There is an interesting line in the German Shorthaired Pointer’s AKC breed standard (interesting to us, anyway). It reads, “Unlike the Pointer, the median line between the eyes at the forehead is not too deep and the occipital bone is not very conspicuous.”

As you can see from the photo of the young GSP in the grass, any median line on the dog’s forehead is a little hard to see, and since it’s not supposed to be deep, this is a good thing.

By comparison, let’s look at the dog in the photo below, his breed having appeared in the aforementioned sentence, the Pointer:

As you can see, the line, or “cleft” in this dog’s forehead, or what the Pointer’s breed standard calls a “slight furrow between the eyes,” is far more evident. This “groove” has a name that comes from Latin. The word is, “scissura,” meaning to split

Though the two breeds are both pointers and have in common DNA from the old Spanish pointer, they are very different breeds, and how the “scissura” appears on each breed’s forehead and between the eyes is just one difference.

Images:  Pointer By izzetugutmen/Adobe Stock Photo
German Shorthaired Pointer by SokolovskayaG/Adobe Stock Photo

furrow, term, groove, line, German Shorthaired Pointer, Pointer, scissura