German Shorthair Pointer History (And Traits)

The name of this dog breed may be an apparent gift on its country of origin. The German Shorthaired Pointer actually originated in Germany in the late 19th Century. With an extended heritage of hunting various game and birds, sports enthusiasts decided to develop a capable and versatile gundog that would hunt and recover game. A friendly and trainable personality that might make the dog a competent partner also as a simple companion was also important within the development of this handyman canine.

To accomplish this, it’s believed that a spread of German breeds and European hunting dogs were bred to optimize the breed for the needs of tracking, pointing, and retrieval. The now non-existent German sporting dog, and English/Spanish pointing dogs interbred to gradually create what would simply become the “short-haired” breed of the dog we know today. In 1870, the first record of a “stud-book” was created for…