The Braque Dupuy

The origins of the Braque Dupuy have been the subject of speculation since it first appeared on the French gundog scene in the mid-1800s. No one knows exactly how the breed came to be, but it was probably created by hunters who bred sight hounds to French braques.

The first such crosses are said to have occurred in 1808 at the kennels of Omer and Narcisse Dupuy, hunters in the Poitou region of France. Apparently the Dupuys were impressed by the hunting skills of a sighthound named Rémus belonging to one of their friends. They were also frustrated with their own braques. They found them to be too heavy and close-working. So, in an effort to develop a dog with the speed of a sight hound and the firm point of a braque, the Dupuy brothers bred Rémus to two of their bitches. Three pups from the first two litters were kept and then bred back to their best braques. That second cross produced a dog with all the qualities they were seeking. They named him Rémus in honor of his grandsire, and bred him to a female braque named Léda. Pups from that breeding were the first to be considered true Braques Dupuy.

The breed struggled to gain acceptance in its early days, and by about 1850 was in serious trouble. But a man named Gaston Hublot is credited with reconstructing it and even wrote a book about the breed, Le Chien Dupuy, in 1899. In terms of appearance they resembled sight hounds more than braques. They were very tall and had a short white and liver coat. Some may have had black and white coats.

The Dupuy Pointer is a big upstanding dog with considerable elegance in his movements. The head is narrow and long. Occipital bone prominent, muzzle long, lean and slightly arched. Eyes golden brown in color with a rather melancholy expression. … Stern [tail] long, set low and carried like a greyhound’s tail.

In terms of hunting style there seems to be a difference of opinion. Some authors describe the Dupuy as a fast dog that excelled at hunting on the plains. Others write that it was more of a trotter. In a letter published in Le Chenil in June of 1887, a Mr. O. Pineau, who had been around Braques Dupuy for most of his life, explained that it may have been a bit of both.

The Dupuy has a lot of drive; when young and rested it searches at a gallop; if it is affected by age or fatigue, its pace is a fast trot. In action, it holds the head high, into the wind, but when a partridge runs, it follows all the twists and turns of its trail, sometimes putting its nose where the game placed its feet. The Dupuy retrieves quail or partridge naturally when he has seen other dogs do it. But the use of the force collar is often necessary to make it retrieve a hare that it finds a bit heavy, or strong smelling waterfowl that it is not used to.

In another account, the breed is described as being similar to the English Pointer.

The Braque Dupuy is very much like the English Pointer in build, but his head is squarer, and he is stouter on his pins [legs]. He is a moderately fast ranger, and a clever finder of game, very stanch and steady. When brought-up to it he does not mind rough work, but few of them go well to water. They are dashing workers, and are very greatly prized. I have seen a brace that would come to their points at awful distances, by a tropical heat; hence, for the hot departments of France they are admirably suited. (Walter Esplin Mason, Dogs of All Nations, 48)

After the First World War, the Braque Dupuy went into a steep decline, and had all but disappeared by the 1950s. In 1960, Jean Castaing wrote:

If, here and there, we see, very rarely, a dog called a Braque Dupuy, it is most often a bastard of unknown origins whose sighthound look is more or less of the Dupuy type. I do not believe that there is an organized breeding program even though breeders try from time to time to reconstitute this artificial dog that had its moment of glory mainly due to a desire to create a French version of the [English] Pointer.

My friend Christophe Oriou, an avid hunter and field trial enthusiast, lived in the Poitou region in the 1990s. While there, he did some research into the breed.

I discovered that the last Dupuy with a real pedigree belonged to Mr. Charpentier, a dentist in the village of St. Jean de Sauves. His wife showed me some color photographs of the dog—it had died in 1964. It was very moving to realize that I was looking at the very last Braque Dupuy. After him, the breed disappeared without a trace!

Strangely, despite that fact that no one has actually bred a Braque Dupuy in over half a century, the FCI continues to publish the breed’s official standard and still lists it in Group 7 for pointing dogs. There are even people in Europe qualified to judge the breed—even though they have never seen a Braque Dupuy! But there is a logical explanation for this seemingly bizarre situation. It was Michel Comte, the father of the modern Braque du Bourbonnais, who explained it to me.

