The Poitevin is an excellent hunter who is loyal and gentle with his owner, but the Poitevin temperament is not suited to life with most families. He can be very difficult to train.
He is a high-energy dog that does best in hunting families. A very active family may be able to make it work, but the Poitevin is not the best choice for a home with children.
Table of Contents
Poitevin Temperament
1. Intelligent
The Poitevin is a smart breed, but he is hard to train.
2. Independent
This trait is not unusual in hunting breeds. They need it to do their jobs well. However, the Poitevin temperament is more independent and stubborn than most.
3. Loyal
This guy is not people-oriented. He does become attached to his owner, though, and maybe to a small family group.
4. Gentle
The Poitevin temperament can be kind and gentle. He does not care for children, but he is not an aggressive dog.
5. Stranger-wary
The Poitevin is not a friendly breed. He needs early socialization to strangers.
6. Social Poitevin Temperament
As a pack hunter, he gets along well with other dogs. He may prefer living in a kennel with them to living inside with people. The Poitevin does best with at least one other dog in the household.
He does not do well when left alone for long periods and this can result in separation anxiety. So it goes without saying that your Poitevin would not be happy in a home where no one is home during the day.
7. Hard-working
The Poitevin temperament is perfectly suited to the job he was bred to do. He is an expert hunter who will happily work all day, every day.
8. Energetic Poitevin Temperament
Because of that work ethic, the Poitevin has a very high exercise need. This is another reason that the Poitevin temperament is not well suited for life as a companion dog.
9. Courageous
His bravery in the hunt is one of the reasons hunters once prized the Poitevin temperament so highly.
10. Hardy
This is a strong, muscular dog with great endurance. A seven-hour hunt is not enough to tire him out.
11. Vocal
The Poitevin barks a lot. This breed is not a good choice for apartment living.
12. Guard Dog instinct
His wariness of strangers and loud bark make him a great watchdog. He wouldn’t be a good guard dog, though, because he is not aggressive.
13. High Prey Drive
This Poitevin temperament trait makes him untrustworthy around small household pets.
Poitevin History
The Poitevin is a French scenthound from the region of Poitou. It was originally called the Chien de Haut-Poitou.
The breed was developed in 1692 by the French Marquis de Layrre to be a wolf hunter.
He created the Poitevin from two other French scenthounds, the Montemboeuf and the Chien Ceris (now extinct). He also used the Greyhound and Irish scent hounds.
The result was an exceptional wolf hunter. However, as time went by, the wolf population became less of a problem. The Poitevin lost popularity with hunters.
During the French Revolution, the breed was nearly wiped out. Then a rabies outbreak in 1842 almost finished the job.
To restore the Chien de Haut-Poitou, breeders began crossing the few remaining dogs with foxhounds. In 1957, the dog’s name was changed to Poitevin Hound.
Once the breed’s numbers were high enough, breeders began selectively breeding the Poitevin. Their goal was to develop the dog back into the original Poitevin. Poitevin lovers wanted to bring back the qualities that made the Poitevin temperament and hunting skills unique.
In recent years, Americans have imported a few Poitevin. Hunters own almost all of them. They use the Poitevin as a deer tracker.
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