PREFACE

Remember the old saying about eating an elephant? You do it one bite at a time. But what about two elephants? My solution was to eat one, then the other, a bite at a time. When I set out to write Pointing Dogs Volume One: The Continentals, I had no idea that it would take more than a decade to complete. So, when I set out to write Volume Two, I knew it would take years to write, but I once again underestimated just how many. As with Volume One, traveling to the native lands of the breeds described in this volume took time and money.

A thirst for knowledge and a hunger for adventure motivated me to write Volume One, and those same forces were still in play as I wrote this volume. This time, though, the focus is on the one hand narrower; only five breeds are fully described here, whereas nearly 40 breeds were documented in Volume One. On the other hand, it is wider. I’ve taken a closer look at each breed’s history, shedding new light onto their origins and evolution. I also describe how the British and Irish breeds ended up conquering much of the sporting world, from the United Kingdom to the United States, from Australia to Algeria, Italy to Iceland. I’ve also included a large number of images taken by talented photographers from across the sporting world and art works by some of the most famous sporting artists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

I hope that this elephant goes on to enhance the collective knowledge of these fine dog breeds and perhaps inspire your own thirst for more knowledge.