Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
12 Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in the atlas. Every number on this page has a source.
12 Wirehaired Pointing Griffons in the Sniff Atlas. Population-genetic snapshot, Mendelian carrier frequencies from Donner 2023, and the data substrate's release version, sample sizes, and evidence tier on every claim.
In the atlas, the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon clusters consistently as Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (100% of the 12 dogs here). Genetic diversity is high (mean heterozygosity 0.325), reflecting either a mixed-breed cluster or breeds with broad genetic backgrounds. At the trait loci, RSPO2 runs higher than the atlas average (100% here vs 55%); ADAMTS17 runs higher than the atlas average (96% here vs 54%).
Mean heterozygosity is 0.325, notably high, indicates broad genetic background. High breed predictability score (1.73), individual dogs of this breed reliably cluster together genetically. Only 12 dogs of this breed in the atlas, modestly sampled.
Closest genetic neighbors in the atlas: Vizsla, English Springer Spaniel, German Shorthaired Pointer, Gordon Setter, and Miniature Dachshund.
What the genome says about Wirehaired Pointing Griffon
Computed from the 18,477 research dogs in the Atlas.
- Vizsla2.03
- English Springer Spaniel2.98
- German Shorthaired Pointer3.81
- Gordon Setter4.07
- Miniature Dachshund4.72
Frequency of the alternate allele in this breed at each locus's representative SNP.
| IGF1 | 21% |
| HMGA2 | 92% |
| SMAD2 | 71% |
| LCORL | 96% |
| STC2 | 54% |
| ADAMTS17 | 96% |
| FGF4·CFA18 | 63% |
| FGF4·CFA12 | 83% |
| RSPO2 | 100% |
| FGF5 | 88% |
| KRT71 | 67% |
| MC1R | 100% |
| MSRB3 | 100% |
| BMP3 | 83% |
| SMOC2 | 96% |
What does the genome say about how a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon looks?
Wirehaired Pointing Griffons look the way they do because of a small set of fixed and near-fixed morphology genes that, taken together, define the visible breed. Each translation below pairs the gene with the trait an owner actually sees, the breed's allele frequency at that locus, and a one-clause causal phrase.
Size and build
IGF1 is at 21% for the small-body allele, leaving the breed firmly in the larger end of the dog body-size spectrum.
HMGA2 is near-fixed at 92%, reinforcing the breed's size signal through a second locus on chromosome 10.
SMAD2 sits at 71% at the chromosome-7 height locus.
LCORL is near-fixed at 96%, the NCAPG/LCORL height locus that is one of the strongest single contributors to canine body size.
STC2 sits at 54%.
ADAMTS17 is at 96%, near-fixed for the size variant.
Leg length
The FGF4 retrogene on chromosome 18 sits at 63%. This is the leg-length variant. The intermediate frequency means some dogs in this breed carry the short-legged allele and some do not.
The FGF4 retrogene on chromosome 12 sits at 83%, the chondrodystrophic variant.
Coat type, length, and color
RSPO2 is near-fixed at 100% for the furnishings allele, the genetic basis of the eyebrows-and-mustache pattern seen in Schnauzers and Wheaten Terriers.
FGF5 is at 88% for the long-coat variant, which is why the breed's coat sits where it does on the long end of the dog coat-length spectrum.
KRT71 sits at 67% for the wavy/curly variant. Coat curl varies across individuals at this intermediate frequency, and visible expression is also influenced by modifier loci.
MC1R is at 100% at the representative SNP. MC1R controls the switch between red-to-gold and black-to-brown pigment, with the e/e homozygous genotype producing the gold-to-red spectrum by blocking eumelanin (black and brown pigment).
Ears
MSRB3 is at 100% for the drop-ear allele, the genetic basis of the breed's signature dropped ear set.
Skull shape
BMP3 sits at 83%, contributing to the breed's moderate, mesaticephalic head shape rather than the extreme brachycephalic form.
SMOC2 is at 96%, the major locus contributing to the breed's brachycephalic face shape.
Where every number on this page came from.
This page draws on three primary data sources. Carrier frequencies for the Mendelian section come from Donner et al. 2023 (CC-BY-4.0). We grade these data at evidence Limited because the cohort is a direct-to-consumer ascertainment, which biases toward owners who chose to test their dogs. The panel also uses tag-SNP proxies for some variants rather than direct causal-variant assays. Limited is a study-design grade, not a quality grade: the Donner cohort is the largest open canine-genotype dataset in existence and we are grateful for it. We rate the confounding MEDIUM.
Population-genetic dimensions (heterozygosity, intra-breed PCA distance, nearest neighbors, trait-locus frequencies) come from CanVAS (Brundage 2026), harmonized through the Sniff Atlas. The exact release date and verification commit are pinned at the bottom of the page so a researcher can trace a number back to a specific snapshot. The disease-gene-variant graph comes from OMIA (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals; Nicholas, Tammen, and the Sydney Informatics Hub at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney; retrieved April 2026, DOI 10.25910/2AMR-PV70).
What this page does not yet have. Inheritance modes and per-disease penetrance evidence from Donner 2023 are now in the structured data for every variant the panel covers. Mondo, OMIM, Ensembl, and HGNC cross-references on gene pages remain pending — they arrive in December 2026 alongside the imputed 9.67M-variant CanVAS dataset via the OMIA SQL dump absorption. Until then, gene IDs carry NCBI Gene and OMIA phene URLs only; the wider human-homolog and disease-ontology cross-reference set fills in with that release.
How to cite this page. The computed dimensions on this page are derived from the open Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 (Gehring 2026, doi:10.5281/zenodo.20566358, CC-BY 4.0). Full citation formats including BibTeX, RIS, and CITATION.cff at sniff.world/cite.
We have 12 wirehaired pointing griffons. We do not have yours.
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- Donner J, Anderson H, Davison S, et al. (2023). Frequency and distribution of 152 genetic disease variants in over 1,000,000 mixed-breed and purebred dogs. PLOS Genetics 19(2):e1010651. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1010651
- Brundage J, et al. (2026). CanVAS: a harmonized canine variant atlas. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.04.13.718238
- Nicholas, F.W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (2026). Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. The University of Sydney. https://omia.org. doi:10.25910/2AMR-PV70 (retrieved April 2026).