Ariege Pointer Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Ariege Pointer, also known as the Braque De L'Ariege can date its origins back to the turn of the 19^th and the 20^th century. The breed is thought to be a relatively new addition to the French Pointer collection. The Ariege Pointer was developed in the South-Western part of France called Ariegeois, after which the breed derives its name.

During the late 19^th century, breeders’ initial intention was to create a hunting companion with increased activity and lightness. The hunting community sought after a dog that would be suited for the environment and also suited for hunting wild partridge, hare, and quail. The Ariege Pointer is considered to be a descendant of the old French Braque dogs, that were cross-bred with the white and orange Southern Barques and with the Braque Saint-Germain. It is also thought that local pointing dogs were added to the mix. The result was a unique hunting dog, a continental pointing breed, that proved to be very agile and energetic, with an outstanding sense of smell. Besides being an excellent hunting and pointing breed, the Ariege Pointer proved itself to be a very talented and skilled retriever. Thanks to the breed’s wide range of excellence and its different capabilities, the Ariege Pointer quickly gained the local hunting communities’ approval and appreciation. The breed standard was drawn up and accepted relatively early on, in 1905 during the Société Canine du Sud-Ouest dog show. The committee whose responsibility was to specify the breed standard asked the help of a well-known local sculptor named Henry Villard. He created a life-sized sculpture of the breed, which depicted the ideal physique of the Ariege Pointer. This sculpture is currently displayed in Toulouse, in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

During the Ariege Pointer’s first decades of existence, the breed enjoyed local popularity, and it was very well-esteemed in the Southern parts of France. Yet, despite that, the breed’s population numbers started to decrease rapidly during the Second World War, and it almost completely disappeared. The breed’s small population size continued to struggle and fight in order to avoid extinction until the 1990s. In 1990, a group of enthusiasts and breeders took the serious initiative, to breed the Ariege Pointer dedicatedly, thus saving it from the brink of extinction. The most influential figure of this breeding program was named Mr. Alain Deteix. He was working tirelessly on the breed’s survival and gradual revival. One crucial breeding method in order to increase the breeding pool was that the breed standard got relaxed ensuring a greater number of dogs are accepted and consequently can actively contribute to the breeding pool.

The Ariege Pointer got recognized by the UKC (United Kennel Club) relatively late, in 2006 within their Gundog group. However, despite of the breed’s original popularity in the beginning of the 20^th century, nowadays the breed is mostly unknown outside of its native country, France. Today, the breed is still can be seen alongside hunters in France, being employed as gun dogs, but it is more common for the Ariege Pointer to be kept simply as a great family companion.