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 What
do you call a hard-charging pointing dog that is tractable, easily
trained, makes a happy household companion and retrieves with as much
inborn enthusiasm as the best Labrador?
Almost unobtainable is one thing you have to call this dog. Its proper
name is Braque du Bourbonnais.
With just a couple dozen examples in the country, the breed cannot have
much in the way of reputation in the U. S. yet. The little female we would
hunt in the foothills country of southwest Idaho one day last November had
only to live up to the claims of her owner.
Had the owner been someone other than Lonn Kuck, the big game manager for
the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and well-known for the accuracy of
his statements, I would have been acutely skeptical. One European breed
after another has come to the rugged canyon country of Idaho, promising to
do it all. Most have disappointed us.
We’re still looking for the one that goes all day in mostly vertical
habitat; is not stumped by the varied behaviors of the pheasant,
partridge, grouse and quail that a dog may meet in a single foray; doesn’t
make you want a 2 by 4 training aid; and is nice about the whole thing.
Granting that it is tricky to judge from one day spent with one young dog
in her first hunting season, let me cautiously suggest we may be onto
something with the Bourbonnais.
Bessy (Phantom’s Belle La Bete) had already shown herself to be eager,
willing to dive into whatever tough stuff river and canyon bottoms offer,
and remarkably under control for such a young dog. When I downed my second
California quail of the day, she could not have seen the bird go down in
the basalt boulders across the small canyon. It had whirred out of the
willows above her head in the creekbottom, gained altitude over her back
and offered me a Mach II left-to-right shot. (This ungentlemanly behavior
is typical of quail in this part of the world. Classic bobwhite style is
devoutly to be desired among pointing dog fans but we don’t have enough of
the eastern species to set an example in deportment for the California
types.)
The bird fluttered down in the same kind of rocky jumble that had cost me
his cousin the day before, despite 45 minutes of retrieving effort by a
middle-aged writer and a many-seasoned Brittany. I didn’t expect any
excited young dog to root a wounded quail from under whatever bus-sized
boulder it had chosen for its final resting place. But Kuck called Bessy
out of the scent-filled willow thicket and quickly hand signaled her to
the area. With a couple more hand signals, to which she showed strict
attention, Kuck put her into the exact spot I indicated. In about one
minute of intense searching, she found the scent and the bird, then
retrieved it to Kuck’s hand.
I could have asked no better performance from any experienced retrieving
dog I have ever shot over. She had already run down the first quail I
wingtipped with a too snappy snapshot but that bird streaked away in plain
sight, a test any enthusiastic dog might pass.
The morning on a large Fish and Game Wildlife Management Area along the
Payette River had not provided the opportunity to watch or photograph
Bessy’s pointing style. Hawks and hunters had cleaned out the innocent
game farm pheasants that would have allowed her to show her form. Southern
Idaho’s wild population came up short of expectations last fall so we
chose the WMA as a higher percentage bet for birds.
The dearth of ringnecks tested Bessy’s desire and stamina sternly; she
hunted wholeheartedly through cattail jungles and rank grasses for more
than two hours without any sign of discouragement at scenting only a
couple of old tracks. No hunter could have reasonably asked for more
determination or, for that matter, style. She moved fast with head high
until catching a whiff of whatever required closer checking, then made
thorough use of her talented nose. She demonstrated no inclination to
leave her master’s control.
If she suffered any disadvantage, it was on account of her relatively
short build. Slugging through high, tangled grass was sometimes an obvious
effort, but she seemed to lose none of her enthusiasm.
Kuck recalled hunting earlier in the fall on a North Dakota ranch where he
and Bessy saw hundreds of pheasants each day. Her hard-charging birdiness
and retrieving ability made the trip a delight, but he admitted there is
some work still to be done on her pointing style.
The Bourbonnais may typically need more maturity than some other breeds
before pointing performance reaches its peak, according to Beth Cepil, the
breed’s chief U. S. advocate.
 Cepil and her husband Ron own Phantom Kennels at New Tripoli,
Pennsylvania. The Cepils run what appears to be the only
Braque du Bourbonnais breeding program in the country at present.
Cepil said she plans to go slowly with the breed, not "overpopularizing"
it for the moment. She said she wants to hear more from the owners of
puppies she has sold before expanding her breeding and importing program.
Phantom Kennels has so far produced three litters. She noted that she is
importing only from "working" lines but her goal is to maintain both
working ability and conformation. "I want it all" in this breed, she said.
Cepil’s and her clients’ experience over the four years she has handled
the Bourbonnais parallel Kuck’s precisely. The dogs work close to the gun
with great enthusiasm, are unusually tractable, retrieve instinctively
from early puppyhood, are not "hyper" and are of a size and disposition to
make them exceptional household companions. They accept training well and
quickly, making them an excellent choice for amateur trainers, but they
are best not subjected to the harder methods.
Breeders in the south central part of France, the main center for the
Bourbonnais, have been careful about health, Cepil said. She added that no
hip dysplasia has appeared in the breed.
Bessy is Kuck’s first dog trainee and he admits it has been a "learning
experience for both of us." He is hardly a first-timer to animal training,
however, having bred and shown a long line of prize-winning bloodhounds.
His wife keeps and trains a pair of pet pack mules. His previous
experiences show in the calmly competent way he handles Bessy as well as
in her performance. His opinion of his protege is so high that he is
considering beginning his own Bourbonnais breeding program, recognizing
the commitment that would require.
Kuck and Bessy display exuberant affection for one another, surely a
crucial factor in Kuck’s appreciation of the breed.
Why would a bird gunner think about a breed that’s hard to find and not so
different from, say, the well-proven Brittany? The rarity factor appeals
to Kuck and Cepil and surely to others as well. The appeal of the
Bourbonnais to a hunter who wants a capable canine companion comes from
the dog’s cheerful enthusiasm, easy disposition, birdiness, and dedication
to retrieving.
Kuck, by the way, thought Bessy might be atypical for her unbidden
attraction to water. Not being a waterfowler, he has had no chance to see
how she might work in that environment. Cepil said an owner in Minnesota
hunts geese successfully with his.
Having worked a 32-year-long parade of bums, stars and mediocrities from
most of the retrieving breeds, as well as several pointing types, I can
say I would spend my own money on a Braque du Bourbonnais.
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