On a chilly morning when the sky and land appeared to have been whitewashed, Aloïs and his dog, Natsu, left the warmth of their peasant’s cottage to hunt for something to put in that night’s stewpot. In the 15th century, the hills, forests and mountains of Southern France were teaming with pheasants, partridges and grouse, and Aloïs had little doubt that he and his French Pointer would find dinner.
That night, Aloïs, his wife, Marie, and Natsu made the most of a pheasant pot-au-feu.
Long after Aloïs, Marie, and Natsu lived out their lives – over the next few centuries, in fact, dogs like Natsu would be taken to other countries where they were bred with other dogs (and here we must interject to point out the liberty we just took with facts. It is unlikely that Aloïs owned a French Pointer, or Braque Français, for in his day, only the landed gentry owned such a dog. Just saying).
By the 1800s, no one was sure if any original Braque Français were left in the country. In the late 19th century, a search was conducted in Southern France for any original Braque Français, and in the course of the hunt, two regional varieties of the breed were discovered in Southwest France and the Central Pyrenees where they stayed in their pure form: The Gascogne type and the Pyrenean type, each relatively similar in appearance and function to the other, but different in size.
The Gascogne type, the larger of the two, has a thicker coat and a squarer muzzle.
Braque Gascogne puppies; Photo by © Anamaria Mejia | Dreamstime
The smaller Pyrenean type (also the more common and popular of the two) has a broader head, a finer coat, and more mottled brown in its coloring. The discovery lead to a split of the breed into two. To date, both breeds are accepted by the French Kennel Club, Canadian Kennel Club, and the United Kennel Club. The Braque Francais Pyrenean is AKC recognized. Many hunting clubs also recognize these amazing dogs who make wonderful family pets, buddies to active owners, and of course, hunters.
Top image: Braque Francais Pyrenean by © Slowmotiongli/Dreamstime