The Barbet

The Barbet is an old French breed threatened with extinction.

The Authentic Barbet

“The Barbet is not a spaniel, but a Griffon whose origins have been very much a topic of discussion"...written in 1933, by M Dhers for the Chasseur Français.
Stonehenge considered it was:
1. a variety of poodle,
2. the result of a crossing of a spaniel and of the water spaniel,
3. a breed of its own.
One could answer...
1. the poodle came after the Barbet
2. the water spaniel is a perfected Barbet
3. that the 3rd option is most likely the most correct.”

It is most likely that the poodle is a descendant of the Barbet; and that the name canis aquaticus Linné had attributed to the Barbet, and not the poodle.”

The Barbet having been the subject, historically, in our little canine world, of a major debate and continues to be, one needs to take a stand and decide as a breeder, aficionado or simple owner, what to believe and what not to.

There are those of us who believe in the 1894 standard written for a Griffon Barbet.
We believe that a Griffon is not a Poodle. The poodle is a sophisticated, elegant dog with its own standard. Yes, it is a descendant of the Barbet, but selected for another purpose: refinement and elegance.
We don’t support any radical standard changes as there have been, in such an old French breed.
The Barbet is a Griffon that was transferred into the SCC group 8 because of its remarkable ability to swim. It is and must remain a rustic, all around dog, that can retrieve from water and hunt on land, when trained. The Barbet also excels in agility and is a very intelligent dog who learns very quickly.
The Barbet is also a lovely, affectionate companion who does need space and activity. He is a member of the family!

Why “Authentic” Barbet?

We would like to stress our will to continue the phenotype/appearance of the Barbet from the 30’s, as documented in many books and photographs.
If some still have a bit of Barbet blood in them, we wish to promote it and continue to strive towards the morphology, natural (retrieving and hunting) ability, character, health, the multitude of colors that make the Barbet special, and a rustic, sound animal as there were documented to be at the turn of the 20th century and throughout most of the 20th century before some radical changes were made to the breed and its appearance and to the standard.

As a reminder, back in “those days” there was no DNA (a medical test to confirm parentage by using saliva or blood), but when you looked at the dogs, you knew where they were bred and what breed they were. The Barbet not SCC registered, had the appearance of a purebred dog and were admitted to the Titre Initial registry after having been seen by a judge of the SCC. Their origins can be traced through ownership.
How to achieve our objective? By selecting as much of what little Barbet blood still flows through the veins of some of the descendants of Mrs Pêtre’s dogs, and her father’s. The Barbets that have been selected so far, for reproduction, have been very similar to the old (blood)lines and very promising for the future of the Authentic Barbet.
We also believe in communicating openly about the true pedigrees of our dogs and why we do what we feel needs to be done for the future.

Below is a brief history of the Barbet from 1891 to 1970, when Mrs Pêtre, Dr Vincenti’s daughter, was offered a Barbet and decided to start breeding again.

The standard was written in 1891 by J de Coninck, president of the Société Havraise pour l’Amélioration des Races de Chiens. He thought the Barbet was more of a water dog than a gundog. The Barbet was in the FCI/SCC 7th group until 1986 along with the Griffon Korthals of which he was one of the founding fathers along with the Griffon Boulet. He also participated in the making of the Berger de Beauce along with the Briard and the Poodle.

1920-1930: Le Houelleur
M Le Houelleur, an SCC judge and hunter decided to acquire a Barbet and used him to hunt in the many areas of France he lived in and travelled through. He had already seen Barbets working in the Somme, the North of France, the Loiret, the Causses area and saw how quickly they adapted to the terrain.
He became a breeder. His kennel name was Floirac, town where their family home was and still is, in Dordogne where the family spends holidays and summers together to this day.

1930-1940: Le Houelleur/ Dr Vincenti
The kennel name” Mas de la Chapelle”, was registered at the SCC in 1933 by Dr Vincenti.
The 2 dogs he used as foundation stock were Hourie de Floirac and Iff de Floirac from M Le Houelleur.
Hourie de Floirac: b. 15/8/33 out of Beseff de Floirac and Piram ( Barbet that came from a kennel in the Somme area of France)
46cms/ 20kgs/coat white with black, woolly.
Qualities: hunted remarquably well, natural retriever, very intelligent, excellent model.
Iff de Floirac: b. 6/3/ 34 out of Beseff de Floirac and Piram
55.5 cms/woolly coat, black heads, white moustache, good nose, very affectionate
Defects: sometimes a bit stubborn, too tall, too good looking, too distinguished (!!!)
These 2 Barbets had 3 litters. Joyeuse was born in one of those litters.
39 pups were born in the Mas de la Chapelle.
Joyeuse du Mas de la Chapelle: b. 7/3/35
48.5cms/20.4kgs/wooly coat/ white with black on the croup/very intelligent, gay/expansive/ an ideal Barbet/ only problem could be that her head is not round enough. Joyeuse is probably the most well-known Barbet of that time because she was presented at many dog shows.

