The Papillon (French for “butterfly”) is a breed of dog that is not a traditional working breed but they do have the ability. A member of this community @Liz Ott has a couple that earn their biscuits with the responsibilities that she has trained them for. I have also heard of a Papillon being trained for human remain detection. They are not a common breed and I have only met a few in my life but each time their owners had a nothing but wonderful things to say about the breed and their level of intelligence. One description is “This breed is not a Barbie without a brain; it is Miss. Universe with a PhD, an M.D. and a Miss Congeniality title too!...Think of a ballet dancer: very athletic, but still ethereal looking”. The Papillon breed is a toy breed that is dated back to the 16th century. They are thought to be a really small spaniel (which could explain the intelligence and work capability) with some researchers believing they are a modern Continental Toy Spaniel. If you do an image search of the CTS you will see images of the Papillon. While some researchers believe they are their own breed related to a dog called a Phalene (French for “moth”). Phalene’s have ears that droop which apparently resemble a moth with their wings folded and Papillon’s ears are erect which more resemble a butterfly with their wings out. When this ear change occurred is unknown, but you can still find some of the drooped ear variety in litters of Papillons today. Unfortunately the true origin of the Papillon is one that is lost to history so let’s talk about what we, as humans, have more confidence on in their history. Marie Antoinette loved the breed so much, and specifically her Papillon Coco, that she apparently held Coco while being beheaded. Not to worry Coco lived on, survived the French Revolution and passed away at the age of 22. The house that Coco lived in and was cared for in is known today as the House of Papillon. Coco’s velvet “kennel” can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City according to one source.

Bavarian Mountain Hounds come from, you guessed it, Germany where they are known as Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund (no a cat did not just walk on my laptop). They are said to be descended from a breed called a Bracken which is “the original hunting dog”. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred to be lighter for more versatility and agility and this was done in the late 18thand early 19th Centuries by Baron Karg-Bebenburg when he crossed Red Mountain Hounds with Hanoverian Scenthounds. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred for tracking game, both wounded and bloodied, and has an amazing “cold nose” which means they possess an amazing sense of smell that they can detect older trails better than other dogs. This breed is even tempered, agile, robust and versatile. They have the stamina to pursue game until the game cannot run anymore even in mountainous terrain. They are still used for tracking game to this day but can also be used for tracking/trailing for search and rescue groups like their bloodhound counterparts. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was recognized by the UKC on January 1, 1996. The Club for Bavarian Mountain Hounds, which is headquartered in Munich, came about in 1912. The FCI published a breed standard in 1996 and they were included in the AKC Foundation Stock Service in October 2016. Sources: https://www.ukcdogs.com/bavarian-mountain-hound, https://pulsarvision.com/journal/the-original-hunting-dog-bavarian-mountain-scent-hound/, https://gundogcentral.com/hunting-dog-breeds/Bavarian-Mountain-hound,https://www.101dogbreeds.com/bavarian-mountain-hound.asp

The Irish Red Setter showed up in the early 18th Century and is the result of a mix that likely consisted of: English and Gordon setters, spaniels and pointers. They were bred to be a hunting dog and would point and freeze at game using their snout and would hold position, i.e. be set at the prey. Some early forms of the breed were trained to either sit or lie down in the direction of the game. The original Irish Setter was red and white although the mahogany (so fancy sounding) or chestnut brown are the desired coat color for the Irish Setter while the red and white counterparts are now their own distinct breed. In 1882 the Red Setter Club was formed and shortly after a breed standard was established. The red and white setters were then seen as cross breeds as the red setters gained popularity. After WWI the red and white setters were near extinction. Thanks to a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Huston and his cousin Dr. Elliot, they found a few remaining red and white setters not to far and began breeding them. Rev. Huston was alone in his desire to reinvigorate the breed and the decades between wars did not help. It was not until the end of this life that a woman named Maureen Clarke nursed a sick red and white setter puppy back to health and bred her to one of Rev. Huston’s males. There are working and show lines of the Irish Red Setter and an easy way to tell which one is which is with coat density. The show line has a thicker and longer coat while the working line has a thinner and shorter coat. It is thought to help with thermoregulation and collecting vegetation in the fur while out in the field. In 1962 the Walt Disney movie called “Big Red” debuted and the breed’s popularity went from 4,000 AKC registrations to 60,000+ per year. Due to the “demand” low moral breeders jumped on the trend and in no time at all bred the “…brains and hunting instinct out of what had once been a glorious breed in the field.” The Irish Red Setter gained a new nickname “Irish airheads” during this time. Thankfully for the quality of the breed the trend died down, registrations went down to just above 3,000 pups per year and responsible and genuinely passionate advocates for the breed were the ones solely responsible for the breed once again.

