More on the Boulet Griffon

In response to a comment on a forum, I wrote:

The story of the Boulet Griffon is very interesting. One of the most fascinating aspects is just how famous the breed and its creator really were; and how quickly they faded into near total obscurity.

I always knew that the breed was well known at one time, but it was not until major libraries and foundations began to make their archives available on-line that I realized just how big of a deal the Boulet Griffon was in its day. For example, there was a sporting newspaper/magazine called "Le Chenil" published weekly in France from the 1880s to the 1920s. I had only seen a few copies of it in old bookstores in Paris but could never afford to purchase a copy. But then one day about a year ago I discovered that the National Library of France had just uploaded the entire collection to the net and that I could consult any issue I wanted for...FREE!

To the left is the front cover of Le Chenil for the week of Nov. 18, 1886. It features an illustration of Marco the most famous of Boulet's dogs. The caption beneath the photo reads: Marco, French pointing griffon of the Boulet breed. 1st Prize, Paris 1882 with special mention, 1st Prize, Spa 1882, 1st Prize, Le Havre 1882, Prize of Honor, Paris 1886, Special Prize, Le Bronze d'Art for the handsomest French pointing dog of all classes, Paris 1886 (then Marco's registration numbers are given for various studbooks) Breeder and owner, M. Emmanuel Boulet from Elbeouf.

Needless to say, as soon as I found the site with all the issues, I spent 18 hours a day for weeks on end reading every single one of them. And the number of times Boulet and his dogs were mentioned..and in absolutely glowing terms... was unbelievable. Just about every single issue from about 1880 to 1900 had an article, ad, announcement about him or some sort of note regarding a placement of one of his dogs in a show or field trial.

But then it just sort of trails off. Eventually there is nothing.

As mentioned in the previous post, in the 1990s a guy in France tried to recreate/revive the breed but gave up after only a few years. Today, the closest thing to a Boulet Griffon is a non-pointing breed called the Barbet. You can see photos and read about the Barbet here.


Read more about the breed, and all the other pointing breeds from Continental Europe, in my book Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals

Breed of the Week: The Boulet Griffon

If one of the main functions of kennel clubs or registries is to preserve breeds of dogs, it is sadly ironic that the only thing left of the Boulet Griffon are the dusty remains of Marco, the first dog ever entered into the French stud book. His taxidermied body is stored, half-forgotten, at the Municipal Museum of Natural History in Elbeuf, France.

Marco, the first dog entered into the L.O.F (French Stud book)

Born into a wealthy family in 1840, Emmanuel Boulet founded a weaving business in Normandy. Like his contemporary, Eduard Korthals, Boulet had an enormous passion for outdoor sports and the breeding of gundogs. Unlike Korthals, he did not set out to create a new breed. Boulet wanted to save and improve upon an old breed that had almost disappeared, the Griffon d’arrêt Français à poil long (French Longhaired Pointing Griffon).

He started with several dogs purchased from a Mr. Govellain, who had kept a line of them for over 60 years. After a somewhat rocky start, Boulet eventually achieved a level of consistency in his dogs that was almost unheard of in the French pointing breeds. In terms of looks:

The Boulet Griffon has many of the same characteristics as the Korthals Griffon, the chief difference being that his coat is much longer and not so hard in texture. The coat is fairly long and semi-silky, without being glossy, flat rather than wavy, and never curly. Its color is that of a dead chestnut leaf or a dark coffee brown, with or without white; never black or yellow. (from The New Book of the Dog by Robert Leighton)

Illustration of Marco in better days

Boulet selected his dogs to be naturally close-working, but with excellent noses and a firm point. With help from his friend and professional trainer, Léon Verrier, his dogs became very successful in field trials and won countless awards in shows. The sporting press from the 1880s and ’90s, is filled with articles on the Boulet Griffon; lauding the master breeder’s genius and casting him as the saviour of the Continental pointing breeds. The publicity soon attracted the attention of some of the most powerful people in the world, including Nicholas, the Tsarevich (Grand Duke) of Russia, who traveled to Elbeuf while on a state visit to France just to meet Mr. Boulet and see his griffons. Even the president of France paid homage to the great breeder, presenting him with a national medal of honor for his work. Legend has it that in return, Boulet offered the president a sweater knit from the wool of his griffons.

Yet, despite the popularity of the Boulet Griffon and the fame and fortune of its founder, only a few short decades after Emmanuel Boulet died, the breed faded into oblivion. It is tempting to conclude that it was the founder’s death that led to the breed’s demise, but the truth of the matter is that Boulet himself abandoned it in 1890. In a letter published in the sporting press, Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels tells us why.

