Most hunters I’ve talked to who end up between these two breeds say the same thing — they found plenty of breed profiles online, but nothing written by someone who actually hunts behind either dog. You get comparison tables that list height, weight, and “exercise needs” without a word about how the dog actually moves in the field, how it handles pressure in training, or what it’s like to load it in the truck on a cold October morning. If you’ve narrowed it down to the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and the Spinone Italiano, here’s what you actually need to know.
Two Shaggy Versatile Hunters With Very Different Histories
The WHG is a young breed in the grand scheme of hunting dogs. Eduard Korthals, a Dutch breeder working in the 1870s, put it together deliberately — crossing continental pointing breeds with the explicit goal of producing a do-it-all hunting dog. Korthals kept meticulous records and culled hard. What came out the other end points, retrieves, tracks, and works water without needing to be re-trained for each task. The breed made it to North America in the early 1900s and has been earning converts among upland hunters ever since.
The Spinone is a completely different kind of breed history. Nobody sat down in the 1870s and designed it. It evolved — in Italy, over centuries, possibly reaching back to Roman-era hunting dogs. Some breed historians think Korthals may have pulled from ancient Italian pointing stock when he built the WHG, which would make the Spinone a likely ancestor of the dog you’re comparing it to. What’s certain is that the Spinone was shaped by Italian terrain and Italian hunting culture over a timeframe that makes the WHG look like a recent experiment.
They share the shaggy, wire-coated look and the HPR classification — hunt, point, retrieve. Beyond that, history shaped them into meaningfully different tools. The WHG was engineered with a specific outcome in mind. The Spinone was refined by generations of terrain and usage. That difference shows up in how they hunt.
Hunting Style — The Decisive Difference
Neither of these dogs is going to quarter at 200 yards. If that’s what you’re after, you need a different breed entirely. Both the WHG and the Spinone are close workers — but close working is about where the similarities end. The way these two dogs move in the field is different enough that it genuinely matters for where and how you hunt.
The WHG hunts at a pace that feels efficient and purposeful. It stays in gun range, covers ground without dawdling, and handles water without hesitation. A good chunk of the WHG’s development was aimed at waterfowl work, and that heritage shows — the coat is stiffer and more waterproof than the Spinone’s, and the dog has a natural comfort with cold, wet conditions that not every continental breed shares. If you’re hunting flooded timber, marshes, or anywhere a dog is going to be in and out of water, the WHG handles it better.
The Spinone hunts slower. This is the thing that catches hunters off guard the first time they watch one work. It is not sluggish — it is deliberate. The Spinone was built for Italian terrain that is thick with thorns and brush, and its method of moving through cover reflects that. It works the ground thoroughly, not quickly. The nose work is exceptional, and the pace is unhurried by design. Hunters who want a dog that burns through a field in the first hour are going to be frustrated. Hunters who want a dog that methodically takes apart dense cover and doesn’t bump birds tend to find it deeply satisfying.
Think about where you hunt most. Water and wet fields — the WHG has the edge. Heavy brush and thick upland cover — the Spinone was built for that. Both reward hunters who value close, thorough work over ground-covering speed.
Trainability and Sensitivity — Neither Tolerates a Heavy Hand
Hunters who come from Labradors or German Shorthairs sometimes run into a wall with these breeds. They use the same pressure and correction-based approach that worked on their previous dog, and what they get back is a dog that shuts down. The WHG and the Spinone are not built for that style of training. Hard corrections — repeated e-collar pressure, physical compulsion, punishment when the dog gets it wrong — produce avoidance and a dog that loses interest in working. That’s not a character flaw. It’s how these breeds are wired.
The WHG is genuinely eager to please. It pays attention to its handler, wants to get things right, and responds well to clear, positive feedback. Training a WHG feels collaborative — the dog is working with you, not just executing commands. That eagerness makes it relatively approachable for hunters who are training their own dog for the first time, as long as they stay patient and avoid pressure-heavy methods.
The Spinone is a different animal in training. It can look, to an outside observer, like it’s ignoring you. During a drill, it might move slowly, pause when you expect it to go, or seem like it missed the command entirely. Experienced Spinone owners will tell you it’s processing. The Spinone is a deliberate thinker, and it needs a beat to work through what’s being asked of it. Push it before it’s ready and it digs in. Wait it out and it delivers. First-time Spinone owners sometimes conclude their dog is dumb or stubborn. Neither is true. They just need to adjust how they work with it.