Dr Vincenti kept very strict records on each dog he produced in his kennel book that is available to us for perusal.
Example of overall remarks about the dogs: The dogs were white with black (as opposed to several of M Le Houlleur’s who were black with white). Good hunters/Very intelligent/flexible/ affectionate. Head length 20 cms/ woolly coats.
Records were kept on all the dogs as far as morphology (positive and negative points), colors, measurements, ability to hunt and character.
Unfortunately, as in other breeds, WWII did a lot of damage (and to dogs, too!) and it was difficult to find good quality dogs to keep the line going.
M Le Houelleur had sold his last Barbet and stopped breeding in 1941 and Dr Vincenti had died. In the North of France, the numerous Barbets were just about exterminated after the war. Just about doesn’t mean completely as it was known that there were still a few Barbets, mainly in the south of France.
No one, unfortunately has ever looked into what stock could be left in the north of France, Belgium or the Netherlands as it is a tedious and time-consuming task.
No one can say either or prove that the breed was extinct unless one has turned over every stone in the countries where there were Barbets starting at the beginning of the 20th century who most likely reproduced at some point.

1940-1960’s: The Ayme brothers
Very few births registered at the SCC, but a few doing their best so as not render the breed extinct.
Barbet were used for hunting and not for attending dog shows. The document below was taken from M Hermans’ Club du Barbet review no.2

As far as the Barbet was concerned, breeding went forward for a few years with the Ayme brothers, who lived in the mas (Mas de la Musique), next to the Vincenti family’s Mas de la Chapelle. They were far away from Paris and the SCC, and didn’t feel concerned with dog shows or beauty, the Barbet was a working hunter and that was their reason for being. Eventually, new blood had to be found as they were confronted to the inbreeding problem one has with not enough different blood. Thanks to Quesop (Portuguse water dog) brought back from Portugal, in a truck full of bulls! and mated to Bella, breeding was continued.
There are numerous family photos where the resemblance with Dr Vincenti’s Barbets is striking. Resemblance/phenotype that was continued, for lack of genetic proof so necessary to some ...

In the late 1960’s M Le Houelleur who had been corresponding with Miss Postigo wrote an article about the Barbet, published in the SCC official review.

In 1970, Miss Postigo who lived in Marseille and worked closely with the Ayme brothers offered Mrs Pêtre one of her father’s Barbets’ descendants named Thais. Mrs Pêtre decided to start breeding again.
S’Gandar was the son of Quesop and Bella from the Ayme brothers. They were mated.
Bella was the daughter of Thian and Tahio who in turn were son and daughter of Kino du Mas de la Chapelle and Lita.
And a long line of descendants was started. Some successful, some less as is the case with most breeders. Mrs Pêtre was helped in her endeavour by several willing people until the early 80’s, when M Hermans had decided to re-incarnate the Buffon Barbet from 1776, by crossing T.I. dogs found in shelters with poodles and more poodles and discarding all of the Griffon Barbets in the south of France along with their breeders, descendants of Dr Vincenti and M Le Houelleur’s Barbets from the 30’s. The Barbet war had began and is ongoing to this date, 30 years later.
With facts, true history, original documents, photographs of lines and true pedigrees being made available to all of us, perhaps there will be a solution found at some point in the future. In the meantime, you as a reader, can make your own opinion and not rely on someone else’s.

For more documents and facts, please refer to :
Barbet: French National Treasure: here
Authentic Barbet: here

The historians and canine authors referred to, for information and history include the following:
here

This document cannot be used, reproduced, modified or copied, even partially, without EXPRESS WRITTEN consent of the owner.

