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 Many
have referred to this as the English pointer when; in fact its correct
title is the pointer. The term English was added with the emergence of
the European pointing dogs to distinguish one from another but to the
purist it was and still is the original pointer, used extensively by
people like the 18th century author and diarist, Colonel Peter
Hawker.
This is an elegant dog of graceful lines and
an excellent nose. Unlike the European breeds of pointers, this is not a
natural retriever although they can be successfully taught to retrieve.
To use a pointer on a grouse moor is truly an experience. To watch them
range until a mere dot in the distance, to locate and hold a
 bird
on point and then to flush on command is a sight to savour. The
stance immortalised in paintings and engravings is that of the classic
gundog that is certainly familiar to all involved with shooting sports
The
origins of the pointer are a little sketchy but it seems likely that the
pointer is a descendant of dogs referred to as “partridge dogs” by
Brumetho Latini, an Italian exiled in France around 1260. The links to
the partridge dog are tenuous but we can be certain that the links to the
Spanish pointers that were introduced into Norfolk in the South East of
England in the early 1700s are more reliable and that these are the
forerunners of the pointer of today.
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