The WPGCA Breeding Program 

[Note: The following matrial has been provided by John Pitlo.  Mr. Pitlo is a member of the WPGCA Breeding Committee, a senior judge in the club’s testing program, a breeder, and a long-time griffon owner.  Much of this material was originally written by Joan Bailey and has been previously published in various issues of The Gundog Supreme: News Bulletin of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America Education and Research Foundation and is included here with permission of the Foundation. For an in-depth coverage of the history of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon from Kortals through the 20th Century, we recommend Griffon Gun Dog Supreme: The History and the Story of How to Improve a Breed by Joan Bailey ( Swan Valley Press, Hillsboro, Oregon).]

 

The hallmark of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America in comparison to other breed clubs is that our organization utilizes a centralized breeding committee to determine breeding decisions, puppy placement and evaluation of progeny. One element of the WPGCA mission is to produce consistently high quality dogs that possess strong, versatile hunting drive (eagerness for game), the sound temperament to be both hunters and loving companion dogs, and conformity to breed standards for size and coat to complement those roles.

5 Week-old Indian Creek B Litter Pup

However, the club also recognizes that genes are only part of the equation; environment and socialization are also critical to bringing out the best in the progeny that result from our selective breeding. The WPGCA provides support and guidance to owners of our breeding bitches from insemination, through whelping, to selecting new owners for the pups. Potential owners are carefully screened to assure that pups will go to homes with ample hunting opportunity and where they will be part of the family. The WPGCA helps to cover the breeder's costs associated with raising the litter, and new owners are charged a flat fee to help defray our breeding costs. Quality dogs, not financial gain, is our motivation; the WPGCA does everything it can to assure that our well-bred dogs are in homes that maximize the pup’s genetic potential.

Involvement of the club does not stop with the sale. Experienced club members are always ready to assist new owners with the day-to-day challenges of rearing their future gun dogs. The club sponsors training/exposure days in several locations. Critical to our success is the testing of progeny. Not to be confused with field trials where the goal is to select a winner, our tests are designed to evaluate and to score each and every pup against a set of standards related to being a versatile gun dog and a companion animal. Our goal is to test every puppy twice: once before age 16 months and again before age 24 months. The primary purpose of this testing is to generate data to guide future breeding decisions.

The basic model of placing breeding decisions in the hands of an external, relatively objective group of experts and of using testing/evaluation to guide breeding decisions is rare among U.S. hunting dog breeders, but it is a model that has proven itself in Europe and with other breeds. For example, Wilsson and Sundgren, writing in the scientific journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, report on the success of improving the breeding of German Shepherds for service dogs by following a testing and controlled breeding program. Also in Applied Animal Behavior Science, Ulrik Tutein Brenøea, Anne Guro Larsgarda, Kai-Rune Johannessenb, and Siv Heia Uldala report on using hunting dog test data to determine breeding decisions on German Short-Haired Pointers, German Wire-Haired Pointers and Brittany Spaniels in Norway. The detached commitment to breeding for quality without consideration of profit, the freedom of the committee to utilize any club dogs for breeding rather than just the breeder’s own dogs and the access to progeny performance data combine to make the breeding program an ideal tool for enhancing a breed.

Our pursuit of producing the very best Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, dogs that conform closely to the ideal set forth by Korthals in the 1800s, has challenged traditional U.S. dog breeding traditions and established institutions such as the American Kennel Club. On the face of it, our decision to out-breed our griffons with the Czech Fousek may appear radical, but a careful analysis of the history of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and a review of the deliberate and carefully researched process by which the WPGCA has carried out the breeding program shows otherwise. We are producing dogs with superb hunting instinct, with coats and physiques that complement that instinct, and with sound temperaments that make our club dogs a pleasure in the home as well as in the field.

The best way to judge the success of our breeding program is to see the results for yourself. Interested individuals are welcome to attend our tests and exposure days. Location, date and contact information is posted on in the “Chapters” section of the website. These events offer the opportunity to see our griffons first-hand, to talk with dog owners and club leaders and to see how our system of controlled breeding, progeny testing and judge development work. Results of our testing program are published in the Gun Dog Supreme. One can subscribe by joining the WPGCA or by making a donation to the WPGCA Education & Research Foundation, which publishes the GDS. We have made available a breeding program summary analysis article from the February 2001 Gun Dog Supreme.

A watershed date in the development of our breeding program is  March 25, 1983.  On that date,  the Board of Directors of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America met in Redding, California. During the meeting, one of the Board members asked, “What females do we have for breeding now?”