© Mrs Elaine Fichter August 10 2010 Barbet Historian

A Barbet is a Barbet is a Barbet!!!
FCI/SCC standard: 105 (21.02.2006)

- The Barbet is qualified by the Société Central as a rare French breed due to the fact that there are less than 50 births per year in France. It has never been a widespread breed. However there are many Barbet-type dogs in France as it is a natural breed.
- It is a major contributor to the French canine patrimony due to the amount of breeds that contain Barbet blood in their veins.
- The Barbet is known as the specialist in retrieving fowl in thick reed and swimming in extreme temperatures. It is the canis aviarius aquaticus par excellence. It has natural retrieving instinct.
- The Barbet was named in France for the first time by Jacques du Fouilloux in the 16th century.
- It is qualified as a very “undistinguished” and rustic dog.

The Barbet is THE French Water Dog and part of the bigger family of water dogs, of the SCC (Societe Centrale Canine) 8th group, which includes the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch water dogs and several water Spaniels. However, it is not a Spaniel. France is the only country where the water dog has an official name: “BARBET’. The water dogs that exist in other countries do not bear that particular name for their breed. The 8th group does not include the Hungarian water dog, or Puli, considered a shepherd. A second name for the Barbet was: Griffon d'Arret a Poil laineux (wooly-haired pointer) or Griffon Boulet, now extinct, which resembled the Barbet. It only existed in brown.

History:
The Barbet has a very long history which dates back at least to the 16th century. Before that time, there were water dogs/ rough water dogs in many countries, but they were not called Barbets.
The word” Barbet”, historically and in France was a generic word used to designate any long haired dog with a beard (barbe) before it became the official name of a breed of French dogs.
How did the Barbet get to France and become a French dog? Hard to say and theories abound. When Attila the Hun moved across Europe he certainly had sheep and and herding dogs to manage them. There are maps showing how they moved across countries, settled, mixed with local dogs and hundreds of years later when standards were written, each country had their own to write about.
If the Barbet came up through Africa with the Moors in the 8th century, that could have been part of the migration from Mongolia. This having taken centuries!
Dogs have been around as long as humans have to help them hunt. They also protected livestock, their home and their master. The oldest dog breeds are not the poodle type, but the Dogue, the Spaniel, or Basset type dogs (primitive dogs).
Henri IV’s mistress refers to a Barbet she took to mass with her along with her monkey and her buffoon.
Grognards of Napoleon had a Barbet as mascot. His name was Moustache.
There are many references to the Barbet in French literature from Jules Verne, to Lafontaine and Voltaire and many more as it was such a common dog. Painters such as Oudry, Huet and Manet painted the Barbet. Mahler also depicted a couple of Barbets in a very famous watercolour in 1907 for the Chasseur Francais kennels. (shown here)

Many cynophile authors of the 19th and 20th centuries refer to the Barbet as an exceptional swimmer, but not a great pointer (although how a dog points and the definition of pointing also differs from country to country). That could be a reason for the move into the 8th group in 1986 when Jean Claude Hermans decided to take care of it. Regardless, it remains a griffon type dog.
All along history the Barbet mixed with other breeds. It has contributed to the making of many breeds such as the Briard, the Berger de Beauce (Beauceron) the Terreneuve, the diminutive Poodle and the standard Poodle. It is also famous for being one of the 7 founding fathers of the Griffon Korthals.
The Poodle (the Germans call it Pudel from the word puddle) was, in the meantime, becoming the chien-cane (canard = duck) and eventually Caniche and and onwards from 1860, it was quite easy to make the difference between a Poodle and a Barbet, as it is today.