Under certain circumstances, a breed that is thought to be extinct can still be listed. It is a way of “keeping the porch light on”. In other words, if someone decides to revive the breed from whatever remnants can be found, there will still be an official standard to use as a guide and there will be judges ready to evaluate the dogs. In fact, if it were not for this peculiar policy of the SCC, the Braque du Bourbonnais would have never been recreated. 

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

One of the more interesting things I discovered when I was researching the various French breeds of pointing dogs for my book was how much information there is to be found on them in the old English sporting press from the mid to late 1800s. In fact, for some breeds, there is more information in English than in French.

And now that I am writing my second book, this time on the British and Irish breeds, I am re-reading many of the same old books, but with an eye for references to Setters and Pointers. Unfortunately, even though the stories themselves are fascinating, a lot of them were written by unbelievably arrogant English snobs who regarded France as a third world country and its inhabitants as illiterate heathens. A few of them are so over the top, they sound like Donald Trump talking about Mexicans.

Anyway, here is a short passage from a book called "The sportsman in France : comprising a sporting ramble through Picardy and Normandy, and boar shooting in Lower Brittany" written in 1841. It is about how the author found and purchased a well bred-setter near Abbeville, France.

"It came to pass, that, being at Abbeville, in 1829, 1 was induced to shoot my way to Amiens, via the marshes on the banks of the Somme. On my return, and when about half way from home, my attention was attracted to a dog in the swamp, which was beating and quartering his ground in a very superior manner : the style of going, the pace, the action, and that indescribable dashing and swinging of the stern, which betrays high breeding, were so unusual in that part of the world, that I was induced to approach the chasseur, whom, to my astonishment, I found to be a Frenchman.

After the interchange of as many bows as would suffice for an Englishman during the term of his natural life, I ventured to observe, " that he had a nice dog with him." He answered me by stating that it was a '' sacre chienne Anglaise,'' and of the '' veritable race," but that she would not remain close to him, and always beat her ground at too great a distance to suit him.

I then inquired where he picked up the dog. He told me candidly, that he believed the mother to have been stolen, as she had strayed from the servant of an English gentleman, on the road from Boulogne ; that she was in pup at the time ; and that the animal before me was one of the litter. "

I've embedded the book below. But be forewarned; there are some passages that may make you want to say the following to the author:

Click on the right or left to leaf through the pages or on the link to read the book at archive.org

Modder Rhu

My first book, Pointing Dogs ,Volume One: the Continentals took twelve years to write, mainly because I’m a slow and sometimes lazy writer. But I also had to travel a heck of a lot to photograph all the continental breeds in their native lands and find and interview experts in each breed. So that meant saving my pennies and holidays to spend on airline tickets, rental cars, hotels, meals and wine. And beer, which we discovered is a breakfast beverage in the Czech Republic. But I digress….

 I am now well into year three of writing Pointing Dogs, Volume Two: The British and Irish Breeds and I am really hoping to wrap it up in half the time it took me to complete Volume One, by the summer of 2017. So over the next couple of years, I will be booking flights, cars, hotels and tables for two at wine bars in North America, England, Ireland, Scotland and various countries in Europe as Lisa and I travel to photograph Pointers and Setters and interview breeders and breed experts from around the world.

And, as luck would have it, we can also find awesome dogs close to home. Not only do some of the biggest names in horse-back field trialing come to Manitoba every year to train and run dogs on the prairies, there are also people living right near us with awesome dogs. Check out these Irish and English Setters owned by Graham Crawford a hunter, field trialer and talented trainer of gundogs. We photographed them the other night less than an hour from our front door!

Modder Rhu by Craig Koshyk on Exposure

Say Au Revoir to Language Barriers!

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, 

despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, 

many foreign people still speak in foreign languages. 

‒Dave Barry

I recently set up a Facebook group to help hunters outside of France find out more about the French pointing breeds. And that means there may be a language barrier between members that don't speak each other's language. Fortunately, there are some great tools available to help us overcome language barriers online.

Un homme qui parle trois langues est trilingue. Un homme qui parle deux langues est bilingue. Un homme qui ne parle qu'une langue est anglais. - Claude Gagnière

1. Use Facebook's 'translate' option. At the bottom of a post or comment, look for a blue 'see translation' link. When you click it, the post or comment is automatically translated. Keep in mind that the translation is computer generated so may only give you the overall gist, but it's better than nothing. If the 'see translation' link is missing, don't worry. For some reason, Facebook drops the service from time to time. One day it's there, the next it's not.

