Braque du Bourbonnais Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Braque du Bourbonnais derives its name after the French verb “braquer” which translates to “to point or to aim”, so basically their name can be translated simply as “pointer of the Bourbonnais region”.

The Braque du Bourbonnais is a very ancient dog breed, that can trace its origins back as far as the early 16^th century to the region of Bourbonnais in France. Moreover, the breed is considered to be the oldest among the pointer breeds indigenous to France, and according to some experts, the breed can easily be one of the oldest pointing breeds in Europe as well. The first written evidence appeared in French literature in the early 1500s, these descriptions depicted dogs during hunting and highlighted the breed’s keen senses and hunting instincts. The famous Italian alchemist and naturalist, named Ulisse Aldrovandi during the middle of the 16^th century, the Renaissance, also created early illustrations of the breed. Due to the breed’s early development, there are just a few documentations and records left about its creation, thus it is not clearly known what breeds and who contributed to the Braque du Bourbonnais’s early emergence. However, it is very well-known that the breed was highly esteemed among the hunting communities in France, thanks to the dogs’ remarkable and unique behavioral traits and hunting talents.

Despite the Braque du Bourbonnais’s popularity, during the Frist World War, their population numbers decreased significantly, pushing the breed on the edge of extinction. For the reason that World War I. hit France devastatingly, there was little effort or initiative to continue dog breeding like before. Yet, fortunately, a handful of enthusiastic breeders founded the first Club du Braque du Bourbonnais in 1925, with the intention of reviving and re-establishing the breed back to its pre-war prominence. Not much later, the first breed standard was written and published in the Club’s first bulletin in 1930. Despite the initial efforts, and the considerable progress the breeders have made, as the Second World War came, the breed’s numbers have dwindled to almost nothing. Moreover, because of the strict breed standard, few breeders that remained were solely focusing on the Braque du Bourbonnais’s physical characteristics while totally neglecting their hunting performances. Little by little, many breeders lost their interest in the breed, which eventually resulted in the fact that no puppies were registered for a decade, between 1963 and 1973. After that, in 1982 the second Club du Braque du Bourbonnais was formed led by Michel Comte, who won official recognition for the Club by the SCC (Society Centrale Canine) in 1985. Their goal was to revive the breed and to regain their honored status as hunting companions. Soon enough, the breed standard was relaxed, and the noted hunting instincts and abilities were restored. Later, in 1988, the first specimen of the breed was imported to the United States of America, in order to facilitate the breed’s recognition process overseas too.

In 1991, the new breed standard was accepted both by the SCC and by the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale). Later, in 2006 the UKC (United Kennel Club) registered the Braque du Bourbonnais within their Gun Dog Group, and in 2011 the AKC (American Kennel Club) also recognized the breed. Nowadays, the Braque du Bourbonnais is still used as a professional pointer, tracker, and retriever on the hunting fields, although the breed often can be seen as a family companion too.