In 1861 in France the poodle accompanies the 'bourgeois sportsman'. This poodle at that time was described as 15 to 18 inches tall (38 to 46 cms), very thick coat, and falling in long, sharply twisted curls or ringlets, while the colour is either pure white or pure black, but that usually they were a mixture of the two colours. (also called parti-poodles, or harlequin)
The Poodle in France was selected for solid only colours whereas the Barbet took on the shepherd/herding dog colors, and different colors from the different breeds it contributed to. As an example, the brindle color could come from Portuguese Water Dog roots. The dark brown shades on many black dogs has been identified as a gift from the Chien de Crau, an extremely rare French breed for which a standard has just been written for in France. This particular breed settled in the Crau/Camargue region of France, near Mrs. Pêtre.
The Poodle was and is a finer, elegant, taller dog, the tail was cut and it only came in solid colors. It was accepted into ladies’ salons and it was perfumed!
The Barbet stayed in the countryside and the expression “crotte comme un Barbet" (to be up to the ears in dirt) continued its path, hunting, swimming and mixing with other breeds. Hence the palette of colours!
Some of the “old Barbet” or “Vieux Barbet Français” colors have come out in the last 5 years. For many years, those colors had not been seen. Pied is now becoming more visible and 1930 colors have also resurged in a kennel in the Netherlands. Sand, which had not been seen since the 70’s, has come several times to breeders in Finland and is much appreciated. It is interesting to note that the same differences remain today between the Standard Poodle and the Authentic Barbet or Vieux Barbet Français as existed in the past.
Grand Barbet de Buffon 1766 stood 55cms at the withers.
Is there just one “Barbet” as some claim today? It would be difficult to admit, considering the evidence available along with the standard written in France for a gundog/pointing dog called the Barbet d’Arrêt, SCC 7th group classification until 1986.
There are more likely 2: a Barbet Moderne and the Authentic Barbet~Vieux Barbet Francais.
However, there is only one standard. It was written in 1891 and validated in 1894 for a Griffon Barbet d’Arrêt. The Barbet characterized by the Count de Buffon (1766) above, no longer exists. It was selected into a Poodle which now has its own standard.
The Barbet Moderne school of thought believe in the re-incarnation of the Grand Barbet de Buffon, as explained by its “father”, Jean Claude Hermans who thought that by selecting, crossing and re-crossing poodles he would eventually get back to the Grand Barbet de Buffon (circa 1766). Jean Claude Hermans' Barbet was to be as tall possible and the tallest of the waterdogs.
Abraham Reese: Quadrupeds 1820 (petit and grand Barbet)
The Grand Barbet, was selected in the mid 1800's to evolved into a sophisticated standard poodle. What was not “selected” continued as a rustic dog which is the one many mention in the 19th century as being an unsophisticated farm dog. The Petit, the size of a diminutive poodle, a Bichon, or a little lion dog already existed as depicted in many paintings by Oudry and several French and German painters in the 18th century. They are mostly shown with a lion cut which was popular in the 15th century and onwards.
The French paintings shown with dogs in hunting scenes were dated before the French Revolution, because the Barbet (mostly the Petit) was used by kings such as Louis XV for hunting. After the revolution, many years went by before selection started again, for obvious reasons. In the 19th century, most of the paintings were by British artists such as Stubbs, Donovan, Gainsborough, Reinagle, Emms.
The Barbet was a valuable hunting companion used for retrieving wild fowl shotdown, from water and on land. They are said to have a very soft mouth. Their thick, long, curly coat provides resistance to extreme temperatures. It also proved to be a handicap sometimes when catching everything like Velcro! It required a tremendous amount of care.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it began its decline because there were English hunting breeds being imported into France and they were more all-around breeds, and they had a short coat. The Barbet declined, but was still found in the countryside with many stories of people being narrated, who had Barbets in their childhood, in many areas of France, close to the Belgian border, the Somme area and later in the 1920’s and 30’s closer to the south of France. In other words, anywhere there was marshland, water and waterfowl to hunt.
There were a few breeders before WWI, one of which was a M. Coste who produced a Barbet by the name of Pilote who portrays the Griffon-Barbet d’Arrêt standard. He is a typical representation of the Authentic Barbet or “Vieux Barbet Français” to this day for morphology.
There were Barbets who hunted in the south of France, near the Camargue region. Two breeders were working together. They were the Floirac (Hourie de Floirac was the 1st Barbet to be SCC/ LOF registered) and Mas de la Chapelle kennels ( Joyeuse du Mas de la Chapelle).This is in the 30’s and early 40’s. WWII came along and put an end to a lot of breeding again, not only Barbets, but other breeds in many countries hit by war. Many breeds and not just the Barbet suffered from lack of precise ancestry. Many recovered due to close cooperation of a few people who worked for the survival of the breed.
