This photo, circa 1930, was captioned “Pointers at School on the Moors.”
Nancolleth Billy Mischief was the name of this dog bred by Mrs. F. A. Rowe in 1931.
Rock of Ballymoy, a Pointer of the 1930s, was bred by Mr. G. Davies and owned by Mrs. M. V. Christian.
His Grace the Duke of Montrose was a renowned Pointer expert who owned one of the most important kennels in the breed. Two Pointers of his breeding are shown (foreground) in this photo taken at the 1930 Ulster Gun Trials.
REMARKABLE!
One of the most remarkable Pointers in the breed’s history was the dog Drake, who had been bred by Sir R. Garth and sold by him at what was then considered a “staggering figure” to Mr. R. J. Lloyd Price of Wales. The dog was then at the advanced age of seven years but was said to work the field far better than even puppies of the highest class. The speed at which he worked was such that he sent up a cloud of dust when he stopped to drop to the scent of game.
Let us look first at the Greyhound cross. There can be no doubt that the use of Greyhound blood gave the modern Pointer its speed, elegance and grace. The short sleek coat harkens back to the breed’s Greyhound ancestor, as does the long, well-arched neck, graceful underline and turn-on-the-spot agility. On the other hand, the Greyhound cross can plague the breeder with excessive refinement of head. A narrow front and rib cage, a tilted pelvis and excessive loin arch are also undesirable characteristics that sometimes appear in the Pointer.
The Pointer is not alone in its use of the ancient Bloodhound for its highly developed scenting ability and robust constitution. The undesirable features that accompanied those highly desirable Bloodhound characteristics, however, were the plodding movement, long rounded ears andstraight underline, with which Pointer breeders are still forced to contend.
Foxhound blood was also incorporated for scenting ability and easy maintenance. The well-developed rib cage and relentless endurance were positive assets as well. Such advantages were not without their price, however, as round bone, plain heads, long ropy tails carried vertically and houndy underlines plague the breed to this day.
There are probably few breeds more alert or persistent and determined than the Bull Terrier, and this is what the early Pointer breeders sought. However, the barrel chest, the overly broad front and the hard-bitten terrier eye and expression were contributions the Pointer did not need.
Despite such problems, the Pointer breed rapidly took shape, and the future of the breed was certainly given a major boost in the right direction by the aristocratic names who took up the breed: Lord Lichfield, the Duke of Kingston, Lord Mexborough and the Earl of Lauderdale, just to name a few.
Four early dogs are generally given credit for laying the foundation for all that was to come in the breed: Brocton’s Bounce, Stater’s Major, Whitehouse’s Hamlet and Garth’s Drake (who was said to be one-eighth Foxhound) were the names that dominated Pointer circles. Eng. Ch. Ranger, a dog owned by Mr. Newton, became the breed’s first bench champion, winning three first prizes at England’s premier events—Leeds and Birmingham in 1861, and the final award at Chelsea in 1863. Eng. Ch. Flash gained her title at Birmingham in 1865. The first field trial champion was Drake, born in 1868, bred and owned by Sir Richard Garth. Henry Sawtell bred and owned the breed’s first Dual Champion, Faskally Brag, who was also a sire of significant impact.
Stainton Startler was born in 1932 and won his first Challenge Certificate in 1933 at the Scottish Kennel Club Show.
Pennine Prima Donna, born in 1931, is not considered a champion despite having won 12 Challenge Certificates and even Best in Show (BIS) at Crufts.
In the end, British stockmanship produced an elegant animal, strikingly painted and blessed with exquisite balance and proportion. Of crucial importance was his unmatched ability to perform in the field. Here was a tenacious hunter willing to meet the demands of any job assigned to him. Descriptions such as “a paragon of the pointing breeds” and “a non-stop hunting machine” reverberated throughout the hillsides, sounding loud and clear across the English Channel to the rest of Europe and then across the Atlantic to America.
Jake’s Carolina Boy, an American-bred Pointer of the 1930s. He was owned by Miss Claudia Lea Phelps and won the Amateur Derby Stakes, held by the Pinehurst Field Trials Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
POINTERS IN THE UNITED STATES
English settlers coming to America, a country overflowing in game and open land, no doubt brought their superb hunting dogs with them, thus the beginning of the Pointer in America can be traced to pre-Colonial times. The first documented importations of Pointers began in the late 1870s, notably those of the newly formed Westminster Kennel Club, including their trademark dog Sensation, and the St. Louis Kennel Club, which imported a fast field dog named Sleaford in 1877. The famed Westminster Pointer, as history would have it, hardly lived up to his namesake: as a matter of fact, his “unsensational” show record reflects that he won his championship entirely under Westminster judges and was sold at auction for $35, not an impressive sum even back then. Some other famous imports of this period were: Bow, imported by T.H. Scott; Meteor, the first small Pointer who excelled as a stud dog, imported by the St. Louis Kennel Club; Faust, imported by S.A. Kaye; and Croxteth, brought over by Rev. J.C. MacDonna in 1879 and sold to Mr. Dodeffroy of New York. This young dog improved the quality of American Pointers, being a better size and shape than the dogs in the States, with stronger bone, more muscle and a long, lean head, different from the cloddy heads imported by the others.
WESTMINSTER COAT OF ARMS
The Pointer became the symbol of the nation’s most prestigious dog show, the Westminster Kennel Club show. The club’s first English import, “Sensation,” is used as the club’s logo. The Pointer took the honor of Best in Show at that show three times during the 20th century. The first Pointer to win Westminster was R.F. Maloney’s Int. Ch. Governor Moscow in 1925. The second of these victories was claimed by Ch. Nancolleth Markable, owned by the famous Giralda Farms, in 1932. Over 50 years later, in 1986, Ch. Marjetta National Acclaim, owned by Mrs. A.R. Robson and Michael Zollo, won Best in Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the third and last Pointer to win Westminster in the century.
Arnold Burges’s The American Kennel and Sporting Field was published in 1876, and the National American Kennel Club followed, along with Dr. N. Rowe’s American Kennel Stud Book. The first pointing-dog field trial, sponsored by the Tennessee State Sportsmen’s Association, was held in October 1874 near Memphis, Tennessee. A black and white Pointer named Rex, owned by A. Merriman, came in sixth place, scoring 67 out of a possible 100 points.
The very first Pointer to be registered by the American Kennel Club (AKC) was a black and white dog by the name of Ace of Spades, even though this dog was by no means one of the first dogs imported into the country. Whelped in June 1875, Ace was owned by J.J. Snellenberg of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. He was sired by Button, who was out of David Stewart’s brace imported from Britain.