Bourbonnais Pointer

The Bourbonnais Pointer is first described during the Renaissance in Aldrovandi's Natural History in 1598. It is described as a pleasant hunting companion with rustic appearance and constitution, with a white coat speckled with brown or fawn. After being at risk of extinction following World War I, it experienced a revival with the creation of a club in 1925. Breeders in the 1930s began selection based on secondary criteria, particularly coat color (for which breeders wanted a very specific "faded lilac" shade) and tail length (which was to be naturally absent or short). As working abilities were sometimes overlooked, the breed was abandoned by hunters. After World War II, the number of births decreased again and the club declined until ceasing all activity. From 1963 to 1973, no registrations in the French studbook were recorded. In 1970, Michel Comte (breeder and FCI judge) decided to search for the last dogs with Bourbonnais blood. He found only mixed breeds, each of which had some Bourbonnais Pointer characteristics (size, coat, head shape, short tail). The most notable among them, whose genes are still dominant in all current Bourbonnais, was Rasteau, a fawn male, also called Pyrrhus, whose father was Napo, the dog of singer Pierre Perret, whom he inspired a song about. After various crosses with varying levels of consanguinity, he registered his first Bourbonnais Pointers provisionally between 1973 and 1975; from then on, he brought together several breeders around him who, from his dogs, created their own lines, and the number of births increased. In 1981, the Bourbonnais Pointer Club was recreated. From that point on, the Bourbonnais's successes in field trials assured it a reputation that allowed the breed to flourish. Introduced to the United States in 1988, it has since flourished in that country.

The Bourbonnais Pointer is described in the breed standard as gentle and affectionate, but also passionate and intelligent when hunting. It adapts easily to varied terrain and game. It naturally seeks high-scent birds and demonstrates useful and precise pointing ability.

The Bourbonnais Pointer is a carpeted, compact and muscular pointer of medium size. It gives an impression of sturdiness and strength. The female presents a more slender and elegant silhouette. Some dogs are born without a tail (anourous) or with a naturally short tail (brachyurous). Tail docking is performed in countries where it is permitted. The head is pear-shaped, that is rounded in all directions, with well-developed rounded lateral walls, parietal bones and zygomatic arches. The pear-shaped head is typical of the breed. The axes of the skull and muzzle are parallel or slightly divergent. Neither too light nor too heavy, the head is proportioned to the body. The eyes are large, rather round, hazelnut or dark amber in color, in harmony with coat color. The medium-length drop ears are set at the level of the eye line or just above. The coat is fine, dense and short. It is finer on the head and ears, somewhat thicker and sometimes slightly longer on the back. The white coloring is very dominant, finely speckled with brown (coat called "wine lees" or "faded lilac") or ticked with fawn (coat called "peach blossom") in all their variants. White and colored hairs may be mixed in a roan pattern. The ear generally carries the base color more or less speckled. Color patches must be few and of small extent: they do not exceed the size of the palm of the hand on the body and never encompass both eyes at once on the face.