There was not money around for futile expenditures. Not many were interested in “wasting” money registering dogs (there was no logical reason to, at the time). Dogs which corresponded to the specifications they had ( standard!) worked, hunted, reproduced and everyone was happy. The Barbet was not an exception.
In the same village, called Graveson, as the village where Doctor Vincenti, of the Mas de la Chapelle kennel, lived 2 brothers who saved the Barbet from extinction. The Ayme brothers, neighbours to the Mas de la Chapelle, and who lived in the Mas de la Musique a few hundred meters away, were able to keep the breed alive. In the 50’s, during a trip to Portugal, they saw a dog that looked like a barbet-type dog, a Portuguese Water Dog and brought him back with some cattle in a truck, to bring some new blood to the Barbets they had to avoid inbreeding.
The original strain was therefore kept alive up to the 60’s, none having been registered at the SCC for many years. A Miss Postigo, from Marseille, registered some Barbets at the SCC in the late 60’s. These were ATI because the SCC had no records of the ancestry which had been kept alive in Graveson, by the Ayme brothers.
In the early 70’s, Miss Postigo offered Mrs Pêtre (Doctor Vincenti’s daughter) a Barbet and breeding started again. This is the same process that was used by many breeds around the world and not just in France! Mrs Pêtre registered a kennel name in the early 80’s. It was Barbochos Reiau de Prouvenco. The dogs were SCC registered as Barbet d’Arrêt (pointing dogs).
In 1977, Jean Claude Hermans, who had been a groomer and was very interested in the canine world, wrote an article about the corded Poodle in a canine review. The corded poodle was in the past also called the Royal Poodle.
He then took an interest in a rare breed called the Barbet. He had seen an ad in a canine revue, about Barbet puppies available in the south of France. He thought the breed extinct for over a hundred years( that is how the rumour started about the breed being extinct which it never has been) and was intrigued. He contacted the breeder, Mrs Pêtre but never went to see her. After having seen 1 dog that had been placed in the Paris area where he lived, he had as a plan to start from scratch, ignore any of the SCC/LOF (Liste des Origines Françaises) registered Barbets and decided to “re-incarnate” the breed.
He went around local rescue centers around Paris and selected some ATI(A Titre Initial = no known ancestry) Barbet-type dogs ( Lynx and Sérienoire), registered them and called them Barbets. Then, he began mating them without any known breeding plan. At some point, he was given the right by the SCC to do a cross-breeding (of a Barbet with a Poodle) to add some diversity. Since he had decided to re-incarnate the breed and claimed the Barbet was extinct at the turn of a century, he began using poodles and crossing them (brothers and sisters/ daughter and father). There was never any concern with any health issues at the time.
The first true crossbreeding of an ”Authentic Barbet/Vieux Barbet Français” with a Barbet Moderne only took place in 2000, and never before regardless of the claims of several who speak about a crossbreeding. . The breeder who braved the ban of mixing the 2 sides (Authentic and Moderne) was publicly ridiculed.
He had a difficult time finding poodle breeders who would accept to work with him because at the time the Poodle club of France was against his “plan”.
In 1980, he decided to start a club, proclaimed himself president and also became an SCC judge to help his cause. He needed to have at least 50 births per year to be able to stand on his own. He climbed up the canine ladder and has become involved in several breeds over the years. He did his best to get as many people as possible to have litters, only ever having one litter of Barbets himself!
His only objective was to have the tightest curliest coats. This particular legacy lives on to this date and very often, morphology is put aside when a tight curled poodle-type can be selected into the Barbet Moderne. There were LOF Barbets around with Barbet blood in them, others were ATI, but his strategy was to reincarnate the Barbet de Buffon from 1760, by using Poodles, so he methodically began to refuse confirmation of many Barbets especially those from Mrs Pêtre and her collaborators, and modified the standard so taller Poodle type dogs would correspond “better” to his vision of the breed. The Poodle coat being dominant, it is very difficult nowadays to get away from the Poodle “type” and therefore be able to show dogs in a long coat as stated in the standard ( FCI 105). That is a reason why “Authentic/ Vieux Barbet Français” try to avoid mixing with the too tall and curly Poodle types.
In the early 1990’s, a German man by the name of Rainier T. Georgii and his companion Inge Fischer moved to France. They were well known in the working dog world for her successful Irish Water Spaniel breeding. They fell in love with the Barbet, decided to work for its survival and used as foundation stock a Barbet by the name of Hercule di Barbochos Reiau de Prouvenco. A long collaboration started between Mrs Pêtre and the Georgii/Fischer team.