It was also Mr. Boulet, who ranked as the top griffon breeder in France, who recently picked out three young dogs...in the Ipenwoud (Korthals’) Kennels. This gentleman stated to me that he now wanted to breed this line pure and not cross it with his line...because his dogs are too long- and soft-haired as a result of crossbreeding and he wants only prickly-haired dogs.

After Boulet’s death in 1897, a few breeders attempted to continue his work but were unable to prevent the Boulet Griffon from eventually disappearing just after the Second World War. For many years the FCI continued to publish its standard, but in 1984 the breed was finally removed from the list of recognized breeds and its standard dropped. Several years later, a Frenchman by the name of Philippe Seguela began a breeding program aimed at recreating the Boulet Griffon. He managed to produce dogs that were apparently quite close to the original in terms of looks and performance. Unfortunately, he abandoned the project in the early 1990s.

For more information on Emmanuel Boulet and his dogs see Ria Hörther's excellent article (in Dutch) from her website.

UPDATE HERE: http://pointingdogblog.blogspot.ca/2011/06/more-on-boulet-griffon_29.html

Read more about the breed, and all the other pointing breeds from Continental Europe, in my book Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals

The Deutsch Drahthaar/German Wirehaired Pointer

A good friend of mine was born and raised in New Zealand. 
He moved to Canada more than two decades ago to pursue his life’s passion—falconry. He had flown his birds of prey over Springer Spaniels and German Shorthaired Pointers in his homeland, but when he moved to Manitoba he decided to go with another breed. He wanted a sturdy pointing dog able to handle the tough cover and harsh climate of central Canada. After weighing the pros and cons of several breeds, he chose the German Wirehaired Pointer.

He acquired two males and hunted with them for several years. Then he decided to add a female to his kennel. I was there when she arrived by plane from Germany. Despite having spent over 14 hours in a crate, the minute that pup was let out she jumped into her new owner’s arms, licked his cheek and then ran to a small pond on the other side of the yard. When she got there, without any hesitation, she dove in and gave chase to a family of ducks.

She was just four months old.

That young pup eventually grew up to be an absolutely superb gundog. That’s her in the photo above. To me, she will always represent the very essence of the German Wirehaired Pointer: a rough and tumble, intensely loyal, hard-working gundog. And the fact that a falconer from New Zealand living in Canada could get a pup from a breeder in Germany and have it start hunting the minute its feet hit the ground is testament to the incredible achievements of a small group of people who had the courage to follow a revolutionary idea nearly a century ago.

The story of the German Wirehaired Pointer begins around the turn of the 20th century as the early experimental period of dog breeding was coming to an end. By then, many breeds had been declared separate and distinct and their stud books closed to so-called foreign blood. Kennel clubs, registries and breeding associations were forming across Europe and breeders were lining up to earn blue ribbons in the show ring for “improving” their breed.

Increasingly, the trend among many breeders was to base their selection of breeding stock on two main criteria: appearance and pedigree. They believed that selecting the best looking animals and maintaining them within a closed registry was the most appropriate way to improve their dogs. But hunters soon discovered the fatal flaw in this way of thinking. They realized that selecting dogs based on appearance alone was futile. Unless a strict testing program was established to select dogs based on their inherited hunting abilities, there would be no way to make any progress. However, most breeders stopped short of actually challenging the closed stud book and the concept of pure breeding. They still believed that breeds should be kept separate and breeders should avoid “contaminating” their lines with outside blood.

The creators of the German Wirehaired Pointer held a different view. They believed that all rough-haired pointing breeds were members of the same family and that breeding among them should be allowed. They also believed they should be able to cross to an unrelated breed, the Deutsch Kurzhaar (German Shorthaired Pointer). Naturally, many members of the hunting dog establishment considered this attitude an affront to the sanctity of pure breeding. Yet, despite considerable risk to their reputations and fierce condemnation by their peers, supporters of the German Wirehaired Pointer stuck to their convictions.

Like other breeders of the time, they knew that the only way to breed better hunting dogs was to select breeding stock based on the dogs’ abilities, not their outward appearance. This is the essence of the famous saying “durch Leistung zum Typ”, which means “form follows function”. But unlike the others, these early visionaries went even further. They believed that everything follows function, even the most sacred tenant of them all: breed purity.

They argued that dividing the varieties of rough-haired dogs into supposedly pure, independent breeds was just “hair splitting”. They could see that it was leading to the splintering of forces at a time when everyone should be working together. So they decided to join forces and even came up with slogans to summarize their approach. They urged each other to “take the good where you find it” and to “breed as you like but be honest about it and let the results be your guide”. Even today, such ideas can cause a stir. But back then they must have seemed like heresy to members of the canine establishment.

In an effort to gain some insight into what it must have been like at the time, I asked a friend in Germany, Wilhelm Heinrich, a GWP owner with a keen interest in the history of the breed, to translate portions of club newsletters published by the Verein Deutsch Drahthaar and to offer me his thoughts 
on the early years of the breed. 

