At the present time, the public is used to dogs that are trained to do many jobs like being watchdogs, therapy dogs, show dogs and other things. The German Shorthaired Pointer is one such breed. However, back in the 19th century, the "hunting dog" was looked at as part of a nobleman's wealth. Actually, in Europe at that time, since the wealthy owned most of the land, it was believed that only the wealthy could hunt with dogs. Some of the upper class even had different dogs for different hunting jobs like tracking, pointers to point out prey and retrievers to bring back the prey. When the industrial revolution took place, the middle class came into existence and liked the idea of hunting as sport. However, this class of people didn't have the financial resources to pay for a lot of hunting dogs for their hunting parties. For this reason, the need arose for hunting dog that could perform all the tasks needed by a hunter. There were German hunters who began to experiment with breeding the "all purpose" hunting dog and the German Shorthaired Pointer was the end result.

Right now the GSP is considered the most versatile hunter one can own. This breed can find a range of game from the tiniest animal to a large deer or bear. This dog points, sets, can hold the game. The breed also retrieves extremely well on a variety of terrain, including land, mud, snow, and water. The webbed feet of the German Shorthaired Pointer considerably help the animal function beautifully just about anywhere. This breed also possesses a great nose and tracks very well because of the characteristics of the dog breeds that resulted in the German Shorthaired Pointer. This breed of dog takes very little training for its role as a master hunter because of all the inborn features related to its ancestors from Europe.

The German Shorthaired Pointer is a dog that is instinctually a hunter. Since the duties of a hunting dog are quite physical, this is a breed of dog that will require a lot of exercise and perhaps other activities that will provide outlets for its energy needs. Of course, many owners of German Shorthaired Pointers are not hunting dogs. If you are an owner, but not a hunter, it would be important to find these alternative outlets such as obedience trialing, competition, and agility training could be considered.