Brittany

Coat

Epagneul Breton

Solid: Black (35) Red (55) Orange (65) Brown (95)
Tan: with Tan (105) markings in the traditional or creeping pattern.
White Markings: All dogz must have White (15) on at least the feet/lower legs and as a large chest patch.
Higher degrees of irish spotting, blanket, piebald and extreme spotting is allowed.
A blaze is desirable in all colours.
The white is preferred to not touch the eyes in pose. 50% or more white touching the eyes is faulted in proportion to the amount of white. 100% white around the eyes is a DQ.
Ticking/Roaning: Allowed in all colours.

American

Solid: Red (55) Orange (65) Brown (95)
Tan: Allowed but not preferred. with Tan (105) markings in the traditional or creeping pattern.
White Markings: All dogz must have White (15) on at least the feet/lower legs and as a large chest patch.
Higher degrees of irish spotting, blanket, piebald and extreme spotting is allowed.
A blaze is desirable in all colours.
The white is preferred to not touch the eyes in pose. 50% or more white touching the eyes is faulted in proportion to the amount of white. 100% white around the eyes is a DQ.
Ticking/Roaning: Allowed in all colours.

Eyes

Epagneul Breton

Brown (60-69/50-59/90-99) in black nosed dogz.
Gold (120-129/100-109, 215) Copper (60-69) in others.

American

Gold (120-129/100-109, 215) Copper (60-69)

Nose

Epagneul Breton

Black (35-39/244) in black dogz.
Liver (90-99/50-59/60-69/188-189/228) in liver dogz.
Flesh (180-187/70-79/40-49/213) in orange dogz.
Black-nosed orange dogz may have a dudley nose, which is a spot in the middle of the nose.

American

Liver (90-99/50-59/60-69/188-189/228) in liver dogz.
Black (35-39/244) Flesh (180-187/70-79/40-49/213) in orange dogz.

Faults

Wrong eye colour in the Epagneul Breton variety.
Butterfly nose in the American variety.
50% or more white surrounding the eyes.

Disqualifications

Wrong eye colour in the American variety.
Dogz with white on the ears and/or surrounding the eyes.

Notes

The Brittany originates from the area around Pontou, France. Here a famous male orange/white and natural bob-tailed male dog was born. His mother was a local spaniel from the Argoat woods, a so called 'Agasse', while his father was an English Setting Spaniel. The Pontou-dog grew up to be an excellent bird dog and fathered many puppies, passing on not only his hunting abilities but also his colour and the genes for a bobtail, which made it easy to recognize his pups.

Arthur Enaud (1845 - 1923) worked hard to save the breed, which was suffering from inbreeding problems, and the hunters liked what he came up with by crossing in different breeds, but always striving for the same trademarks that the Pontou-dog had. He started the breed club in in 1912. The breed became popular with American breeders. Even today there are more Brittanys in the USA than anywhere else.

The Brittany should be a medium size compact and powerfully built dog. The muzzle should be slightly shorter than the skull, straight or slightly convex. The eyes should be lively and expressive, the ears are set high, are quite short and rounded. The neck should be of medium length and carried high. The chest is deep, with marked withers and sloping topline. The tail can be docked or natural, or naturally bobbed (including tailless) in both varieties.

There are differences between the French breed (Epagneul Breton) and the American variant (Brittany or American Brittany). The American Brittany is longer legged, and used more commonly in pointing and setter type work, whereas the Epagneul Breton is shorter and stockier and used primarily for tasks suited to spaniels. Colour differences also exist between the varieties. These varieties were recognised by PKC 26th October 2010 although the distinction between these varieties is still relatively unclear in real life. UKC continues the PKC defined varieties.