The answer from the Breeding Committee was, “Very few”. Something had to be done if the Griffon was to remain a top hunting breed. The discussion and research that ensued, and the subsequent decisions that were made and implemented, would restore the breed. But in order to look into the future- one must first understand the past.

Origin of the Griffon
The history of the Korthals Griffon is long and involved. To speak about the Korthals Griffon, one must first talk about the history and development of the “rough haired hunting dogs” of Europe. No one knows exactly where they came from, or exactly how they developed. What is known is that rough haired hunting dogs existed long, long before anyone coined names such as: Drathaar, Pudelpointer, Stichelhaar, or Korthals Griffon. These loosely termed “rough haired” dogs existed in many European countries for centuries before the Korthals Griffon was developed—countries such as Germany, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. In some of these areas, the rough haired dogs were called “Griffons”. These were tough dogs, known for their bravery and perseverance. As most of you know, the word “Griffon” refers to the mythical beast that was half lion and half eagle, a beast that represented something quite ferocious and brave – hence the word was applied to these hearty and brave, rough-haired, hunting dogs.

Eduard Kortals 1851 - 1896

During the 18th and 19th century, ardent hunters who lived in various European countries, bred dogs for their personal use. These men were unaware of their counterparts in other areas. There was no over-all breeding plan. If they had a hunting dog that they found useful, they bred it to produce dogs for their own use and for their friends. For example, in the middle of the 19th century in France, a Marquis de Cherville had dogs he called Griffons (Griffons a poil dur). Another man of titled blood in Hungary had dogs he called Griffons – and so it went.
Given the fact that these “Griffons” existed and were being bred throughout Europe during the last half of the 19th century, enter the scene in the last quarter of the century, a young man in Holland, Eduard Karel Korthals, the son of a well to do munitions manufacturer, whose hobby was breeding cattle. Eduard Korthals decided he wanted to develop a superior strain of these rough haired hunting dogs that some people called Griffons. His father thought his was a frivolous endeavor and would not subsidize the venture financially. So Korthals left Holland, taking with him dogs from his kennel, mostly rough-haired, and went to Germany. He settled in Biebesheim am Rhein at the country estate of Prince Albert of Solms. It was here, with his financial backer, the Prince of Solms, that he began his breeding program which produced what is known as the “Korthals Griffon”.

For the next 20 years, Korthals devoted all his time to developing his strain of rough-haired hunting dogs. He culled ruthlessly any dog not meeting his standards. He used intensive inbreeding to “set” or “fix” the desired characteristics. Once these were set, he used line-breeding to maintain the strain, or breed. There were eight patriarchs of the breed (eight dogs that were used to develop his strain): JANUS, BANCO, HECTOR, MCOUCHE, SATAN, DONNA, JUNON, and VESTA. The first seven dogs were rough haired. The eighth, VESTA, a bitch he did not own, was a short haired pointer, which he used only once or twice.

There is absolutely no doubt that he was 100% successful. His dogs were outstanding in field trial and exhibitions. This is documented in the records, as well as by the top dog men of that time. For example, in 1888, Hegewald, the man responsible for the early development of the Pudelpointer, wrote in a hunting magazine about the Griffon: “The achievement of more practical colors, better noses, and heightened trainability is scarcely possible”. It was a proven fact that Korthals had developed a very superior strain of rough haired versatile hunting dog—one that was able to find game quickly in the hot plains of the Hungarian partridge and equally at home in the rough marshes for waterfowl. Later, Hegewald had more to say:

I have received questions from Bavaria about the ‘Korthals Griffon’ and what I think of the usefulness of this breed. I expressed myself on this subject five years ago in Waidmann (Hunter-Sportman) in detail. My opinion has not altered in the meantime and I consider the ‘Korthals Griffon’ one of the best working dogs in Germany at this time…..One praises especially the ‘trainability’ of the ‘Korthals Griffon’.

In 1888, the German Griffon Club was formed. Although it was formed in Germany and called German, it was in reality an international club encompassing Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium. It might just as well have been called the “Korthals Griffon Club” because it was formed primarily by owners and breeders of Korthals Griffons. In 1895, the French Griffon Club was formed and in 1901 the Belgian Club was founded. But until World War I, dogs from all clubs were registered in the one book which was published in Germany. Therefore, up until World War I, Griffons from all countries had a G.S.B. (German Stammbuch) registration number.

Unfortunately, Korthals died a few years after the club was formed. However, it was in that first year, 1888, that Korthals set up the spring and fall testing program which we still use today, as do nearly all other versatile hunting dog clubs.

