The Ariège Pointer is a French
breed
A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
of
hunting dog
A hunting dog is a Dog, canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different Dog type, types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, cur type dogs, and ...
of
pointer type
In computer science, a pointer is an object in many programming languages that stores a memory address. This can be that of another value located in computer memory, or in some cases, that of memory-mapped computer hardware. A pointer ''refe ...
. It originates in the
Ariège département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...
of
Occitanie, in south-western France. The breed name may be rendered in English as Ariège Pointing Dog or Braque de l'Ariège.
Overview
The
dog type
Dog types are broad categories of domestic dogs based on form, function, style of work, lineage, or appearance. Some may be locally adapted dog types (or ''landraces'') that may have the visual characteristics of a modern purebred dog. In cont ...
used by hunters in the
Ariège département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...
of Occitanie was said to be descended from dogs that were crosses of the
Perdiguero de Burgos and the
Bracco Italiano
The Bracco Italiano is an Italian dog breed, breed of pointing dog.
History
The first dog registered by the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana, Kennel Club Italiano, founded in 1882, was a Bracco Italiano. Early in 1949 a breed standar ...
.
The population decreased over World War I and II,
and in 1990 a team of breeders decided to devote themselves to the Braque de l'Ariège's survival, in particular Alain Deteix. He headed that team of breeders and devoted himself to the revival of the breed.
It is well suited to hunting wild hare and partridge.
Appearance
The Braque de l'Ariège is a normally proportioned dog with drop ears. The tail is traditionally
docked. The
coat
A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...
is short and primarily white, speckled with larger patches of colours described as orange, liver, or chestnut on the head and ears. Size is about in height at the
withers
Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...
. Dogs of the breed should appear powerful but without excessive heaviness, robust and of strong.
[ It is quick, energetic, and very independent, and so needs regular training and activity.
]
See also
* Dogs portal
* List of dog breeds
This list of dog breeds includes both Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant and extinct dog breeds, Designer breed, varieties and dog type, types. A research article on dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines modern dog breeds ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariege Pointer
FCI breeds
Dog breeds originating in France
Rare dog breeds
Gundogs
Pointers