medium-to-large breed
German Longhaired Pointer
One of Germany's versatile hunting dogs, expected to point, retrieve from land and water, and track wounded game, all in the same animal. German Longhaired Pointers are affectionate and notably settled at home, patient with children, and enormously driven the moment they are outdoors. They are rare outside Germany and still bred almost entirely for hunting, which makes them a poor fit for a household that will not give them work.
Pup Height
23-28 in
Males 24-28 in, females 23-26 in. Brown, or brown and white in patched, roan or ticked patterns - solid white and black are not permitted, which is what separates them from the Large Munsterlander that shares their ancestry. The coat is moderately long and flat with feathering on the ears, legs, chest and tail. In the AKC's Foundation Stock Service. Source: AKC Foundation Stock Service breed standard.
Pup Weight
55-80 lb
Pup Lifespan
12-14 years
Your pup, at a glance
What’s Life With This Pup Really Like?
High. They are affectionate and companionable at home, and notably settled indoors once the day's work has happened.
Excellent. Gentle, patient and sturdy, with the even temperament German performance testing selects for.
Very good with dogs, having been bred to work alongside them. Cats depend on socialization and the prey drive is real.
Low. They are quiet dogs at home who give tongue on a track rather than around the house.
Very high. Two hours of real work daily is the floor, and the mental half matters as much as the physical.
Moderate. The feathering sheds steadily with heavier seasonal turns and needs brushing rather than trimming.
Enthusiastic and tireless, especially retrieving and in water. They play the way they work - all in.
Very low.
Excellent. Attentive, willing and cooperative, and soft enough that gentle methods get far more than pressure.
Moderate. They announce arrivals and have no real guarding instinct behind it.
Moderate. Twice-weekly brushing plus the post-outing seed, ear and injury check that is the routine that actually matters.
Low. They need land, work and preferably a hunting handler, and they do badly in any household that cannot supply them.
Lifestyle fit
Could This Be Your Best Breed?
A German Longhaired Pointer belongs with a hunter, a field-trial competitor, or someone with land and two hours a day to fill - not with a family that wants a handsome, gentle dog and a yard. They cost $1,400 to $2,400 a year, are generally healthy, and live twelve to fourteen years. An apartment or a suburban lot, with no hunting and no field work in the week, leaves this breed with nothing to do and nowhere to do it.
Living Space
Land, or a house with serious ground to run on. German Longhaired Pointers are full working versatile gundogs still bred almost entirely for hunting, and a suburban yard does not come close.
Pup Experience
Better for owners with working-gundog experience, and ideally hunters. GLPs are biddable and easy to teach - the difficulty is that German breed clubs test these dogs on live work and produce them for it, so the drive is real and constant.
Daily Pup Time
Two hours minimum of hard work daily with scent work in it. Grooming is a thorough brush twice a week plus weekly ear care.
Allergies & Coat
The German Longhaired Pointer scores 5/10 for shedding and 2/10 for drooling. No dog is truly hypoallergenic. The allergens come from dander and saliva, and a dog that sheds this much will leave plenty of hair behind - especially on your furniture, floors, and clothes.
Quirks & challenges
The Not-So-Easy Stuff
They Need to Hunt
Bred and still tested on live work. Without real scent work and retrieving they do not settle.
Very High Exercise Needs
Two hours of hard work daily. A long walk is not a substitute for a job.
Hard to Find
Few outside Germany, and clubs often place puppies only with hunting homes.
Scent Beats Recall
A pointing dog ranging on a line is only partly listening. Long lines and secure ground.
Ears Need Weekly Work
Feathered drop ears on a dog who works water. Neglect turns infection chronic.
Seeds in the Feathering
Grass seeds work into the leg and ear furnishings after every outing in cover.
The good, the bad & the hairy
Health, Care & Costs
Understanding the health risks and ongoing costs of a German Longhaired Pointer helps you plan for a happy, healthy life together.
12-14 years
$50-$80
per groom (bath, feathering tidy, ears, nails), every 8-12 weeks or done at home ($0-$400/year)
$1,400-$2,400/year
all-in (food, routine vet, grooming, insurance, incidentals)
Health Risks
Conditions this breed is prone to.
Worth stating first. German clubs have required health screening and working tests before breeding for over a century, and the breed has never been popular enough to be bred carelessly - the inherited-disease list is genuinely short.
The joints develop loosely or unevenly and wear into arthritis, sometimes needing surgery. Rates are low by large-gundog standards because of the club requirements, and both parents should still have scored hips and elbows.
Feathered drop ears trap warmth and moisture against the canal, and a dog working water makes it worse. Weekly checking, cleaning and drying is the whole prevention; ignored it becomes chronic.
The most likely reason they see a vet, and not inherited. A large dog running rough cover collects cuts, torn pads, grass seeds in the feathering and the occasional torn cruciate - a repair runs into the thousands.
The stomach fills with gas and twists, cutting off its own circulation, and it kills within hours without emergency surgery. Deep-chested and at real risk - split meals and keep hard exercise clear of them.
Listed because it is the likeliest thing to go wrong and it is entirely preventable. Destructiveness and restlessness in this breed are symptoms of an unworked gundog rather than a temperament fault.
Insurance & Health Coverage
A healthy breed with a century of club-enforced testing behind it, so the illness side is light and premiums should be reasonable.
What you are insuring is trauma. A large gundog working heavy cover and water collects punctures, lacerations and torn ligaments, and those are the claims that arrive. Accident cover earns its keep here more than illness cover - and check whether the policy excludes injuries sustained while hunting or working, because several do and that exclusion removes exactly the cover this dog needs.
Bloat is the emergency to plan for rather than insure against alone. Ear infections are the steady drip underneath: never large, never finished.
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Care needs
The Daily Routine
Grooming
A moderately long flat coat with feathering on the ears, chest, legs and tail that needs a thorough brush twice a week - mats form fastest behind the ears and in the trousers. Very little trimming is wanted. The routine that matters is the post-outing check: grass seeds out of the feathering and between the toes, ears cleaned and dried, and a look over for cuts picked up in cover.
Exercise
Two hours minimum daily, and the scent half is not optional. Field work, tracking, water retrieving and long hikes all suit them; distance walking alone does not touch a dog bred to solve scent problems for hours.
Food & Weight
Two measured meals scaled to the work, with hard exercise kept clear of them given the bloat risk. A working Longhair burns a great deal and an idle one far less, so feed the dog in front of you rather than the breed average.
Similar breeds
If This Isn’t Quite the One
Drentsche Patrijshond
A close continental relative with the same versatile brief and a similar coat. The Drent is smaller, calmer and far better suited to living as a family companion; the Longhair is bigger and needs considerably more work.
Deutscher Wachtelhund
The other German versatile gundog on this site, and a useful contrast. The Wachtelhund is a flusher and boar-tracker, tougher and harder-driving; the Longhair points and retrieves and is the gentler of the two at home.