ENGLISH POINTER

The Pointer has long been the king of pointing dogs. There are Pointers that are superior and some not so much, every breed runs this way. But when you find a good Pointer he will give you his all under any condition. He will hunt until he drops, he will cover more ground and find more birds than any other pointing breed today. The Pointer is primarily bred to hunt quail which is the field trialers bird of choice. In the field, he hunts the hedgerows and edges, often running a quarter to a half mile ahead. When he doesn’t come around, you go hunt him because he is probably pointing a bird.

Some people who fancy other pointing breeds do not like the Pointer’s standard of finding birds as quickly as possible. Speed is the factor that has led him to his position of dominance. He beats slower dogs to the birds. The Setter is the only dog that can compete with any measure of success against him.

Other pointing breeds, the Brittany, Shorthair, Weimaraner, and the Vizala were introduced to this country within the last 50 years and were bred to hunt small parcels of land thoroughly. They are slow and methodical in their ways when compared to the Pointer or Setter. Pointer develop at a young age and can be trained early. Pointing instinct is usually highly developed in small puppies. Puppies will often sight point bird and objects at six weeks of age.

One criticism of the Pointer is that he is a bird finding machine and his desire to please his master is not as strong as his desire to hunt. He hunts with such vigor and intensity that he sometimes becomes oblivious of his master.

Additional information on the English Pointer can be found here at the AKC website.