France has given us some fine gun dogs,  and one of them is said to be the country’s most popular Pointer: The Braque Francais, or French Pointer.  This quiet, calm, and easy-going family dog is described as a hunting demon in the field.

Descended from a big, burly dog known as “oysel” that was developed on the edges of the Pyrenees Mountains, the French Pointer is an old breed that was described as early as 1683 by a huntsman for the French royalty, Jacques Espee de Selincourt, who wrote: “He is a quite tall dog, very strong, with a robust chest, big head, long ears, good-sized nose, loose lips, and a white coat with brown spots.”  The French Pointer’s ancestor was suited for “rough shooting,” which is to say that the hunter wanted food on the table, not an elegant hunter. The breed was further refined after the French revolution when a far-ranging dog was a disadvantage in a country that suddenly had less wild land on which to hunt. A closer working dog smaller in stature was bred to fill a niche,  and this gave us the French Pyrenean Pointer.

Many pointing breeds don’t care to retrieve, but Braques do, and have been said to be natural born retrievers. Encouraging and rewarding retrieving in such a biddable breed results in a dog that never forgets the lesson. If there is any limitation to the breed, it’s that its coat doesn’t manage an icy-cold water, but that’s a small thing a natural hunting, pointer and retrieving dog that needs only a soft touch.

The breed first came to North America in 1973, and while the AKC doesn’t recognize the Braque Francais, the Canadian Kennel Club does. In France, the Club du Braque Francais is the official breed club.

Image of Braque Francais by Johan & Maria Michaëlsson – own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikicommons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4498332