Bracco Italiano

The Bracco Italiano is an Italian pointing dog, the traditional pointer of the Italian peninsula.

History

Dogs that resemble the modern Bracco appear in paintings as early as the fourteenth century.

When the Kennel Club Italiano was set up in 1882, the first dog entered in its stud book was a Bracco Italiano. At that time there were two types: a larger, heavier dog called the bracco nobile or bracco di gran sangue, and a smaller, lighter one called the bracco comune or bracchetto. Ferdinando Delor wrote a standard for the larger type in the 1890s.

The national kennel club, by then renamed the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana (ENCI), approved a breed standard early in 1949. A breed society, the Società Amatori Bracco Italiano, was formed later the same year. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale gave the breed full acceptance in 1956.

Between 1970 and 2011 a total of 24,613 dogs were registered. From 2010 to 2018 about 700 were registered each year in Italy, and in every one of those years most were white and orange.

Appearance

The Bracco Italiano is roughly square in outline, almost as tall at the withers as its body is long. The head is large, with long ears and long upper lips that hang below the lower jaw.

Height at the withers runs from 55 to 67 cm (22 to 26 in). The preferred range is 58 to 67 cm for males and 55 to 62 cm for females. Weight goes with height, from about 25 to 40 kg (55 to 88 lb).

The coat is short and dense. The international standard allows white; white with patches of orange, dark amber or brown; and orange roan or liver roan. Any other color, including black or tricolor markings, disqualifies a dog. The ENCI sorts the dogs into just two colors, white and orange (bianco-arancio) and chestnut roan (roano-marrone).

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.