The pointer itself is not coincidental, but rather the result of strategic breeding in an effort to accomplish a particular set of goals: to defeat the English setter in the field trials of America and to create a dog that could effectively cover the wider expanses of terrain and handle all forms of the native birds of the American continent. The earliest importations of pointer blood were not adequate to suit the environmental conditions of the American continent. The dogs were too large, too heavy-boned, and because of this there were a number of selective breedings that occurred which changed the conformation of the pointer in a very short amount of time--roughly over the span of 50-60 years. 

Read more at projectupland.com.