As you may or may not realize, successful breeds of hunting dogs, or any working dogs for that matter, always owe their successful development to one dedicated person, or to a very small group of dedicated people, who have absolute control over breeding decisions. So it was for Korthals. He was extremely successful with his rough haired dogs and chose to use that old word “Griffon” for his strain. It is this model that we have emulated by establishing a small, knowledgeable breeding committee within the WPGCA.

The World War Years
After Korthal’s death, Baron von Gingins carried on with a great deal of dedication and knowledge. When Gingins died, it was 1913; World War I was getting underway and nearly all breeding of all breeds came to a standstill. Most breeds and strains were reduced in number to a very few dogs, especially in Germany, France, and Belgium. As for the Griffon Club, the war caused the original club to break up and reform. From that time on, there were four distinct clubs and four different registries: German, French, Belgian, and Dutch.

Germany was in dire economic straits after World War I. The German Mark became almost worthless; therefore the primary concern of the majority of the German people was to find enough food to feed their families. Very few people had time, or money, to concern themselves with breeding hunting dogs. France had suffered greatly also and times there were hard as well. Korthals was long dead; the political and economic situation was in chaos. The Korthals Griffon, up to this point, had never been large in numbers. Now it deteriorated to the point that we may as well say the Korthals Griffon was nearly decimated, nearly destroyed. The Korthals Griffon never fully recovered from this period. Soon it was 1939 and World War II was upon us and the breed, what was left of it, was decimated once again, especially in Germany, Holland, and Belgium, though not quite so badly in France.

100th Anniversary of the Korthals Griffon Club Celebration Wolferzell, Germany: Traditional playing of the hunting horns signaling the beginning of the hunt (Photo by Harold Baskin.  Reproduced here with permission of the WPGCA E&R Foundation from 100th Anniversary Special Issue of the Gundog Supreme.)

There were far more Griffons left in France at the end of the war than in other countries. France, however, never maintained any strict breeding control and although their hunters demanded the same Griffon with excellent nose, stamina, and endurance, for each outstanding Griffon that was bred, untold numbers of inferior dogs were also bred, However, during this period, from the early part of the 20th century to around 1950, there were still a few knowledgeable and dedicated breeders in France, producing excellent Griffons. Some of these kennel names were: MERLIMONT, MOULIGNON, VRAINVILLE, and FIFMES. We can still trace some Griffons in the 1980s in North America back to these kennel names (see August 1973 Gun Dog Supreme). For example, the kennel name “DE VRAINVILLE” is in the second generation of VICTORIA and TONIK DU BOIS FOLLET, and the third generation in TAQUIN DU BOIS FOLLET.

The Griffon in North America
During the 1920’s, a few dogs were imported from France to the United States. This was really for all practical purposes the beginning of the Griffon in North America. A few dogs that came here in the 1920’s were KADINE DE GAGNY, STICK DE MERLIMONT, FILEUSE DE MERLIMONT, HOMERE, MICHE DE MOULIGNON, and BOLERO VON GIMBSHEIM.

Then around 1950, some of our servicemen from the occupation forces began bringing Griffons back from Germany. One of these servicemen was General Thomas DeForth Rogers, who brought back with him CISA VON DER HOHENLINDE, and in 1951, General Rogers founded our Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America. At about the same time, Dr. Thomas Minscheff (who was Breed Warden of the German Griffon Club for many years) moved to the United States and brought with him his SIEGFRIED VON DER KREUZEICHE. Dr. Minscheff was also instrumental in bringing ALF VOM NIDDERTAL to Idaho, where he was used for breeding many times.

What then did we have in the United States in the 1950’s? We had remnants of Griffons that had been brought over in the 1920’s. We had a very few dogs recently brought over from Germany. Some of these dogs were bred to the French remnants, which were outbreedings. A few linebreedings were established and as we moved into the 1960’s, more dogs were trickling over from Germany. During this period, Griffons were being bred indiscriminately in all parts of the United States. There was no breeding control. There was no testing of progeny. There was no x-raying for hip dysplasia. Most people bought a female Griffon and promptly bred her to the most available male. Many of these dogs were fraught with defects and faults—everything from poor nerves to very soft coats. Most owners were uneducated and did not see or recognize the faults. Most people had never seen a hard-coated Griffon.

