07/14/2025
Karen Miller posted this in another group on the early GSP history.
The Truth About AKC German Shorthaired Pointer Origins: A Documented Historical Summary. By: Karen M. Miller.
Source: German Breed, Documentation.
What Makes a Real Vorstehhund?
According to Ludwig Beckmann (original source, 1800s)
“If a dog does not ‘stand in front’ — does not point — he should not be called a Vorstehhund, even if his body is perfect.”
– Beckmann, p. 62
In 1878, a dog named Hektor 1. entered the Frankfurt exhibition. He was:
✔️ A natural pointer
✔️ Strong and intelligent
✔️ Brown with white ticking
✔️ The model of the original German Vorstehhund
Hektor became the foundation type — St.K.1 — referenced in early studbooks. Dogs like him, with the instinct to point, retrieve, and track, were versatile hunters — not just showpieces.
🔍 Beckmann warned:
“Many dogs today are pointing dogs in name only… they lack the pointing instinct.”
He criticized judges who favored appearance over working ability, saying the true German standard values function first — not fashion.
And on color? Beckmann was clear:
• Brown and brown-ticked = original German
• Black = often viewed as foreign-influenced
• The German hunter prefers the brown coat, grounded in native soil and utility.
So when a breed club praises looks over ability — remember:
Hektor didn’t win because he was pretty. He won because he could hunt.
Vorstehhund from the German Family of Hunting Dogs and Hounds.
Meet Hektor I St.K 1. — The Original Kurzhaarige Deutsche Vorstehhund (K.d.V.H.)
Hektor I — recorded as Hektor 1 St.K.1 and D.G.St.B. #70 — stands as the foundational dog of the German versatile hunting tradition. Born in 1872, he was the first officially documented Vorstehhund of the shorthair type, later classified as Kurzhaarige Deutsche Vorstehhund (K.d.V.H.). K.d.V.H. is the abbreviation for this dog, as documentation in Studbook Kurzhaar.
In the earliest studbooks, Hektor is labeled simply as “Vorstehhund”, with the word “Kurzhaarige” written underneath in small letters — indicating his coat type but not yet forming a standardized breed name. This naming reflects the transitional period between the Refinement of German Breeds for German Land and the creation of the Delegierten-Commission (DC) in 1879.
By 1878, under judges like Ludwig Beckmann and the guidance of Prince Albrecht of Solms-Braunfels, these dogs were officially referred to as “Vorstehhund, Kurzhaarige” — a functional hunting class, not yet a fixed breed.
Hektor was first registered in the Refinement Association under Prince Solms. When that group helped form Germany’s first national kennel club — the Delegierten-Commission — he was entered in the Deutsches Hundestammbuch (D.G.St.B.) as #70. Later, he was grandfathered into the Klub Kurzhaar, where he became St.K.1 — the first dog in the Stammbuch Kurzhaar.
Hektor I was a Prize I exhibition dog and a Sieger type, representing peak performance in:
• Pointing game,
• Trailing at night,
• Retrieving from both land and water,
• And serving as a very intelligent companion and watchdog.
As described in an early AKC publication, dogs of his type were known for:
“A staunchly pointing bird dog, a keen-nosed night trailer, a proven duck dog, a natural retriever on land and water… great powers of endurance and an intelligent family watchdog and companion.”
His bold piebald white coat with brown plates belonged to the traditional Tigerklasse, once admired by judges and hunters alike. Ludwig Beckmann, who judged the German hunting dog classes in 1878 and 1879, praised Hektor’s type and definitively stated:
“There is no such thing as a black German Pointer.” This Strain was Specific Brown and White and had been for centuries. True mark of the German Race.
Hektor belonged to a broader family of German hunting dogs, which at the time included:
• Kurzhaar (short-haired),
• Langhaar (long-haired),
• Stichelhaar (rough- or bristle-haired).
But it was the Kurzhaarige Vorstehhund refined through “Breed” testing, not show that became the core of the versatile German pointing tradition.
In 1934, this tradition was rewritten. Under Reich-imposed breeding laws, piebald coats like Hektor’s were banned, and the Deutsch-Kurzhaar (DK) standard was created. What had once been praised was now disqualified.
Yet the records still speak.
K.d.V.H. — not DK, not Pr.K. — is the original German Shorthair.
And Hektor I was its beginning.
Let’s preserve the truth — and the legacy — before it’s erased.
