American Canine Association

Breeds

German Shorthaired Pointer


History

Though their is controversy that surrounds the lack of evidence in what bloodlines created the German Shorthaired Pointer, we do know that it was made up of German hunting, pointing, tracking and working breed dogs. This breed has been around since the late 1700's and is very popular til this day in the USA.

Appearance

The German Shorthaired Pointer is a medium to large breed dog with males and females measuring 21-25 inches in height and weighing 50-70 pounds in weight. This breed has a medium sized, broad head that is rounded at the sides and forms into a large, rectangular shaped muzzle. This breed has two pendant shaped ears that fall gently alongside of their face. Their nose is only available in brown. Their two almond shaped eyes are available in a light hazel to dark brown in color. Their tail is generally docked to about 3 inches in length. This breed has a single layer coat that should always demonstrate a natural shine and is tight to the skin. Their coat is available in solid liver, liver and white, liver ticked, liver patches, or white ticked with liver roan.

Temperament

Well suited for an active, outdoorsy family with or without children of any ages and even cats and dogs, the German Shorthaired Pointer is an absolute family dog and hunter at heart. This breed will never lose their want and natural instinct to hunt and point, however they absolutely thrive when being included in family activities that are active and fun. This breed gets along well with children as long as they are socialized with them well at a young age. We recommend early socialization and obedience classes to ensure a proper training foundation for you and your new dog. This breed requires a firm and positive owner who is able to set rules and boundaries within the home from the start. In generally this breed is very happy and accepting. This is not a breed suited for a home where their family members are constantly at work or not home. This breed can not tolerate being locked up or alone for long hours during the day.

Grooming

This breed requires daily brushing and bathing when needed. This breed does shed daily.

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the German Shorthaired Pointer prior to adding one to your family to ensure you are able to provide life long physical and financial care to your new addition. This breed requires a properlly installed fence or proper fitting harness and leash while outdoors at all times. This breed is prone to epilepsy, gastric torsion, mast cell tumors, hip dyspepsia, and lymph edema. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

© 2024 American Canine Association, Inc.