the respect it enjoys among hunters to the popularity of what was called “wing-shooting” or shooting the game in the air. To accomplish this, a dog had first to locate the birds by scent and then alert the hunter to their presence by standing at point. When the hunter approached, or upon signal, the dog would flush out the covey and set the birds to wing. Although many breeds were accomplished at perhaps one of these skills, few could compare to Britain’s Pointer in the excellent manner in which they performed the entire range.
Perhaps the question of the Pointer’s country of origin will never be satisfactorily answered, but there is no doubt that the gene pool of its descendants is certainly diverse. Breed historians acknowledge that at least four crosses to other breeds were employed to bring about the Pointer as we know it today. The four breeds credited are the Greyhound, the Bloodhound, the Foxhound and, more surprisingly, the Bull Terrier.
This original painting of a Spanish Pointer by renowned dog artist Reinagle appeared in The Sportsman’s Cabinet in 1803.
At first reading, these crosses may seem to be somewhat bizarre choices. However, you will see how these crosses made perfect sense in our forefathers’ attempt to produce the ideal hunting dog. You will also see that these