Breed Comparison

[scballard]

For you guys that have been in this sport alot longer than me. Other than color and tail, what are the major differences between an English Pointer and a German Short hair pointer?

[brad27]

I've been in this shorter than you have, but I'm going to guess and say endurance.

[gotpointers]

I have both and have had both for many years. would say the shorthair would be the jack of all trades. We take her out for dove, quail, pheasant, and i know she could do waterfowl. Downside she could never keep up with my pointers when it comes to speed or endurance.
My english pointers only go out on pheasant and quail hunts. I would never use them at heel for a dove hunt or take them to a cold river to fetch ducks. While i have used them for water retrives during a quail hunt where we got lucky and hit a bonus duck in a pond. My shorthair will pick up singles where i have to hack my pointer in. I think of my pointers as top fuel dragsters and my shorthairs a good old work truck. I find the shorthairs more accepted in my area and much easier to sell. Very few pointers sell here and i think i would have a hard time giving them away. But that doesent stop me i enjoy seeing these athletes blow through the desert for hours on end at high speed. I have way more pointers, and i continue buying and breeding more even though it seems i am the only one who likes them. Its fine by me

[helpful_cub]

I have both and have had both for many years. would say the shorthair would be the jack of all trades. We take her out for dove, quail, pheasant, and i know she could do waterfowl. Downside she could never keep up with my pointers when it comes to speed or endurance.
My english pointers only go out on pheasant and quail hunts. I would never use them at heel for a dove hunt or take them to a cold river to fetch ducks. While i have used them for water retrives during a quail hunt where we got lucky and hit a bonus duck in a pond. My shorthair will pick up singles where i have to hack my pointer in. I think of my pointers as top fuel dragsters and my shorthairs a good old work truck. I find the shorthairs more accepted in my area and much easier to sell. Very few pointers sell here and i think i would have a hard time giving them away. But that doesent stop me i enjoy seeing these athletes blow through the desert for hours on end at high speed. I have way more pointers, and i continue buying and breeding more even though it seems i am the only one who likes them. Its fine by me

I agree with most of this. Also it seems like the EP does better in hotter weather, I'm guessing the slightly smaller size and more white coloring helps with this. I also use my GSP for tracking. He's a master at weaving through brush following game travels. He's basically my one dog for everything and he loves the attention he gets because of it. Oh and as an added bonus of him being huge and full of piss in the mornings. I actually put a harness on him and let him pull me up mountains so we start our Chukar hunting. I know its lazy, but I'll be out of energy long before he is. I'm just his water boy with a gun.

[flpucknut]

Nose.

One is derived from hounds, one is not. That would be the biggest difference to me... and with that goes tracking. GSP's are good at it, English pointers not so much.