Aside from our own ignorance, what else contributed to the decline of the Griffon during the 1960’s? There are numerous important points, but the three most important reasons were:

1. A Decimated Breed. In the United States, beginning in the 1920’s and up to the 1960’s, Griffons that were imported came from an ALREADY DECIMATED BREED – WE NEVER, EVER HAD THE TOP “KORTHALS GRIFFON” IN THE UNITED STATES.
2. The best dogs are not always sent to America. For many years not only we in the Griffon Club, but countless other people for other breeds have operated under the delusion that if we bring a dog over from Europe, it will automatically be great – Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful – Gun Dog Supreme. This is simply not true and the sooner we understood this, the better of the breed would be. What is important here is that SOME of the Griffons that were brought here were good, and some were not. But ALL were used for breeding. And it was the good Griffons that came to the United States that kept injecting our breed with good blood that kept the breed going. If it had not been for these periodic “injections” the breed would have already disappeared completely in the United States.
3. No Central Breeding Control. Until 1974 there was no breeding control whatsoever in North America.

Versatile Hunting Dog Movement in North America
No discussion of Griffons can be complete without an understanding of the versatile hunting dog movement on this continent. Remember that in 1888, Korthals set up a program of testing dogs—spring tests for young dogs (Natural Ability Test), fall breeding tests for young dogs from the spring (Intermediate Hunting Dog Test or Test for Evaluation for Breeding), and the full utility test for fully trained versatile hunting dogs (Utility Field Test). With minor variations to accommodate the differences between European hunting and hunting conditions on the North American continent, the same tests are used here today, as well as in many European countries.

However, it was not until 1969 that the versatile hunting dog movement–North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) began when the first test was held in Ontario, Canada. From that point onward, our Griffons began being tested. Five years later, in 1974, after we had seen a comparatively large number of Griffons from Maine to California, we recognized our plight. We had very, very few Griffons that could be considered adequate breeding material. Even so, many sub-standard Griffons were continuing to be bred. Recognizing this fact led to the start of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of America (WPGCA) Breeding Program in July of 1974.

Pedigree 188 (1990) Patches v Rippoff A Litter

New Beginnings
As stated, this program began in 1974 using the best Griffons we could find at that time. Nearly all had at least been tested in Natural Ability Tests, although at that time there was no Intermediate Hunting Dog Test (“Breeding Test”). Not only did we not have enough adequate dogs, we did not have enough people participating in the program, to build up a large enough genetic pool. Nevertheless, progress was made. Good hunting Griffons were produced, as well as some that were sub-standard. During the next 10 years, those that participated in the program improved the Griffon in the United States. However, because of the limited material that we had to work with (specifically material that had come from a very decimated breed over a long period of time, on a hypothetical scale of 100, we were only able to bring the Griffon from it’s low point of say 20, up to 40 or 50. We were not able to move beyond that point in the scale – there was nowhere to go and were unable to maintain this position. That brings us to the present time and back to the question posed at the beginning: “What females do we have for breeding now?”

Facing the Truth—In 1983, it was difficult for most of us to look at our Griffons and believe that the breed was in serious trouble. Most of us looked at our Griffons through rose-colored glasses. This is perfectly normal and something all people do for any breed of dog they love. It was hard to swallow, but Joan Bailey’s assessment was true when she said:

Some of you will look at your Griffon and picture him/her on a beautiful staunch point, you flush the bird, shoot it, but its only a wing shot, the bird falls and off running in heavy cover of a CRP field. You tend to forget the rest of the story – your Griffon was not able to follow the track and you lost the bird. Or – you look at your faithful hunting companion, who has almost never failed you in the field and you think, “I’ve got an excellent Griffon, worthy of breeding.” You push to the back of your mind that your dog is somewhat “man-shy” – he/she is afraid of strange people. This is a dog with unstable mental behavior, despite his/her excellence in the field, and should never be bred. Another Griffon owner looks at his dog and after reading this article thinks – “That author is nuts – my Griffon has all the qualities and should be bred”. The dog has a marvelously sound temperament, does all he should do in the field and marshes, good nose, desire, conformation, coat, and good hips. But, in his/her pedigree is a line of dogs with bad nerves. And on and on we could go – all the dogs that we see as great, but in truth, the real truth, is that there were almost no Griffons that were all-around good – not outstanding – just good, without serious defects. We all have to take off our rose-colored glasses.

Solving the Problem—At the Board of Directors meeting in Redding, California in March, 1983, we faced the problem squarely. We acknowledged that there were only three ways to rejuvenate a failing breed:

1. by using material remaining in the breed;
2. by imports; and
3. by using “foreign blood”.

It was agreed that we had tried the first two methods over and over without lasing results. We accepted the fact that the only was to save the Griffon was to inject “foreign blood”.

