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The German Longhaired Pointer is
considered to be the earliest of the German pointers and one of
the earliest central European pointers. Copperplate
engravings and oil paintings from the 16th century show longhaired
gundogs in diverse types of hunting situations. They were
show both bird-hunting and big-game hunting. These were
relatively small dogs with brown fur, broad heads and docked
tails. At that time, no one had yet to use the dogs'
pointing ability and hunting with these dogs was very similar to
hunting with a good spaniel. During the 16th and 17th
century, these gundogs developed into large, sturdy dogs with slow
and narrow field work. |
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Around 1850, German breeders
starting importing British pointing dogs, mostly Irish and Gordon
Setters. They were impressed by their agility and
ground-covering movements. Since no breeding plan existed at
the time, these breedings resulted in quicker dogs, but also a
chaos of types and colors that were named "the old German
Marmalade with English Sauce".
The first kennel
associations were founded by breeders in the 1870s. The
first breeders association for German Longhaired Pointers was
established in 1878 in Berghausen, Germany. In 1879, the
first breed standard was applied at a breed show in Hannover,
Germany. The standard has remained largely unchanged
since.
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Five of the
finest longhair males were chosen to establish the breed.
Their names were Mylord, Job, Don, Roland, and Kalckstein.
All but one of these studs was a braun-colored longhair.
Kalckstein was a hellschimmel (light roan) dog. Even
today, a majority of German Longhaired Pointers are brown in color (with or
without a white chest patch). Thanks to Kalckstein's genes,
we have a few other colors as well. You will see longhairs
in the following colors: Braun (brown), Braun/Weiss (brown and
white without ticking), Hellschimmel (light roan), Braunschimmel
(brown roan), and Dunkleschimmel (dark roan). Of these,
braun is the most common and braun/weiss is the rarest. |
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By the early 1900s, the
German Longhaired Pointer had developed into a large and heavy
dog. Breeders in Germany again looked to British pointing
dogs for help. They started breeding smaller and faster
Gordon Setters back into the German Longhair. The intent was
to fuse together the excellent field qualities and endurance of
the British pointing dogs together with the water passion,
retrieving ability, and tracking ability of the German pointing
dogs to create the ideal gundog.
The first German Longhaired
Pointers were imported into Canada and the United States in the 1950s.
By this time, German hunters had seen the direction of most
American breeding with
Deutsch Drahthaars (German Wirehairs) and Deutsch Kurzhaars
(German Shorthairs) and they did not like it. They became
very strict as to who could import a German Longhaired Pointer.
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Because of the hesitancy
to send over dogs, the breed has remained somewhat rare in the
U.S. to this day. The other main reason for the breed's
rarity is the strict testing and breeding standards. German
Longhaired Pointers cannot be bred unless they have passed at least two
specific hunting tests, had their coat, type, conformation, and
temperament evaluated, and had their hips x-rayed. Many
longhair owners are simply not willing to complete all of these
breeding requirements so a lot of great dogs never get bred.
While this is sad, it is good that dogs that have not proven
themselves are
not allowed to be bred. The German Longhaired Pointer Club of
North America believes that it is better for the breed to remain rare but
talented, than for the breed to become popular only to lose their
hunting ability, looks, or temperament. |
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