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Old Danish Pointers are moderately vocal, neither quiet nor loud: barking is rated 3 out of 5 in our breed record, the exact middle of the scale. An Old Danish Pointer barks at the door, at strange noises and at the genuinely interesting, and then, its point made, it stops. The Old Danish Pointer weighs 57 to 75 lb, carries very high energy and needs 60 to 120 minutes of exercise a day; a dog whose exercise and company needs are met is a dog whose 3 out of 5 stays a description of its potential rather than its daily output. The sections below cover the triggers that move a middle-score breed upward, because with this dog the environment writes at least half the story.
Puppies are bright, handsome charmers; adults are athletic, devoted companions. Owners describe the complete Danish gundog: the pointer as a gentleman's steady partner rather than a speedster. Owners describe a dog of quality and steadiness: the heavy old honsehund, methodical in the field and gentlemanly by the fire. Pointers are athletes first: they need long, free running exercise and a training outlet for the nose, or the energy comes out in other ways. Denmark produced the Old Danish Pointer for one main task: to quarter open ground at speed, find game birds by scent and point them rock steady.
Our record gives the Old Danish Pointer a profile that all points the same way. A Sporting heritage from Denmark; a lifespan of 10 to 14 years; senior status from around age 7 years; a coat described as Short, smooth, dense coat lying close, hard enough to shrug off rough cover. It is a large dog of 57 to 75 lb from the Sporting group, developed in Denmark, with an Athletic, even tempered, alert and hardworking temperament. Read together, those lines describe how much dog is making the noise, how often it is likely to feel like making it, and how much of the household's week the dog occupies, which is the real context any barking verdict needs.
The trigger list for an Old Danish Pointer is the standard canine one, honestly held. The door and the doorbell lead it. Visitors arriving get a greeting with volume in it; visitors leaving get a shorter one. The breed's strangers rating, Friendly with strangers, shapes the rest: people it does not know get announced, people it does get a tail instead. None of this is unusual, which is rather the point of a middle score: the Old Danish Pointer's voice is a normal dog voice, present, purposeful and, on an ordinary day, brief.
Pointers are athletes first, per the overview, and the Danish dog repays the work with a famously calm home nature between outings. Short, clear sessions suit a methodical worker.
No score lives alone on the record. Alongside barking at 3 of 5, the Old Danish Pointer carries energy at 5 of 5 and a trainability score of 4 out of 5, and apartment life rated Not ideal. Apartment suitability is rated Not ideal, which is the line apartment readers should weigh beside the bark score, because a dog can be welcome in a flat for its size and unwelcome for its soundtrack, or the reverse. Its health watch list, Hip dysplasia, Elbow dysplasia and Eye conditions, belongs in the long view: a dog kept sound and lean is a calmer dog, and calm is the raw material quiet is made from.
Start with the first name on that shortlist, the Braque Français, and the difference is already instructive: two breeds can share a build, a coat and a working past and still sit a full point apart on barking, because the score follows the breed's recorded temperament and heritage, not its silhouette. The Old Danish Pointer's 3 out of 5 should therefore be read as a measurement of this breed alone. The Old Danish Pointer's 3 out of 5 is its own: judge the noise by it, not by a lookalike's reputation, because two similar breeds can be very different neighbors.
Work on the two predictable stages: arrivals and windows. Arrivals improve when the dog has a job incompatible with announcing, a mat to go to, a toy to fetch, practiced in calm rehearsals long before the doorbell matters. Fix the pattern and the volume follows. An Old Danish Pointer is not a barking problem wearing a dog suit; it is an Athletic, even tempered, alert and hardworking Sporting breed with a middle voice, and most households that meet its exercise and company needs describe the barking the way the record does, 3 out of 5, present, purposeful and brief.
Adolescents are at maximum stamina and hunting drive, and structured field training carries the household through. Adults enjoy a long, sturdy prime: ten to fourteen years.
A few record lines deserve a place in this decision. The Old Danish Pointer is a Sporting breed from Denmark, carrying a short smooth dense coat, rated 3 of 5 for grooming effort and 3 of 5 for shedding. Food for a typical 66 lb adult runs about $40 a month on this site's cost record, and insurance is recorded at $41 to $75 a month. Read the bark score, 3 out of 5, against those figures and you have the whole decision: the voice, the dog it is attached to, and the daily routine that decides how much of the voice you hear.
That is the core of the breed's vocal life, and its strangers rating reads Friendly with strangers. In the Old Danish Pointer's case the setting matters as much as the rule: this is a breed with very high energy and a bark level of 3 out of 5, so its voice is heard against a fairly specific home backdrop. An Old Danish Pointer with a bark score of 3 out of 5 announces unfamiliar people as a matter of course; whether the announcement is a single bark or a full report depends on the score, the dog and how the visitor behaves. Friends who visit often graduate quickly to the greeted list. Strangers who behave strangely, lingering at the fence, staring in at the window, get the extended edition whatever the score says.
Often, yes, and the record's dog rating, Usually good with dogs, frames why. With the Old Danish Pointer, whose typical weight runs 57 to 75 pounds and whose lifespan reaches 10 to 14 years, the honest answer also changes a little across the dog's life, from puppyhood to senior status at about 7 years. Barking at dogs is usually one of three things: a greeting that overshoots, frustration at a lead or fence that prevents a greeting, or a warning to keep distance. The Old Danish Pointer's score, 3 out of 5, predicts the volume of whichever it is. A dog that is exercised, 60 to 120 minutes a day for this breed, and taught to settle and look back at its owner owns a volume control that an under exercised dog simply does not have. Old Danish Pointers are sturdy, willing and notably steady for pointers, working close and methodically with a powerful nose and a calm temperament.
Start with the cause, not the noise. The Old Danish Pointer's own numbers frame it: shedding at 3 out of 5, grooming at 3 out of 5, and a height of 20 to 24 inches, which is the household this voice has to fit into. Meet the exercise need first, 60 to 120 minutes daily, then teach a settle cue in calm moments so it exists in loud ones, and reward the pauses after barking rather than shouting through them. Manage the stages the dog performs on, windows, fences, the front door routine. At 3 out of 5, this breed's trainability of 4 out of 5 makes the program very workable, but it is a program of weeks. Anyone selling you a silent Old Danish Pointer by Friday is selling you fear, not training.
Last updated: November 11, 2026