"When the VDD was founded, most of the members were renegades from the Pudelpointer club that was founded in 1897. The most important of them was Alexander Lauffs, the VDD president from 1902 to 1934. He was obviously an impressive personality and very influential in many aspects, particularly in the selection of his comrades-in-arms for his cause. Another important founding member, Mr. Berkhan, was also a Pudelpointer renegade. In 1927, when looking back on the wild days of breeding around 1900 and on the battles since then, he wrote in the Drahthaar club newsletter No.5, May, 1927:

I was still convinced that for breeding Pudelpointers I would 
need one Pointer and one Poodle. I finally succeeded in acquiring a splendid pair of Poodles. Even the renowned cynologist, 
Dr. Steffens-Lollar, agreed, upon presenting him my Poodle, Rappo, in the hunting field, that one would hardly find a better Poodle for breeding. Rappo was bred to some beautiful and talented purebred Pointer bitches. The offspring were, of course, not half bad, but not quite phenomenal. According to Oberländer and Hegewald, this crossing should have been superior to everything else bred at that time. So, was the conclusion, that for a good versatile dog the mixture of Poodle and Pointer alone was insufficient, not a natural one, and that a third blood, namely that of the Deutsch Kurzhaar [GSP] would be useful, if not essential for that purpose? I first spoke out about this opinion in [the sporting magazine] Hundezucht und Sport. I received countless approvals, eminent breeders such as Hass-Birkbusch and Lauffs-Unkel agreed, and from this idea the VDD was soon founded.”

In the early years, GWP breeders mainly used Stichelhaars and Pudelpointers in their programs. Griffons were also used, but less frequently. Soon crosses to German Shorthaired Pointers were undertaken, as well. This led to some difficulties in breeding a proper wire-haired coat, but rapid progress was made in terms of field ability. In 1904, perhaps reflecting the patriotism of the club members, the Verein Drahthaar (Wirehaired Club) was renamed Verein Deutsch Drahthaar (German Wirehaired Club). After all, Germany had developed its own long-haired pointer and its own short-haired pointer, so the VDD’s mission was to give Germany its own national wire-haired pointer. At first, the new club grew slowly. At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, there were only a few dozen members and a total of 56 entries in the club’s stud book. After the war the club saw phenomenal growth. In 1921, the VDD passed the 1,000-member mark. By 1926, German Wirehaired Pointers had become so popular that they made up nearly half of all dogs in the German versatile dog registry. In 1928 the breed was finally recognized by the Delegate Commission and, by the middle of the 1930s, it had almost achieved the status of Germany’s national dog. In the difficult years that followed, the German Wirehaired Pointer, like all other German breeds, suffered tremendously. After the war, the breed stock was strongly diminished. For example, my mother gave away our dog in late 1945 because there was not enough food—they had not enough for my three little brothers. However, the first post-war meeting of the VDD took place in 1947. In 1949 Germany was divided, but the VDD still remained as one club because the borders were open. It is said that breeding during the first years after WWII was quite chaotic, and that they used almost everything that had a tail. In fact, Weimaraners were used, as well as German Longhaired Pointers and German Shorthaired Pointers. Breeders after WWII were also faced with a difficult problem. They were allowed to breed dogs, but they were not allowed to have guns. These regulations only remained in place for a few years in the West, but for over decade in the East. So in an East German hunting magazine from 1956 it was noted that the Eastern dogs were quite good, but that they were not used to the sound of gunfire!

The first Hegewald test after the war took place in 1949. Eighty-three German Wirehaired Pointers were entered. In 1954, 200 GWPs were nominated for the Hegewald in Giessen. The last Hegewald test with combined Western and Eastern groups was in 1959. After that, East German hunters were not allowed [by their government] to attend. In 1961 the wall was built, and because of the Cold War, all contact was cut. It was not reestablished until 1989. In 1992 the Eastern and Western clubs were reunited."

Only a few German Wirehaired Pointers were exported prior to the Second World War, but in the 1950s good numbers of them made their way to the US and other European countries. In 1959, the German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America was formed and the breed was recognized by the AKC. Through the 1960s and ‘70s, the breed’s popularity grew steadily in North America. In 1971, Group North America, a chapter of the German club, was formed in the US. Members of the club test and bred their dogs according to the regulations set out by the VDD, the parent club in Germany. In 1974 a similar group in Canada was formed but did not become an affiliated chapter of the VDD until 1984.

Today it is clear that the goals of the breed’s founders have been achieved and their approach to breeding, so hotly contested in the early years, completely validated. The GWP is among the most successful pointing breeds on the planet. Few can rival its versatility, none come close to its popularity in Germany, and it is gaining supporters around the world every year.






