The breeds · gun dog · versatile

UKC Gun Dog · FCI standard 232

German Roughhaired Pointer.

FCI 232 utilization: 'Versatile, easily tractable working gundog.' German Wikipedia (citing the club flyer): suited to field, water and forest and to blood-tracking (Nachsuche); 'does all work before and after the shot'; used on drive hunts and in the pack, and 'buschieren und stoebern' (hunting ahead of the gun in cover). Project Upland: a forester's dog selected for a strong protective nature, 'sharp' on predators and fearless in heavy cover or on boar, yet calm; the club secretary's one word for the breed is 'Ruhe' (calm)..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

55–74LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 60 to 74 lb; breed bitches 55 to 70 lb.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 23.5 to 27.6 in · bitches 22.8 to 27 in

Breed clubFCI-Standard No. 232, 2008

Low/high span FCI, UKC and Project Upland. No ideal printed.

Weight

dogs 60 to 74 lb · bitches 55 to 70 lb

EditorialProject Upland, 2023

Single editorial source (Koshyk). Fewer than three sources.

Coat

FCI 232: on the body stiff, harsh and bristly, lying loosely, about 4 cm long; slightly longer on shoulders and underside with some straight feathering; moderate beard, bushy standing-off eyebrows; short, hard, flat coat on the front of the forelegs; 'rather frequently' a hardly visible undercoat; soft or medium-soft coat (except beard and eyebrows) is a disqualifying fault. UKC: about 1.5 in long, stiff, harsh and bristly, 'sometimes' a barely visible undercoat. Project Upland: similar to other wirehaired breeds and perhaps a bit harsher; after swimming, 'the topcoat was very harsh and the thick undercoat was almost dry to the touch'.

Breed clubFCI-Standard No. 232, 2008

The standards call the undercoat hardly visible; Koshyk describes a thick one on a dog he saw swim. Both stand.

Heat tolerance

4 of 5 · 4 of 5: harsh single-to-light-double coat about 4 cm long with little visible undercoat per the standards

DerivedFCI-Standard No. 232, 2008

Derived from the FCI/UKC coat text (short-to-medium harsh coat, hardly visible undercoat = 4). Project Upland saw a thick undercoat on one dog, which would argue 3. Derived, not measured.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Breed clubFCI-Standard No. 232, 2008

Three sources, two of them editorial; the German Wikipedia task list is secondary to the club flyer, which was not readable.

Primary game

German Wikipedia: field, water and forest work with tracking of wounded game. Project Upland: fearless on large game such as boar and sharp on predators. The FCI standard names no game.

EditorialWikipedia (German), 2025

Editorial; no game list is printed by the registry standards. Fewer than three sources.

Also used on

Project Upland: pursuing large game such as boar; German Wikipedia: blood-tracking and drive hunts.

EditorialProject Upland, 2023

Editorial only.

Field trial standard

FCI 232 classifies the breed 'with working trial' (Group 7, Section 1.1). German Wikipedia lists it among the FCI breeds with a working trial. Which JGHV test levels the Verein Deutsch Stichelhaar requires to breed was not stated on any page read.

Breed clubFCI-Standard No. 232, 2008

Test names deliberately not asserted for this breed; see open_gaps.

Water work

German Wikipedia: suited to work in water. Project Upland: Koshyk watched one swim and handled the coat afterwards. FCI 232 and UKC print nothing on water work.

EditorialWikipedia (German), 2025

Editorial; no water test requirement found.

Cold water

3 of 5 · 3 of 5: harsh weather-shedding coat; Koshyk watched a Stichelhaar swim and found the thick undercoat almost dry

DerivedProject Upland, 2023

Derived from coat plus one editorial observation and the FCI 'field, woods and water' utilization of the German tests as described by German Wikipedia. Derived, not measured.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Most common disorders

Project Upland: beyond the usual gundog issues, alopecia (genetic pattern baldness) seems to be increasing in some lines; dental problems; gun-shyness and nervousness identified. Population is tiny: about 40 pups worldwide in a good year, and a crossbreeding program with the Cesky Fousek has split the club.

EditorialProject Upland, 2023

Single editorial source; no prevalence data.

No KENAI kennel lists the German Roughhaired Pointer yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 3 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called: Deutsch Stichelhaar, Stichelhaar, German Rough Haired Pointer (UKC)

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