French Wirehaired Griffon

French Wirehaired Griffon

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The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a rough-coated, strong and graceful, medium-sized hunting dog. It has a large, long head, square muzzle, and soft, thick, bushy eyebrows, beard and mustache.

Although notations to Griffon history can be found which date back to 1545, development of the current day Wirehaired Pointing Griffon began in earnest in the Netherlands in 1873 by a young Dutch sportsman and avid hunter by the name of Eduard Karel Korthals (1851-1896). The son of a wealthy banker and cattle breeder in Schooten (near Haarlem, in The Netherlands), Korthals endeavored to create what he considered the ultimate walking hunter’s gun dog. 

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, or “Korthals’ Griffon” as it was then known, remains so named in many other parts of the world today. The Griff was developed as a hardy, all-terrain close-working hunting dog, working in the polders; the marshy low-lying ground of the Netherlands. 

Very little, if anything, has changed in the purebred Griffon since Dr. E.B. Ilyus, the first secretary of the G.C.A. wrote in 1917; “The chief characteristics in which the griffon excels, and is superior over setters and pointers, are his ready adaptability to all species of game, all climates, and all varieties of terrain, his exquisite nose, wonderful vitality and endurance, and the pronounced instinct which makes him the easiest of all dogs to train on game. As a retriever he has, in my opinion, no superior, and being very intelligent and affectionate, he makes an ideal man’s companion.”

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon was developed in the period between 1870 and 1873 by the Dutch breeder named “E. K. Korthals” through mixing German Griffons with French and German Pointers, Spaniels, Barbets and a Setter. The result of his breeding program was an enthusiastic hunting dog with a fine nose especially good for small game such as hare and quail. The Griffon Club of America was formed in 1916 and that same year, 16 Griffons were shown at the big Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. 

In the 1980′s a few breeders elected to import Cesky Fousek dogs and breed them into the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon lines. Disagreements over this practice resulted in a rift among breeders and the subsequent formation of the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association to preserve the purity of the original breed. That organization is now the AKC parent club for the breed. The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is fairly rare; about 75-150 puppies are produced in the USA each year.

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