If the best bird dog breed is the one with the most hunting ability across the widest variety of game, an argument could be made for the German Shorthaired Pointer as the consummate all-around hunter.
When a change to German hunting regulations in the 1800s cracked open the sport of hunting to everyone, and not just the privileged nobility, a new class of enthusiastic hunters of “every man” emerged, and while these hunters now had equal footing to what they could hunt, they still couldn’t afford a kennel full of specialized gun dogs. They needed one dog that could hunt everything, and the German Shorthaired Pointer fit the bill. It could scent, point, and fetch upland birds, but also retrieve ducks find wounded deer, track small game, and dispatch predators when necessary.
Some are of the opinion that the original German emphasis on wide ranging versatility changed when the breed came to North America where hunters focused more on game birds, and less on large and small game animals; as evidence, they point to NAVHDA and one or two breed clubs that dropped the Continental emphasis on blood tracking, dispatching predators, and tracking game. The Deutsch Kurzhaar Club of North America, however, still adheres to the original German ideals with their dogs, and there are breeders who view NAVHDA as a source of a deep gene pool that can include Deutsch Kurzhaars, field trial and hunt test dogs, and proven winners in competitive hunting contests.
The irony is that it may have been the dogs that came to North America that helped preserve the breed. Dogtime.com accurately points out that as the end of World War II drew near, many German GSP breeders “hid their gold, their diamonds, their artwork, their Lipizzaner stallions, and their German Shorthaired Pointers.” They sent their best dogs to Yugoslavia to protect them, but when Yugoslavia fell behind the Iron Curtain, West German breeders couldn’t get to the dogs. In the United States, however, the breed was thriving and growing. In 1968, three of the top four finishers at the AKC National Field Trial Championship already had their conformation championships.
Things haven’t changed much in a breed that in 1929, was described by C.R. Thornton in this way: “As a breed, the German all-purpose dog will do it all and do it well.” His article in the AKC Gazette was titled “Meet the ‘Everyuse Dog,” and so it remains.
Image of German Shorthaired Pointer by Evelyn Odango is available in many formats here.