German Wirehaired Pointer

Often a one-person dog, energetic and determined at work.
A German Wirehaired Pointer
Photo: ad bekkers
Adult male
25–32 kg
55–71 lb
Adult female
20–29 kg
44–64 lb
Lifespan
13 yrs
Class · Field
also Sport

What it's like

Temperamentally it is affectionate and eager with its own people, energetic and determined at work, and often reserved with strangers. It is often described as a one-person dog and tends to form a strong bond with its household. Its German name, Drahthaar, simply means wire hair.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It has a wire or harsh coat. Loose hair stays caught in the coat until it is brushed, stripped or clipped out. Plan on a brush once a week, plus hand-stripping two or three times a year. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A German Wirehaired Pointer is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever. Males end up clearly heavier than females. It is one of the heaviest medium breeds.

In appearance it is a sturdy, slightly longer-than-tall dog with a firm, close-lying wire coat over an undercoat that is dense in winter and thin in summer. Bushy eyebrows and a beard give the face an earnest look. Colours are usually liver and white, often flecked or roan, or solid liver.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male German Wirehaired Pointer puppy is already as heavy as a grown Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old. The biggest males grow into the size large-breed puppy foods are made for.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight8
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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Age
Male
Female
2 months
5.4–7.0 kg 11.9–15.4 lb
4.8–7.0 kg 10.6–15.4 lb
3 months
8.0–10.3 kg 17.6–22.7 lb
6.8–9.9 kg 15.0–21.8 lb
4 months
11.6–14.9 kg 25.6–32.8 lb
9.7–14.1 kg 21.4–31.1 lb
5 months
14.9–19.1 kg 32.8–42.1 lb
12.3–17.9 kg 27.1–39.5 lb
6 months
17.8–22.8 kg 39.2–50.3 lb
14.4–20.9 kg 31.7–46.1 lb
7 months
20.0–25.6 kg 44.1–56.4 lb
16.0–23.2 kg 35.3–51.1 lb
8 months
21.6–27.6 kg 47.6–60.8 lb
17.1–24.8 kg 37.7–54.7 lb
9 months
22.7–29.0 kg 50.0–63.9 lb
17.9–26.0 kg 39.5–57.3 lb
10 months
23.4–29.9 kg 51.6–65.9 lb
18.5–26.8 kg 40.8–59.1 lb
11 months
23.9–30.6 kg 52.7–67.5 lb
18.9–27.3 kg 41.7–60.2 lb
12 months
24.2–31.0 kg 53.4–68.3 lb
19.1–27.8 kg 42.1–61.3 lb
15 months
24.8–31.8 kg 54.7–70.1 lb
19.7–28.6 kg 43.4–63.1 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical German Wirehaired Pointer lived to about 13 years, about average for a medium breed.

Where it comes from

The German Wirehaired Pointer, or Deutsch Drahthaar, was created in Germany around 1900 as an all-round gundog for field, wood and water. Following the ideas of Sigismund Freiherr von Zedlitz und Neukirch ('Hegewald'), breeders selected for working ability, combining wire-coated pointing dogs with the German Shorthaired Pointer. Its harsh, bristly coat protects it in rough cover and bad weather4,10.

The German Wirehaired Pointer took shape around the turn of the twentieth century, when a breed club for the Deutsch Drahthaar was founded in Germany and set strict working tests as a condition of breeding. Several rough-coated breeds are usually named among its ancestors, including the Pudelpointer and the Stichelhaar. The breed was recognised in the United States in the mid-twentieth century and later reached Britain. It was bred to do the whole of a hunter's work rather than one task: to quarter ground and point game, retrieve on land and from water, and follow the trail of wounded game.

Breed standard

The German Wirehaired Pointer is judged against standard no. 98, in group 7, Pointing Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured German Wirehaired Pointer figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

German Shorthaired Pointer
Pointing dogs · Medium
Pointer
Pointing dogs · Large
English Setter
Pointing dogs · Large
French Spaniel
Pointing dogs · Medium
Or compare the German Wirehaired Pointer with any breed you choose
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Sources

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