BRACCO ITALIANO BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY BY BRACCO ITALIANO CLUB OF AMERICA T he Bracco Italiano has been called the oldest European Pointer, and its history reaches back to the fourth or fifth century BC. While the exact ancestral origins are unknown, it is generally accepted that the Bracco Italiano has both Segugio Italiano and the Asi- atic Mastiff in its ancestry. The breed was developed in Northern Italy, with two distinct varieties known to Pied- mont and Lombardy, respectively.
By the medieval period, the breed was well established and the Italian aristocracy exported the Bracco across the Old World. This dissemination of dogs throughout the fif- teenth century gave rise to new sporting breeds as the Ital- ian Pointers cross-bred with local dogs, especially in France where similar breeds did not yet exist. The English Pointer, Brittany, German Shorthaired Pointer, and Portuguese Pointer have all been speculated to be descendants of the Bracco Italiano.
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, NOVEMBER 2021 | 289
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