Bill, I learned about braques when hunting in Morocco, with French nationals. For them, a Braque was any short-tailed, short-coated hunting dog. A German shorthair, for example, is "un Braque allemand"). The 3 or 4 different "Braque" breeds that have shown up in this country in recent years are all touted, I believe, as being closer working than our shorthairs. Otherwise, pretty much the same expectation of versatility: find and point birds, then retrieve them. I think range is the major difference, although you can find shorthairs that are referred to as "traditional" or "older-fashioned" types--not bred to run in horseback field trials--that don't run all that big either.
