Every good bird dog carries two histories at once. One is written on the ground — the staunch point, the soft mouth, the long water retrieve in November. The other is written on paper, in studbooks and registries and the patient ledgers of men who decided, more than a hundred years ago, that this dog was worth keeping pure. If you own a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, you are a steward of both. And sooner or later you will want to understand the paper as well as you understand the dog.
This is the front door to that understanding. Think of it as a map of three countries the Griffon lives in: the breed’s history — where it came from and why France matters so much to it; the registries — the alphabet soup of AKC, UKC, CKC, NAVHDA and the rest, and which one belongs on your dog’s papers; and the clubs — the national breed club and the local outfits where you actually train, test, and find your people. Each gets its own deeper article. Start here, then follow the trail wherever your dog leads you.
Two histories at once — the dog on the ground and the dog on paper. A new series on heritage and registries.
Where the Breed Came From
The short version surprises most people: the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon was the life’s work of a Dutchman, Eduard Karel Korthals, who did most of his breeding in Germany, and whose dog was ultimately preserved and made famous by France. That triangle — Dutch vision, German workshop, French custody — is the whole story in miniature, and it is why you will sometimes hear the Griffon called the “Korthals Griffon” on one side of the Atlantic and the “Wirehaired Pointing Griffon” on the other.
We tell it properly in two pieces. The first covers Korthals himself and the founding of the breed — the man, the vision, and the small band of foundation dogs the whole breed descends from. The second covers how France saved and spread the Griffon, the country that has guarded the standard ever since and still runs the breed’s home registry today.
With the history in hand, two companion pieces round out the picture of the dog itself: the breed standard, read five ways — how the AKC, UKC, FCI, French, and Canadian books each describe the same Griffon — and the Griff life, what the breed is really like afield and at home.
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Which Registry Belongs on Your Dog’s Papers
Here is where new owners get tangled. A registry is simply the organization that records your dog’s pedigree and lets it compete for that body’s titles. In the United States the main names are the AKC, the UKC, and — for versatile hunting dogs specifically — NAVHDA. Each does a different job, and a serious Griffon can carry papers with all three at once.
How we register our pups
At Griffons Out West, our puppies can be registered with the AKC, NAVHDA, and the UKC. By default we handle AKC registration prepaid for you, so your pup goes home already in the largest pedigree registry in the country. From there, NAVHDA and UKC are easy to add as your dog’s career takes shape. You are never locked into one world.
Papers are only as good as the dog behind them, which is why responsible breeding starts before the litter is ever planned. For the health screening a Griffon should carry — per the AWPGA, the UKC’s Korthals Griffon United States, and the French club — and how our own sire and dam meet it with verifiable results, see Griffon health testing: what the clubs require.
The Clubs Where the Real Work Happens
Papers are nouns; clubs are verbs. The registry records what your dog has done, but the clubs are where you actually do it — the training days, the tests, the trials, the mentors who teach you to read your dog. There are three layers worth knowing: the national breed club, the local NAVHDA and pointing-dog clubs, and the all-breed kennel clubs for those who want to show.
You do not have to read these in order. A new puppy owner might start with registries; a history buff might start with Korthals; a Montana hunter ready to test this spring might jump straight to the clubs. Wherever you begin, the articles cross-link, the way a good day afield circles back on itself. And if your real question is “what should my dog actually do with all this,” our companion Field Tests & Trials series walks every testing program rung by rung. The paper and the ground, together, the way it should be.
How this article was made: researched and written with AI, then reviewed, edited, and published by Griffons Out West in Belgrade, Montana.
The history, registry, and club details summarized above are drawn from primary sources cited in full within each linked article, including the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, the American Kennel Club, and NAVHDA. Always confirm current registration rules and event schedules with each organization before you rely on them.
Heritage & Registries
Every Piece in the Series
From the breed standard and its French origins to the registries and clubs that keep the bloodlines — dig into any chapter below.
