PUDELPOINTERS: A VERSATILE BREED

By Scott Haugen

Jess Spradley is one of the most respected trainers and field trial specialists in the country. He’s been around dogs his whole life and built his field trial reputation working with German shorthaired pointers. A decade ago he had the opportunity to start working with pudelpointers.

“I did a lot of looking at breeds and chose pudelpointers due to their versatility,” states the owner of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (cabincreekgundogs. com) in Lakeview, Oregon. “As a trainer, working with a breed that naturally hunts upland birds, waterfowl, shed antlers, squirrels and more made my choice pretty easy. And we owe these qualities to the breeders before us who set high, stringent standards and stuck with it. When I got into it, the breed was well-handled and hunters could get great dogs, but today, as more people are breeding litters to sell at high volume, the quality of dogs has become watered down, so potential owners need to do their homework.”

IN THE LATE 1800S, Germany aggressively promoted hunting within their country. The development of dogs to be used in hunting was also encouraged, and this is when pudels – the German spelling of poodle – widely known as water dogs, were becoming extremely popular. The water dogs varied in coat color and length, but they all had long hair, usually curly, and worked diligently in water and cold conditions, largely as herding dogs. They were known for their drive and intelligence.

During this time in history, English pointers were very popular