Family-friendly: | 5/5 |
Exercise needs: | 5/5 |
Easy to train: | 5/5 |
Tolerates being alone: | 1/5 |
Likes other pets: | 5/5 |
Energy level: | 5/5 |
Grooming needs: | 3/5 |
Shedding: | 3/5 |
- Dogs suitable for experienced owners
- Extra training required
- Generally healthy breed
- Enjoys vigorous walks
- Enjoys more than two hours of walking a day
- Medium dog
- Some drool
- Requires grooming once a week
- Quiet dog
- Welcomes everyone happily
- Could have issues with unknown dogs but gets along with known dogs
- May need additional training to live with other pets
- Great family dog
- Needs a large garden
- Can live in semi-rural areas
- Can be left occasionally with training
There are currently no widely recognised health problems in the Portuguese Pointer breed.
Priority Kennel Club health schemes and testing:
None but there are several recommended schemes that the Kennel Club recommends which can be found here.
Personality
Described as affectionate to the point of inconvenience, the Portuguese Pointer is a very friendly, affable and companionable dog. Whilst aloof with other dogs, with people, they want nothing more than to be out working in the field, or snuggled up on a lap. Keen to work, keen to please, and quick to learn, the Portuguese Pointer is still an excellent working Hunt Point Retrieve (HPR) breed, and is the smallest of this type. They are quite sensitive souls and care should be taken to handle them thoughtfully and kindly, using positive reinforcement methods – it would be very easy to squash this happy, gentle dog’s character with harsh or aversive training.
Did You Know?
- The Portuguese Pointer was bred to hunt small game birds, particularly the partridge, or ‘perdiz’ in Portuguese. In the 16th Century their name was Perdigueiro Portuguese or ‘Partridge Setter’.
- Pointers and Setters basically do the same job; when they find game in the cover (undergrowth) they freeze, for the Pointer that’s a forward stance with one paw up, tail straight out behind, focusing on the bird’s location. For the Setter, it’s more of a frozen crouch, but still forward, pointing at where the bird is. This behaviour is not taught but bred in, you can see puppies of both types offering this in response to glimpsing movement on the ground from just a few weeks of age!
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