2d • Breed of the Week
Korthals Griffon
The Korthals Griffon is also known as a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon go back as far as 1545 but were made popular by a Dutchman named Eduard Karel Korthals. He wanted to create the ultimate hunting dog. In 1917 a gentleman by the name of Dr. E.B. Ilyus said this about the breed: “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 name “Griffon” was used by King Henry IV of France to describe his wirehaired dog in 1596 then in 1683 a J.E. de Selincourt divided pointing dogs into three groups: the Bracque (shorthaired), Spaniel and Griffon (wirehaired). When the middle of the 19th century rolled around there were a few varieties of wirehaired dogs. It wasn’t until 1873 that our friend Eduard Karel Korthals bought four griffon types in Amsterdam and moved to Germany. This is where he began breeding his own variation of the griffon. Over the following 15 years, through meticulous breeding and culling he created the Korthals Griffon.
In 1886 Korthals wrote the first breed conformation standard and 2 years later he, as well as 140 others, founded the first Griffon Club which was based in Germany but membership was allowed internationally. After WWI France and Belgium opened their own Griffon Clubs with the original Griffon Club not surviving WWII. After WWII the French Griffon Club took ownership of the first studbook. The French club is the largest Griffon Club with over 1000 members and produces about 2000 pups a year.
The Korthals Griffon came into the United States in 1887 but did not gain popularity until after WWII. In 1951 the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America was formed by Brigadier General Thomas DeForth Rogers and 19 other charter members.
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Korthals Griffon
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