Braque du Bourbonnais

The Braque du Bourbonnais is a breed of gundog, of rustic appearance, sometimes born with a short tail, with a coat ticked with liver or fawn.

Appearance

Head

Rounded in every direction, with lateral sides rounded, with parietal bones and zygomatic arches well developed. The axes of the skull and muzzle are parallel, or slightly divergent towards the front.

Coat

Two coat colors exist in the Bourbonnais, each of them having specific name because the color is specific to the breed:
-Liver, also called « wine dregs » or « faded lilac ».
-Fawn, also called « peach blossom ».
Big spots are tolerated on the body if they are not bigger than the palm of a hand. On the head, the two eyes must not be inside the same spot.

Differences sire/bitch

The bitches are generally thinner, more elegant and longer than the sires (see pictures above).

Short tail

In the past called "short-tail pointer", the braque du Bourbonnais is sometimes born with a short tail (brachyury) or no tail at all (anury). The gene responsible for this characteristic has been identified as being the same as the brittany spaniel one, of autosomal dominant type.

Head position

High or prolonging the shoulder.

Temperament

He has a good temper and can be a good agreement dog. But it is mostly a hunter. It is a continental dog, and must be judged as such.

Allure and style

He shows a lot of activity, even if he doesn't go very far. His natural pace is gallop, but under cover he can use trot. He can change direction quickly, like polo.

Recreation

In 1970, Michel Comte decided to look for the last dog that had some Bourbonnais blood. He found only mixed breed dogs, which had some characteristics of the Braque du Bourbonnais (size, shape of the head, short tail). After some more or less inbred litters, he registered his first Bourbonnais on the LOF (under Titre Initial procedure) in 1973, 1974, and 1975; from then, several breeders joined him, who, from those dogs, created their own lines, and the number of births increased.

In 1981, the Club du Braque du Bourbonnais was recreated, Michel Comte was its president until 2001. From this moment, the successes of the Bourbonnais in field trials made the breed thrive.

In 1988, the first Bourbonnais was introduced in the USA, and since then the breed has been growing in this country, which became the second producer of Bourbonnais pointers after France.