Pointer (English Pointer)
The AKC calls it simply the Pointer: a short-coated specialist of 44 to 75 pounds, bred to run hard, find birds at a distance, and point them.
The pointer is the specialist of the group. The AKC says the breed reached England around 1650, and its field-bred lines are the dogs you'll see followed on horseback at American Field trials. Its parent club says pointers "tend to run hard, fast, and cover as much ground as possible," and may be a long way from the handler when they find a bird. That makes the pointer brilliant where you can watch a dog at distance and a handful where you can't. It was seventh in Project Upland's 2026 survey, at 6 percent. Neither of us runs a pointer; this page is built from the breed club and the writers who do.
A pointer works a scent across open grass. Photo: No-longer-here via Pixabay / CC0 1.0 — source
The Pointer at a Glance
Type: pointing dog.
Size: dogs 25 to 28 inches at the shoulder and 55 to 75 pounds; bitches 23 to 26 inches and 44 to 65 pounds (AKC standard). Field-trial pointers registered in the Field Dog Stud Book run smaller and faster.
Coat: "short, dense, smooth with a sheen," per the standard. The parent club notes that short-coated pointers can have skin issues such as hives.
Range: wide. Pointers "run hard, fast, and cover as much ground as possible," in the American Pointer Club's words.
Where they're tested: AKC field trials and hunt tests (Junior, Senior, and Master Hunter), and American Field trials. The United Kennel Club bought the American Field and its Field Dog Stud Book in 2021.
Health clearances the parent club lists: hips, elbows, eyes, and thyroid.
Parent club: American Pointer Club
Checked against the AKC breed standard and the American Pointer Club on Oct. 15, 2026.
How They Hunt
Two pointers live under one name. The AKC's is the classic personal gun dog, "bred to conform to the physical standard adopted from England in the 1880s," in one breed writer's phrase. The Field Dog Stud Book's, which by the same account vastly outnumbers it, is "a smaller, faster, wider-ranging bird dog," bred for trials judged from horseback. A hunter on foot can own either, but it matters which one is in the crate.
Project Upland's breed profile calls the pointer "best geared for big country and wide range hunting such as Idaho chukar." Pheasants Forever adds that pointers are "generally bred for upland hunting in warmer climates."
In California Country
Heat. The short coat and warm-country breeding are the pointer's California case, and Project Upland says plainly that "they tolerate hot weather well." Tolerating heat is not immunity to it, and a dog that runs this hard still needs the water plan. Our heat, shade, and water piece is how we plan for September.
Country. Open chukar slopes in the Eastern Sierra and on the Modoc Plateau suit a wide dog, because you can see it. Dense chaparral doesn't. A pointer that finds a covey far out in thick chamise has found it for nobody.
Brush. The flip side of the slick coat is less armor. Ralph Yeatter's 1948 booklet Bird Dogs in Sport and Conservation put it simply: the pointer's short coat "gives less protection from thorns than the long coat of the setter." Peter keeps a protective vest on Alan (see What I Carry for Alan), and the same logic applies to any short-coated dog in brush.
Choosing One in California
Which registry. AKC pointers and Field Dog Stud Book pointers have been bred apart for generations. For a foot hunter the questions are the same as for any breed: what the parents hunt, and how far they run. With pointers, the answers vary more.
Clearances. Hips, elbows, eyes, and thyroid are the parent club's list; we found no DNA test the club recommends. Results are public in the OFA database.
Where to see them. We found no California pointer club with a live field calendar. AKC pointing-breed hunt tests in California are open to every pointing breed; the South Coast Vizsla Club's December 2026 test is one.
What We've Written on Dogs
Choosing a dog
Keeping one going in California
Foxtail Season for California Bird Dogs: A Handler's Prevention and First-Aid Plan
Heat Safety for Bird Dogs: California Off-Season Conditioning as Temps Rise
Heat, Shade, and Water Strategy: Don't Cook Your Dog on Sept 1
The Four Weeks That Decide October: Quail Prep While Dove Is Still Open
In the field with Alan
What I Carry for Alan: A California Bird-Dog Kit That Actually Works
Hunting the Overlap: Sooty Grouse, Band-Tails, and Quail in the High Sierra in September
From a Dove Field Back to Quail: Peter Burnham on The Upland Social
More in our Dogs archive and the dog section of Hunting Resources.
Other Breeds
German shorthaired pointer · Brittany · English setter · German wirehaired pointer · Labrador retriever · English springer spaniel · English cocker spaniel · All breeds
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Photo credit: pointer — No-longer-here via Pixabay / CC0 1.0 — source