Braque du Bourbonnais

The Braque du Bourbonnais is a French gundog, a pointer with a finely ticked coat that is sometimes born with a short tail or with no tail at all. It was once known simply as the “short-tail pointer”.

History

After World War II fewer and fewer puppies were born, and the breed club grew less active until it stopped working altogether. Between 1963 and 1973 not a single dog was entered in the French studbook. The likely cause was that breeders had been selecting for secondary features, the coat color and the short tail, rather than for hunting ability and sound build, which left the Bourbonnais a weaker hunting dog than its rivals.

In 1970 Michel Comte set out to find the last dogs with Bourbonnais blood. He found only mixed-breed dogs that showed some of the breed’s features: the size, the shape of the head, the short tail. After several more or less inbred litters he registered his first Bourbonnais in the French studbook in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Other breeders joined him and built their own lines from those dogs, and the number of births rose.

The Club du Braque du Bourbonnais was founded again in 1981, with Comte as president until 2001. Success in field trials then helped the breed grow. The first Bourbonnais reached the United States in 1988, and that country has since become the second-largest producer of the breed after France.

Appearance

The head is rounded in every direction, with the lines of the skull and muzzle parallel or diverging slightly toward the front. Males stand 51–57 cm (20–22 in) and females 48–55 cm (19–22 in); females are generally lighter, more elegant and longer in the body than males.

The coat is short and fine, often a little longer and coarser over the back. It comes in two colors that have their own names in this breed: liver, also called “wine dregs” or “faded lilac”, and fawn, also called “peach blossom”. Larger patches are tolerated on the body as long as none is bigger than the palm of a hand, and on the head both eyes must not sit inside the same patch.

The short tail or absent tail seen in some puppies is caused by the same gene as in the Brittany, and it is inherited as a dominant trait.

Temperament

The Bourbonnais is good-tempered, loyal to its family and happiest at its owner’s side. In the field it is attentive and driven, so it combines an affectionate house dog with a hard-working hunter. It is very active, though it does not range far. Its natural pace is a gallop, slowing to a trot in cover, and it can change direction quickly. On game it is expected to point firmly, in the classic position.

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