Working Brittanys    by Eileen Hughes Bristol&West Working Gundog Society

The Brittany is a member of the "Hunt, Point and Retrieve" group. It is a lively small dog with an excellent nose, a passion for hunting and a reliable retriever who will persevere until it has found its bird. The breed comes from Brittany in Northern France. When the breed was first imported into this country they were called Brittany Spaniels - a literal translation {from the French "Epagneul Breton"} Many French scholars would dispute the translation of "Epagneul", they suggest that the word is a derivation of the French verb s'espaigne, meaning to lie flat. Before the invention of firearms, the pointing dogs were expected to lie flat whilst nets were thrown over the dogs and quarry - usually partridge. Sensibly the Kennel Club advised The Brittany Spaniel Club of Great Britain to drop the word "spaniel" and since 1985 the breed has been known as the Brittany (as in America), and the club as The Brittany Club of Great Britain. This has avoided confusion with regard to how the breed works, for when the breed was first imported, some people thought that they were flushing spaniels. Over the water in Ireland the Irish have retained the word "spaniel", and the breed is known and registered as the Brittany Spaniel. The history of the breed is interesting. Some writers claim an ancient ancestry and connect its origin to that of the Welsh Springer Spaniel. Certainly both breeds share the same orange and white colouring and both come from Celtic regions which traded with each other. Dogs were often traded or given as gifts between tribes. A poem by Oppien written in 150 A.D. was found in 1787 in the Strasbourg Academic Library which said — " Among the animals who track hunt there is an excellent kind, small, that are bred by the savage people of Brittany and are called "Agasses". If one compares the modern Welsh Springer with the Brittany it would seem unlikely that the breeds have a common ancestor, but the Welsh Springer of 1900 was a very different dog as contemporary paintings show, and so was the Brittany as shown in a drawing by P.Mahler in 1908 of "Avor du Cos-Ker" owned by Vicomte de Cambourg. Comparing these old prints and paintings it is possible to believe that the two breeds may have been connected in the distant past. This theory is pure speculation but we have more concrete evidence from 1850 onwards. A keen English sportsman called John Kemp published a book in 1859 called "Shooting and Fishing in Lower Brittany" which explains some of the later origins of the breed. He stated that - "I have put a spaniel to a well bred setter bitch and have been lucky enough to combine the ranging qualities of the latter and the hunting perseverance of the former. The French have tried this cross frequently. John Kemp travelled and hunted often in Brittany as did many other wealthy English sportsmen, who brought their well trained Pointers, and English, Irish, Gordon and Llewellyn Setters with them. Often at the end of the shooting season the pointers and setters would be left behind with the Brittany peasant farmers until the next season - gites for dogs! The farmers took advantage of the situation and crossed these English breeds with their small liver and white spaniels, (the French for liver colour is "marron", which also translates as chestnut so one could question the colour of this native spaniel.) The introduction of these English breeds accounts for all the colours that we have today in the Brittany, - orange and white, liver and white, black and white and tri-colour. Further written evidence of the origin of the breed exists. A Major P. Grand-Chavin, a cavalry officer and vet was asked in 1906 to classify cavalry horses in Brittany. He was a sportsman and interested in shooting and he reported seeing in this region small spaniels with short tails and short ears, who moved with a short gait and had excellent noses especially for woodcock. He also said that they could course a Hare for at least three quarters of an hour! Quite an accurate description of a modern untrained Brittany! Luckily the ones I have owned would only chase as far as the nearest hedge or wall when young, and when trained would sit to a Hare on sight without a command. The breed was really established in France in 1907 when the French breed club was formed at a meeting in Loudeac in Brittany. The French club's motto for the breed is "Un maximum de qualities pour un volume minimum", which translates to "a maximum quality in the minimum volume". Today the French breed club is thriving with over 2000 members. The club organizes many Field Trials, Pointing Tests and training events all over France, as well as a large championship show, that usually attracts an entry of over 200 dogs. In fact the breed is the most popular gundog in France having a similar following to the Labrador over here. In 2002, 5604 Brittanys were registered in France.

pp

1

page 2

© dog'n'field - Eileen Hughes 2003