My apologies on being late on delivering this post. Yesterday was a busy day and I just plum forgot that it was Friday. I hope you enjoy. The Weimaraner, or Weimar Pointer, appeared in the 19th Century in Germany and their availability was firmly controlled by the Nobels of Weimar. These nobles were devoted sportsman who also hunted big game. They needed a dog that was excellent at tracking, had speed, was courageous and durable. They implemented a breeding program to develop these specific desired traits. Initially the Weimaraner was bred to take down bear and deer but was later shifted to a “fur and feathers” dog and are now one of the Hunt, Point, Retrieve breeds. In 1928, a man named Howard Knight was keen on acquiring a foundation stock of the breed in the New England states. He applied for a membership in the German Club for the breed and the club sent him two sterilized dogs despite his promise to maintain the purity of the breed. It wasn’t until 10 years later that he was sent 3 females and a puppy. Other enthusiasts joined him and in 1942 the Weimaraner Club of America was formed and in turn a breed standard was formed and the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1943 and began participating in field trials in 1948. Due to the wartime in Europe in the 1940s and the German’s not wanting to lose valuable quality dogs the Weimaraner was sent to the United States. The Weimaraner was a status symbol and with their popularity booming this did also lead to poor breeding practices that resulted in less than ideal temperaments and ugly dogs. Thankfully there were committed breed enthusiasts that would breed and maintain the high quality standards for the Weimaraner. The Weimaraner today comes in two different coat colors but only one is recognized for the show ring and for hunting. The options are silver-grey and blue-grey with the blue-grey variety having black noses and lips. Other than coat color the two look identical but are bred for entirely different purposes: the silver-grey is bred for work and the blue-grey is almost exclusively bred for companionship. The blue-grey option is an automatic disqualification for the show ring as well.

As suggested by @Paul Bunker The English Pointer is also referred to as Pointer and is a gundog from, you guessed it, England. It is believed that the English Pointer may have originated from the Old Spanish Pointer, which were larger and heavier than the modern Pointer. In a book titled “The True Pointer and His Ancient Heritage” writers W. Enos Phillips and William Arkwright theorized that the Pointer is one of the oldest breeds and makes a statement based on a 3,000 year old Egyptian tomb in Thebes that has an image of what looks to be a hunting dog with “…a tail or this particular construction” which he, Phillips, points out is similar to the “…proper specimen of today”. It should also be noted that William Arkwright also has some writings with A.F. Hochwalt about the English Pointer where Arkwright states “The brachs that point (bracchi da ferma) should be spotted and dappled with bright tawny, and have large ears, long muzzle, black nose, feet spurred (spronati), hind legs well bent, and tail fine. To make use of them with the gun, it is necessary that these dogs be steady on point, nor ever flush the game that they have found, so that the sportsman, by carefully circling round his dog with arquebus before the game is sprung, may obtain a shot” (Arkwright, p.53) **I did mention Brachs/Braques in my GSP entry** Then there is Danny Seymour, Judges’ Education Chair of the American Pointer Club, who states that the original Pointer was the Spanish Pointer and existed throughout the European continent. This breed arrived in England around 1650 and before the invention of firearms they were used to locate hares for Greyhounds to further pursue. It is thought that the English Pointer were Spanish Pointers crossed with Foxhound, Greyhound and Bloodhound. In the mid-1800s dog shows were really starting to take off and with that came finding the best of the best within a breed. Due to this efforts were made to refine the breed and part of that refinement was having the breed seek odor in the air rather than on the ground. The slight dished muzzle that is a notable physical characteristic of the breed is commonly called the Arkwright head.