Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. Nikki Moustaki

best of conformation WPGs have a “shaggy” look.

      According to the American Kennel Club standard, the coat should be “steel gray with brown markings, frequently chestnut brown, or roan, white and brown; white and orange also acceptable. A uniformly brown coat, all white coat, or white and oranges are less desirable. A black coat disqualifies.” The coat takes two to three years to fully develop. In a show dog, the nose should always be brown but sometimes occurs in pink as a deviation.

       Ready for the hunt, the Griff is an all-weather, all-terrain, “do-it-all” companion in the field.

      The tail is docked to protect it during hunting. It’s docked by one-third to one-half, still allowing the dog ample length to communicate with his tail. The breed’s natural tail is thin and sparsely coated, and can be easily injured in the field or home if undocked. In Holland and Belgium, a Griff in the ring cannot have a docked tail; the French are scheduled to adopt this no-docking law in 2008. The reason is humane. The French have already changed the standard for the tail by adding one sentence about its appearance. In many countries in Europe, it’s forbidden to cut the tail of any dog.

      The ears are natural (untrained and uncut) and flap over the ear openings to protect the ears from injury while the dog is on hunt through tall brush. The hair inside the ears must be plucked regularly to prevent infection. Dogs that swim are particularly susceptible to this problem.

       THE AGE OF ROBO-DOG

      Studies at the Center for the Human-Animal Bond show that children who interact with pets benefit physiologically, socially and educationally. Dogs, in particular, increase children’s learning capacities and expand their abilities to function in social situations. Families with young children commonly add a canine to their homes.

      Enter Robo-dog. Efforts to create a robotic canine companion are fast underway, and there have been some interesting results. It is the hope of scientists that the interaction between children and robotic dogs will shed light on the physical, mental, moral and social concepts of such relationships. Robotic dogs offer some advantages over real dogs—they don’t require food or water and never have accidents indoors. Even so, Robo-dogs will never take the place of real dogs—even George Jetson’s futuristic family included Astro, a real-live dog! It is curious that 21st-century humans would invest so much money and energy into inventing robots to do for us what dogs have been doing for centuries for nothing more than a pat on the head and a bowl of food.

      How the Griff moves is of particular importance as well. The WPG is expected to cover ground tirelessly at medium speed and have perfect coordination between front and rear legs. According to the French working standard for the breed, “The general running style of the Griffon is that of a galloper, with a slight rocking movement from front to rear around the center of gravity. The feline pace, supple and skimming gallop is characteristic.”

      One distinguishing Griff characteristic is his bushy beard and the ability of the dog to soak up what seems like an entire bowlful of water into his beard and then slop it around the house and on every human leg he comes in contact with. Where there are thirsty Griffs, there are puddles of water.

       TEMPERAMENT AND PERSONALITY

      Goofy, funny, serious, aloof, driven, energetic, passionate, faithful—all of these words describe the Griff. As with any breed, personality and temperament vary with the individual, but one thing is for certain—WPGs are people-oriented dogs, easy to live with and as comfortable in a home setting as they are in the field. Many people who are used to more “hyper” breeds are pleased with the Griff’s ability to “settle” once inside the home. This isn’t a bounce-off-the-wall breed, though a WPG that doesn’t get enough exercise or attention can certainly do some damage to a home in an effort to entertain himself or burn off some excess energy.

      On the hunt, the Griff is a “team player,” keeping track of his human companion. It’s a close working breed, much different from some of the other pointers. They tend to “check in” with their humans during a hunt and range according to the type of cover—farther in lower brush, closer in dense or taller brush. Some individuals can be “run-off” dogs, but that isn’t the norm.

      The WPG is known to be great with children and is generally happy to meet guests. Individuals can be bouncy when excited but if trained correctly will calm down easily. They make good sentries but aren’t great guard dogs in general; they may be more interested to see if an intruder has a treat than protect the house from him. However, some individuals can be quite possessive and will not allow intruders to cross their boundaries, protecting what’s theirs. They have a high tolerance for human activities, which makes them easy to keep. They will perform in the show ring on Monday, hunt on Tuesday and play ball all day with the kids on Wednesday.

       A close and lasting bond is the goal of proper, early socialization with children. There are many wonderful fishing days ahead for these best friends.

      Children should be taught to respect the Griff. The dog will tolerate a little tail-pulling and beard-grabbing from a small child, but he shouldn’t have to. In general, the breed is known as a good family dog, gentle and protective, but he has his limits. Most breeders prefer to place their pups with families who have kids of six years of age or older. The kids in the family should never have the sole responsibility for the dog.

      Most of these dogs are very friendly, but some individuals do remain aloof. Often, this is an attraction point for owners. Instead of having a waggy, exuberant dog knocking things over in the house, they prefer a more laid-back individual, which can be found in this breed.

      Puppies learn very quickly and will point as early as seven weeks old, though some individuals don’t learn the finer skills of hunting until they are older. Many owners profess that these dogs do not even need to be trained to hunt—they do it naturally. All dogs in the Sporting Group have basic hunting instincts. However, some methods of hunting need training, and the Griff is an eager student. Because of his intelligence, the Griff can be much harder to train at the highest level. If you push too hard, you break the dog, and if you don’t push hard enough, the dog won’t perform. You have to be a very apt, smart trainer to work with a WPG. This is not a dog for a novice.

      Even though the WPG is a hunting dog, he doesn’t do well with kennel life. He prefers to be a house dog, living in close contact with his family. A Griff left in a kennel will pine for his favorite humans and may develop some nasty behavior issues. This dog also definitely needs a fenced yard where he can run, but not run away—he loves his humans, but he loves to run and hunt too.

      Introducing a WPG pup to other animals in the house should be done as early as possible. The Griff has a strong prey drive, and an older dog that has not been socialized to cats and other swift-moving animals might hunt them and even kill them if you’re not there to intervene. Further, never trust a Griff around pet birds, hamsters and the like. Neighborhood cats and passing squirrels will definitely not be tolerated in the yard. While on the topic of animals to avoid, the Griff’s prey drive is so powerful that he won’t be deterred by a skunk or a porcupine, should he happen to run across one. You may find yourself having to “de-skunk” your dog or spend time pulling lots of quills out of his face.

       TRAINABILITY

      The WPG is a member of the American Kennel Club’s Sporting Group and the United Kennel Club’s Gundog Group. He loves to please his owner, as most sporting dogs do. He excels at obedience, agility, search and rescue and, of course, hunting. These dogs can learn to hunt just about any game, though they were bred to hunt upland fowl. Griffs will pursue boar and stag, will hunt with falcons and will track blood, as is common in Germany, and can even be trained to hunt bear. The keen senses of these dogs allow them to track, retrieve, hunt with humans on horseback and