Brittany

About the Brittany

The Brittany takes its name and its shape from the north-west corner of France, where it was bred as a pointing dog for a walking shooter rather than a mounted one, and it is the smallest of the European hunt, point and retrieve breeds. Some puppies arrive with a naturally short tail, which is a normal feature of the breed rather than a fault.

Dogs stand about 47 to 52 cm and are square in outline, with a flat or slightly wavy coat, moderate feathering, and colouring in orange and white or liver and white, often roan. The breed is lighter and faster to train than most HPR dogs and suits a first-time gundog household better than most. A Brittany stud should be bold and outgoing, because shyness has been a known fault in some lines and is stubbornly hard to breed out.

Hip scoring is the screening that carries most weight here, and a stud owner should quote the dog's actual score rather than say it was done. Add a current eye certificate. Epilepsy is reported in the breed and there is no test for it, so ask directly whether any close relative has fitted. Ask as well what DNA testing the breed club advises, since recommendations differ between the French and American populations that British dogs descend from.

Health & breeding

We check every hip, elbow, eye and DNA result you give us against the Royal Kennel Club’s public records by hand, and we record who checked it and when. The Royal Kennel Club’s public records may not include all the screening a dog has had, so a dog with no Royal Kennel Club record showing is not necessarily untested.