Pudelpointers.
Wirehairs
" In the 1992 August edition of Feild & Stream, I read about this
breed of hunting dog, the "Pudelpointer," which first came about by the
intentional cross of the Wasserpudel and the English Pointer. "
Here's some stuff that was discussed on the group a year or so ago regarding
pudelpointers (hopefully old Kevin won't mind...):
I don't own a pudelpointer, but a few years ago, before I got my spinone,
I was looking to buy one. I talked with several people about the breed
and got some literature (which I don't have with me today) about it. In
a nutshell: the pudelpointer is considered a continental or versatile
breed, it has a wiry outer coat and a wooly undercoat, much like the
spinone, or German wirehair. The man credited with introducing the breed
to North America is S."Bodo" Winterhelt, who brought the breed with him
when he came to Canada after WWII (he now lives in Quartz Hill,
California). Bodo is also the founder of NAVHDA, the North American
Versatile Hunting Dog Assn. In the late 19th century the Germans were
experimenting with the creation of an all-around hunting dog to be used
by the average Joe on all kinds of game and small pieces of land. The
GSP, GWP, Weimaraner and wirehaired pointing griffon (yes it's French,
but its roots are in Germany) were some fruits of their labors. The
pudelpointer was another. Breeders saw the value in the biddability,
love of water, and protective coat the pudel (poodle) had but needed to
add something to it. The poodle, BTW, was an excellent water dog used
for all sorts of things including waterfowling. It also proved to be a
capable retriever. The Germans chose to add blood from a couple of other
breeds, the stichelhaar (a roughcoated pointing dog with tremendous drive
and stamina) and the English pointer (for the scenting ability and
athleticism, as the Germans say "die hohe nase"). They didn't have to
use much stichelhaar blood, nor, as it turns out, did the use much poodle
blood to get what they wanted. The poodle blood proved to be so strong
that only around 8-10% of it ended up in the breed (I'm guessing, but by
far the largest percentage was the pointer blood). You now have a bird
dog which looks very similar to the GWP and hunts in a similar manner.
The biggest problem I ran into, which is why I didn't get one, is
availability (so how'd I end up with a spinone?). Seems like most of the
breeders are west, Montana, Wyoming, and California. Sending a note to
NAVHDA requesting breeder information is a good way to find out more
information and I'm sure someone here has the address to NAVHDA
headquarters in Illinois.
Kevin McGrew
Duluth, Minnesota
The September/October 1994 issue of The Pointing Dog Journal has an article
about the pudelpointer. Its written by Bodo Winterhelt and describes how
he brought pudelpointers to North America and established the breed. My
limited experience with the breed inclues a morning I spent visiting a
training session near Los Angles. This session had 3 or 4 pudelpointers
and a couple of German shorthaired pointers. The training group is the
NAVHDA chapter that Bodo trains with. Based on this small sample, I can
say I was impressed. I have a German shorthaired pointer and train with a
group that owns and trains German shortaired pointers, German wirehaired
pointers, brittanys, small musterlanders, vizslas, and spinones. I
understand Bodo is always eager to talk about dogs. Give him a call and
talk directly to Mr. Pudelpointer himself! His phone number is (805)
943-4868.
- Ken
Last night I looked for the brochure I got from Bodo Winterhelt regarding
his kennel (Winterhelle Kennels) and the breed. He also sent me a letter,
dated Aug 21, 1992 which said, at that time, there were only five breeders
in North America, most being in the west or midwest. The going rate for an
8-10 week-old pup was $600 plus shipping costs. Here are two addresses for
you: Sigbot Winterhelt, Winterhelle Kennels, 4039 West Avenue N-3, Quartz
Hill, California 93551-1818 and Andy Hewett, 6541 North Sherman, Fresno,
California 93710. Here are a few things mentioned in the brochure about
the breed. "The first cross of the Pudel (poodle) and the English pointer
took place in Germany in 1881. The sire was Tell, an English pointer
belonging to Kaiser Frederick III and the poodle bitch Molly, owned by
Hegewald, the pen name for Baron von Zedlitz. The idea behind this
breeding was to combine the outstanding natural working abilities of these
two great specialists in one dog: the intelligence, water love, retrieving
instinct, easy trainability and willingness to please, wrapped into the
protective coat of the poodle with the unending desire to hunt, birdiness,
pointing instinct, field nose and endurance of the pointer. Since the
poodle proved to be the stronger breed in passing on its genes, in work and
type many more pointers were introduced into the breeding program to arrive
at the breed we have today. During the first 30 years of breeding only 11
poodles were used against well over 80 pointers.
To our (Winterhelt's) knowledge we imported the first pudelpointer to
North America n 1956. For this importation she was bred in Germany
but upon arrival failed to produce a litter. A male was then imported,
but he did not sire a quality litter. With the permission of the German
Pudelpointer Club we used an English pointer of excellent shooting dog
caliber. This breeding produced an outstanding litter. One of these,
Winterhelle Komet, became the foundation of our Kennel and virtually of
all successful pudelpointers in North America. The dog
is medium-sized, between 22 and 25 inches tall at the shoulder and weighs
anywhere from 45 to 70 lbs; always solid in color, mostly brown from dark
chocolate to liver brown, a few individuals are black (white markings on
chest and paws is permitted)." You might also want to write NAVHDA, P.O.
Box 520, Arlington Hts, IL 60006 as this is where most of the
pudelpointers will be registered. You can also request test results of
all pudelpointers tested in NAVHDA from this address.
Hope this helps.
Kevin in Duluth, MN
Personally, I think the pudelpointer is an interesting breed, but beware
that, due to the small gene pool, you have to shop around (much like the
pointing wirehaired griffon, IMHO). The real proof in the pudding is that
pudelpointers are the breed with the 2nd highest passing rate in the NAVHDA
natural ability test (only munsterlanders are higher). Oh, and CHD is a
big problem with the breed, so make sure and check hips (I'd PennHip a pup
early if I was you). If you decide you are *really* serious in this breed,
let me know, and I'll look up pudelpointer breeders in my NAVHDA test
results and send you names and numbers.
Cheers,
Andre