Dogs and Doubles

Tag Archive for 'Origins'

Where did pointing dogs come from, anyway?

by Gregg
Elhew Pointers
Elhew Pointers

Have you ever wondered about the history of pointing dogs? For the story, here’s a fascinating piece I recommend from Craig Koshyk’s excellent Pointing Dog Blog:

The History of the Pointing Dog, Part 1: Origins

“On June 16th, 2009 American President Barack Obama appeared in a televised interview. About half way into the program, a fly began buzzing about his head as he was answering a question. Despite repeated attempts to scare it away, the very persistent fly eventually landed on the President’s hand. Ed Pilkington, writing in the next day’s edition of the English newspaper the Guardian, described Mr. Obama’s reaction:

His body went rigid and he cast his eyes down toward the fly that had settled on his left hand. At this point he looked swathed in the stillness that comes from absolute concentration…

Then, with lighting speed, the President swatted the fly and exclaimed, “I got the sucker!” Naturally, the rather humorous event was reported around the world. I saw it on the evening news and watched it again on You Tube the next day. But it wasn’t the swift presidential action that caught my attention. It was what Mr. Obama did immediately before he swatted the fly…” Read all of The History of the Pointing Dog, Part 1: Origins

Breed of the Week: The Burgos Pointer

by Gregg

The history of the modern pointing dog is convoluted and tangled. The further into its past you go, and the more clouded its lineage becomes. People believed that Spain’s Burgos Pointer was the great-great-great-great grandaddy of them all, a dog that could trace it’s origin back to the beginnings of pointing breeds over 600 years ago.

A Burgos Pointer
A Burgos Pointer

While that’s a great story, it’s not true. The reality is that the Burgos Pointer is a much newer breed of pointing dog. But that doesn’t make its story any less interesting. I suggest you check out this post from Craig Koshyk’s blog to read the whole story on the Burgos Pointer. For the full story on fifty other great breeds, buy Koshyk’s book Point Dogs Part One: The Continentals. It’s well worth the money.