"Foreign blood" means blood from a different breed. This is a shocking concept to most North American dog fanciers and breeders. It is a fact that all successful hunting breeds, especially versatile hunting breeds, in order to maintain a sound and strong breed, have to inject “foreign blood” from time to time. For example, the Pudelpointer, which is one of the wirehaired versatile breeds, had English Pointer blood injected 3 times after the wars, and again 3 more times in North America since the early 1950’s. The German Wirehaired Pointer (called the Deutsch Drathaar in Germany) was developed by crossing the Pudelpointer and the German Shorthaired Pointer. A short time later the German Wirehaired Pointer used quite a number of Griffon injections. A German pedigree of a Drathaar always has in one corner a notation telling what line it stems from: GR for Griffon, or PP for Pudelpointer. An extremely important lesson to be learned from these examples of injecting foreign blood is, IT IS NEVER HIDDEN. It is done honestly and openly. Accurate records are vital in any breeding program.

To our knowledge, aside from some very early experimental breeding by the early Korthals followers, the Germans never injected foreign blood into the Korthals Griffons. However, do remember that one of the eight patriarchs of the breed was a shorthaired pointer. France never documented any foreign injection, but it is the belief that some German Shorthair Pointer was used secretly from time to time. One of our club members received a Griffon from France in the early 1970’s that was absolutely shorthair in appearance. It came from a reputable kennel in France and shorthair blood was not injected at the time of that breeding, it was back a couple of generations, but hidden – hidden even from the innocent breeder.

We have cases in the United States where we believe foreign blood; probably German Wirehaired Pointer was injected secretly. Where would we be today with hip dysplasia in our Griffons if we had hidden this information? We have documented both our clear dogs and dysplastic dogs and by doing so, we were able to breed a line of dogs with very good hips. At the same time we made it possible for all breeders to avoid dysplastic lines (see October 1883 GDS).

Research for Injection of Foreign Blood—The basic, over-riding problem of the Griffons were:

1.  Temperament (sound nerves, sound mental stability); and
2. Desire (This means “passion for the hunt”—that very strong desire for game contact, the drive to pursue game under all conditions).

Temperament and desire go hand in hand, and are very closely intertwined. Llack of these traits is always associated with a deteriorating breed. After the decision was made to introduce foreign blood, the decision was tentatively made to use German Shorthair Pointer.  Club member, Joe Nadeker ,was to research this idea before a final decision was made. Joe Nadeker agreed to contact the Secretary of the German Shorthaired Pointer Club in the Czech Republic with the idea of buying three adult, tested dogs. The secretary of this club was Dr. Petr Dvorak, who in addition to being secretary of this club, was also President of the Czechoslovakian Hunting & Game Association; Chairman of the Kynologic Commission (Kynologic is the study of hunting dogs); and a member of FCI (Federation Canine International) for continental versatile hunting dogs. By profession, Dr. Dvorak is a biologist at the University of Prague.

There were several lengthy exchanges on this topic between Joe Nadeker and Dr. Dvorak and to make a long story short – after learning exactly what the WPGCA Board of Directors was looking for and then consulting other knowledgeable dog people in the Czech Republic – most notably Dr Jaromir Dostal (a geneticist by profession, a specialist on utility animals and also senior breed warden for the Czech Fousek Club) Dr. Dvorak recommended the use of the Czech Fousek as the source of “foreign blood”.

The WPGCA Breeding Committee and other members of the Board of Directors were very encouraged by this decision for a number of reasons. First, it would be easier and faster because of the stabilized wirehaired coat possessed by the Fousek. By using this breed we would avoid problems with shorthaired coats. Another important reason was the contact the club now had with Dr. Dostal. We would be getting adult, tested dogs from tested lines. Because of our contact with Dr. Dostal, we would be getting the “best” for our needs.

Czig-Czag of Valley House B Litter

The Czech Fousek very closely resembles our Griffons; but it is one to two inches taller. It had been in the Czech Republic for 100s of years. After World War I, like most of the breeds, it was decimated. A program of restoration was begun in 1924. Ironically, they used a lot of Korthals Griffons in the restoration, as well as German Wirehaired Pointer, German Shorthair Pointer, Pudelpointers, and German Stichelhaars. They developed and established ten lines (strains). One line is reserved for use as an occasional boost for the other nine lines when such a line becomes low in numbers. Except for these rare boosts, line-breeding and only line-breeding is used. These lines and the restoration program were completed in thirty years, and the Czech Fousek is far and away the most popular versatile hunting dog in the Czech Republic today.