Quand on voyage sans connaître l'anglais, on a l'impression d'être sourd-muet et idiot de naissance. - Philippe Bouvard

2. Use Google translate. Here's how: 1. Copy the text of the post or comment. 2. Visit the Google Translate page 3. At the top of the page, choose the languages to translate between. If you aren't sure what language you want to use, click Detect language. 4. Paste the text and Google will automatically translate it for you.

Not only does the English Language borrow words  from other languages,it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets. - Eddy Peters

3. Install a translation plugin or app. Browsers like Chrome, Firefox and others offer plugins or apps that translate facebook posts and comments. I've never used one, but I've heard good things about this one and this one.

The limits of my language are the limits of my world. ‒Ludwig Wittgenstein

4.  Learn! It's never too late to learn another language. I was a unilingual anglophone until my mid 20s. Now I also speak French and Italian and can read Spanish, Portuguese and (if I've had enough schnapps) a bit of German. So don't look at posts or comments in other languages as obstacles, think of them as opportunities to learn a new word or two.

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. ‒Rita Mae Brown

In upcoming posts, I will take a look at some French words that non-French speakers who are interested in pointing dogs should learn. In the meantime, here is a post I wrote a while back about the the word "Braque".



Enjoy my blog posts? Check out my book Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals

French Pointing Breeds in North America and Beyond

Did you know that France has produced the largest number and widest variety of pointing dog breeds? It's true. French hunters developed close to twenty different pointing breeds, and while some of them went extinct or never really got off the drawing board, 12 of them are still with us today.

Yet despite the large number of breeds created by French hunters, only two became well known outside of France. The Épagneul Breton (Brittany) is one of the most popular pointing breeds in the world, and the Korthals Griffon (wirehaired pointing griffon), is popular in some areas of North America and Europe.

Some of the other French pointing breeds have gained small but loyal followings outside of France. The Épagneul Français (French Spaniel) for example is relatively popular in Québec. There is an official breed club there and a small but dynamic group of enthusiasts have been producing solid hunting dogs, and achieving excellent results in hunt tests since the late 1970s. The Braque du Burbonnais has also been in North American for several decades and there is now a club for the breed.

But some breeds remain almost completely unknown outside of France. And that is a shame. I believe that the French produce some of the very best pointing dogs in the world and that dogs from their native breeds would be perfect matches for a lot of North American hunters. So in order to get the word out and help North Americans and others find out more about the French pointing breeds, I set up a Facebook group called French Pointing Breeds in North America and Beyond.

The group's goals are:

• To engage in an open, honest, and respectful exchange of information, expertise and resources.
• To promote the French pointing breeds as versatile, upland hunting dogs in North America and beyond. 
• To assist hunters seeking a hunting companion from one of the French pointing breeds find well-bred pups from proven stock.
• To provide information about the French pointing breeds, their history, clubs, current situations, availability etc.
• To facilitate the exchange of information between breeders, club members and hunters with French pointing breeds in France and North America...and beyond!

The French pointing breeds are:
Épagneul Breton (French Brittany)
Épagneul Picard (Picardy Spaniel)
Épagneul bleu de Picardie (Blue Picardy Spaniel)
Épagneul de Pont-Audemer (Pont Audemer Spaniel)
Épagneul Français (French Spaniel)
Épagneul de Saint Usuge (Saint Usuge Spaniel)

Braque d'Auvergne
Braque Francais (Gascony type and Pyrenees type)
Braque du Burbonnais
Braque Saint Germain
Braque de l'Ariege

Griffon Korthals (Wirehaired Pointing Griffon)

Extinct French pointing breeds and/or breeds that never really got off the ground:
Griffon Boulet (Boulet Griffon)
Griffon Guerlain (Guerlain Griffon)
Braque Dupuy
Épagneul de Larzac
Braque de Mirepoix
Braque Charles X

Notes: Posts to the group may be made in English or in French. Translation services beyond those offered by Google and Facebook are available upon request.

South Dakota Dogs!

A few weeks before my birthday, my wife asked me how I would like to celebrate it. We could have a big party at home, or we could travel to South Dakota to hang around with great people and great dogs. I chose the latter. Because I am a dog nut.

Midwest Tristate NAVHDA by Craig Koshyk on Exposure