All in black and white

It is attractive, hardy and has real ability yet the large Munsterlander has never caught on here as an HPR. David Tomlinson wonders why

“What’s that dog, some sort of giant spaniel?” My questioner was pointing to a large, longhaired black-and-white dog with an impressive white flag of a tail. The answer was no, it is a large Munsterlander. This is a breed that we can be forgiven for misidentifying because it is a rarity in this country, despite the fact that the first examples were imported as long ago as 1971, and the breed society, the Large Munsterlander Club, was established the following year.

In appearance the large Munsterlander does resemble a large black-and-white springer, for this is the most spaniel-like of all the German breeds of gundog that we have in this country. Of its German cousins, it has the closest affinity with the small Munsterlander and the German longhaired pointer, for the conformation and even the style of working is similar.

However, neither of these two breeds are permitted to be black and white, though occasional black-andwhy white puppies are born. The Germans are very strict about such matters, so a puppy that is the wrong colour cannot be registered. In the past it would have been tapped on the head at birth but these days it is more likely to end up as a pet.

Quite why the large Munsterlander has never become more common here is something of a mystery, for it is an attractive and hardy dog with real ability. When I asked Rory Major, one of Britain’s leading trainers of HPRS, to name his top 15 breeds earlier this year (Which is the best HPR?, 15 February, and Contest goes to the wire, 22 February), he put the large Munsterlander at number four, ahead of both the German longhaired pointer (five) and the German shorthaired pointer (GSP) (six).

I make no apologies for repeating Rory’s comments on the breed, as they are relevant to this piece: “This is another breed that I can’t understand it’s not more popular: the trouble is that there are not enough people working them. They have bags of enthusiasm and will go all day, but you only see one or two decent ones in field trials. However, this is a breed on the up, as the recent import of German dogs seems to have improved their hunting ability. Remember that this is traditionally a woodland dog.”

Curiously, the large Munsterlander is not, as far as I am aware, numerous

“It does resemble a springer and is the most spaniel-like of the german gundogs”

in its native country. I’ve twice been shooting in the north German province of North Rhine-westphalia, close to the town of Münster, but on neither occasion did I see a single large Munsterlander. Perhaps I was unlucky, but I did see plenty of other HPR breeds in action, including small Munsterlanders and Weimaraners.

Incidentally, it is worth pointing out that the name small Munsterlander is misleading, for

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The large Munsterlander is often mistakenly identified as a spaniel