Read more about the breed, and all the other pointing breeds from Continental Europe, in my book Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals

We have a WINNER!!

Thanks to everyone who sent in their guess for the mystery Breed of the Week! Souris has chosen the winner from among all the entrants who correctly identified the...

DEUTSCH DRAHTHAAR!!!

Here is how the winner was determined: I wrote the names of all the qualifying contestants onto small individual wooden blocks. I then sprinkled the blocks out across the lawn and sent each of my three dogs to choose a block, one at a time. As mentioned in the contest details, the winner would be the THIRD block retrieved.

 
FIRST BLOCK
3 year old Henri the Weimaraner was sent for block # 1 and chose....

Brett Harrington! Congratulations Brett, you've won a consolation prize: a signed 9x12 inch original photographic print of your continental pointing breed of choice! Just drop me a line with the breed you'd like to see. 

SECOND BLOCK
Uma the Pont-Audemer Spaniel was sent for block number 2 and chose...

 

Danielle Boutry! You've won a consolation prize: a signed 20x24 inch original photographic print of the image to the right: Uma retrieving a ruffed grouse! (Félicitations Danielle, tu as gagné un prix de consolation: un tirage photographique (60x50 cm) de l'image a droit: Uma avec une gélinotte huppée!)

  







THIRD BLOCK....THE WINNER
Souris our wise old lady Weimaraner was sent for block number 3 and chose...

CALVIN HARPE!

Congratulations Calvin, you've won a signed copy of Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals! Just drop me a line with your mailing address and I will sign it, wrap it up and trust it to the friendly hands of the USPS! 

And thanks again to everyone who entered the contest! Stay tuned for our Breed of the Week feature on the Deutsch Drahthaar (aka German Wirehaired Pointer) to be posted tomorrow.

WIN A BOOK!!!

OK folks, put on your thinking caps. I will be asking a trivia question about the next breed to be featured as the Breed of the Week. If you answer it correctly, you could win a copy of Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals!

GUESS THE BREED:

Over the last four weeks, I've featured four different breeds; three are from Germany and one is (sort of) French. In the early 1900s a group of forward-thinking - some called them radical or even heretical - hunters in Germany combined all four breeds in an effort to come up with something greater than the sum of its parts.

That they succeeded is clear. The breed is now the number one pointing breed in Germany and very popular with hunters around the world. 

What is the German name of the breed?

Send your answer and your name to dogwillingpublications@gmail.com The name of each person who correctly guesses the breed will be written onto a block of wood. Then the blocks will be spread around the yard and my dog Souris will be sent to retrieve them in any order she chooses. The name on the THIRD dummy she brings back will be our winner!!

The contest closes at midnight tonight (North American central time), June 20, 2011. Souris will perform the wood-block-fetch-draw tomorrow at 9 am. The winner will be announced on this blog shortly thereafter.

Souris fetching a ruffed grouse. Photo: Dustin Leader

Lemons into Lemonade

Canada Post is on strike. 

So what does that mean to a book seller who relies entirely on the good men and women at the post office to deliver the mail? It could mean "I'm screwed". Or it could mean that I should just walk around all day mumbling "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!!" waiting for the strike to end in a week or three.

Or I could follow the old addage: "When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade"

And that is exactly what I did yesterday. I hopped in my Honda Civic lemonade-maker and headed south. An hour later, I was in Pembina, North Dakota chatting with a happy-to-be-of-service US postal worker.

I've always known that US postal rates are lower than Canadian rates, but I was shocked to see by how much! When the friendly postman weighed one of my books and told me what it would cost for domestic and international shipping, my first thought was Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!

Not only are US rates cheaper...as in WAY cheaper... but the service is faster. In North America it is a day or three faster than Canada Post and for international service it is like comparing a rocket to a freaking donkey cart! Instead of 4 to 8 weeks for a book to ship to Europe, they usually get there in less than 10 days for the same price! 

So right there and then I made two decisions. 

1. I'm lowered my shipping charges on all North American orders. In fact, if you order two books to the same address in the US or Canada, the shipping charges are ZERO! For international orders, shipping fees will remain the same for now but all books will be sent by airmail instead of by surface mail, no more slow boat to China. 

2. I'm dumping Canada Post. Management and union haven't been able to work out a deal even though they have been at the bargaining table for nearly a year. Next week the government will step in to force them back to work. But it won't matter to me. I will be heading south every week with a trunk load of books to ship via USPS. And I am going to send a nice box of lemons to the fine folks at Canada Post. But I am pretty sure they will never make lemonade out of them since the fruit will probably just rot in a warehouse somewhere waiting for the next strike to come and go. 

Check out the Dog Willing website for new pricing and the special Buy 2 Ship 4 Free deal.