The bottom line on training: neither breed tolerates heavy-handed methods. Both do well with patient, consistent, positive training. If your background is correction-based and you’re not willing to change your approach, these are the wrong breeds for you regardless of which one you choose.
Size and Physical Differences
The WHG runs 50 to 60 pounds, 20 to 24 inches at the shoulder. It’s a medium-sized dog with a lean, athletic build — maneuverable in tight cover, easy to load and transport. The Spinone is bigger across the board: 61 to 86 pounds, 22 to 28 inches. That’s a substantial dog, and the Spinone carries its weight in a heavy-boned, muscular frame rather than a lean one.
That size difference matters in practical terms. If you’re running dogs in a standard truck kennel or dealing with rough terrain that requires loading the dog in and out, the WHG’s size is simply easier to manage. The Spinone’s bulk is functional — that body mass is part of what lets it push through punishing brush without getting shredded — but it’s also a bigger dog to handle day to day.
The coats are different in a way that matters for where you hunt. The WHG’s coat is stiffer, more like a true wire coat, and it sheds water reasonably well. After a water retrieve in cold weather, a WHG shakes off and is more or less functional. The Spinone’s coat is softer — closer to rough wool — and while it stops briars and brush beautifully, it holds water. A Spinone that’s been in and out of a swamp is going to be carrying some extra weight in that coat for a while. Both coats need occasional maintenance, but neither is a high-maintenance grooming situation.
As a Family and House Dog
Both of these breeds are genuinely good house dogs — not just tolerable ones. Among HPR breeds, the combination of solid field work and genuine domestic calm is less common than people assume. The WHG and the Spinone both deliver it, and it’s a legitimate reason why hunters with families gravitate toward them.
The WHG is affectionate and easy to live with. It settles well once it’s had exercise, handles kids without being rough about it, and doesn’t make a pest of itself indoors. For a family that needs a dog that genuinely functions in the house — not just survives the house between hunting days — the WHG is a natural fit. It’s a working dog that figured out how to turn it off when the work is done.
The Spinone turns it off even more completely. Spinone owners describe a dog that goes from the field to the living room floor with barely a transition. Visitors who meet a Spinone at home sometimes ask if the dog is tired or unwell. It’s neither — that’s just the Spinone’s indoor setting. With kids, the Spinone is remarkably patient — its size could be intimidating, but its temperament is so gentle that it doesn’t register as a big dog in the house. It absorbs commotion rather than adding to it.
If you need a hunting dog that also functions as a true family dog, both breeds deliver. The Spinone takes the indoor docility a step further than the WHG — that’s not a close call among people who’ve lived with both.
Which One Is Right for Your Hunt
Get the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon if you hunt wet — marshes, flooded fields, beaver swamps, cold-water retrieves where a dog’s coat actually matters. Get it if you’re based in North America and want practical access to NAVHDA testing, an established network of breeders with field-proven dogs, and a breed that has several decades of American hunting history to draw from. The WHG is also the better call if your training approach requires a dog that responds quickly and clearly — it’s a more cooperative partner in training sessions than the Spinone tends to be.
Get the Spinone Italiano if you hunt thick, nasty brush that shreds lighter dogs — the Spinone’s build and methodical pace make it exceptional in that kind of cover. Get it if you want the most genuinely calm hunting dog you’ve ever lived with, both in the field and at home. Get it if the ancient lineage of the breed matters to you — if hunting behind a dog that may trace directly back to Roman-era hunting stock is something you find meaningful rather than irrelevant.
Neither dog belongs with a hunter who wants range and speed. Both belong with a hunter who runs cover deliberately, values a thorough nose over a wide cast, and wants a dog they can actually stand to be around for the other six days of the week. The WHG is the more practical choice for most North American hunters. The Spinone is the right choice for the hunter who can work with its timeline, appreciates what slow and thorough actually produces in the field, and wants something genuinely different from every other dog in the parking lot at the trailhead.
Stay in the loop
Get the latest griffist updates delivered to your inbox.