Mr. Hermans decided to fight tooth and nail any of the dogs produced by M Georgii, who was forced to register his Barbet in Germany. All-out war raging between the two men, resulted in falsifying pedigrees. The situation never improved and to this day there is still a battle between the 2 factions.
Over 30 years, the breed club has never been able to resolve any issues for lack of competences and willingness to do so. Nor has it helped any breeders working for the survival of this rare French breed. M. Georgii is honorary member of the French Barbet and other waterbreeds’ club and so is Mrs Pêtre. Their work has been invaluable for the” Authentic/Vieux Barbet Français” ’s survival.
Over the years, many people who loved the breed and wanted to help with its survival were discouraged and finally gave up. That is the reason why many kennel names never registered more than one perhaps two litters before giving up. This information is available on pedigree databases.
The data about other blood added into the Barbet is available today thanks to many other breeds’ pedigree databases, the archives available and the research which has been done. This has revealed a lot of valuable information needed by the breeders of Barbets. These dogs do all have common ancestors.
These additions of blood, however, were necessary for the breed’s genetic diversity and survival, but known by only a few long term breeders and hidden for many years from the others until recently. Litters were never evaluated by the breed club and progeny registered according to breed type. All progeny was given a first class registration. A tremendous amount of damage was done to the breed.
M Hermans finally gave up presidency of the club he founded, in 2001. He is now involved in other breeds and updates a website concerning dog paintings, postcards and the likes. He is honorary member of the Swiss Barbet club.
Physical characteristics:
The Barbet is a medium-sized dog. The most visible and essential characteristics of any breed of dogs are the coat and the morphology. The coat grows down on the body and is long wooly and curly often hanging in strands.
Body is slightly longer than the height at the withers. It is a stocky, vigorous, compact, unsophisticated dog.
It goes to water like a duck.
The Barbet moves with a medium stride and soft easy movements define its gait with powerful hindquarters. Feet are round and webbed.
Muzzle is square and shorter than the skull which is round and broad. It is quite square, the bridge of the nose fairly broad, and thick, well pigmented lips covered by long hair.
Beard and moustache cover the entire nose and the coat grows down (not out like a Poodle) from the top of the skull to the bridge of the nose.
Head quality is essential. Without a correct head a dog is not representative of the breed and the Barbet’s head is very wide, but not out of proportion. The head supports the breed’s function as a water retriever
.Nose has wide nostrils and can be black or brown according to the color of the coat. The Barbet has an incredible sense of smell, necessary to accomplish his work.
Jaws and teeth are strong. A scissor bite is preferred.
Eyes are generally deep brown and rounded whereas the rim of the eyelid is either black or brown. Many brown Barbets today have much lighter eyes than dark brown. This trait was brought by the mixing of other breeds. Interesting fact: Lynx, the Griffon type dog registered ATI in the late 70’s had light eyes.
Ears are long, flat and wide starting at eye level or lower and are covered by long strands of hair. The neck is short and strong and the top line is solid.
Loins are arched, short and strong with a rounded croup visible from the side as a smooth continuation of the visual line of the loin.
Chest has a rounded ribcage which is deep, broad and well developed but not like a barrel. The slightly raised tail is low set and forms a hooked end.
Skin is thick.
Tail is set low and forms at crochet at the end. It does not curl over the back, but can rise to above horizontal when the dog is moving.
Colors have been of a wide palette of natural colors that range from black, black and white
(pied), dirty white and black or brown, gray, fawn, dirty white, sand and fawn. Shade should be the same all over the body, however with the brown color which also fades, there are sometimes up to 5 different shades on a given dog.
Character:
The Barbet is a happy dog, loving, attentive and always looking to please you; he admires you, is very sociable with other dogs, very playful with children. He is extremely intelligent, and needs to do some obedience at an early age. He does not appreciate people who scream a lot…as he is a peaceful dog.
Grooming:
The Barbet being a rustic dog with a long coat it therefore requires weekly brushing as the coat matts easily when not regularly taken care of.
The standard has never specified a length of coat, only “long”. It can be sheared once a year (at the same time as the sheep!) The hair grows more slowly on the ears and tail which is why it is not recommended to shave them entirely.
It can arbor a working cut which is much shorter but not described in the standard. The lion cut has never been a working cut for the Barbet, but one fo rthe diminutive and standard poodle or even the Portuguese Water Dog.
There is a propensity in several countries such as Canada and the United State, to overgroom the dogs for show purposes, but the majority do have a long coat with curly strands.
The Barbet Moderne is generally regularly shaved from head to tail. The coat is difficult to manage when left long. The breed is gaining popularity in many countries outside of France, but survival is not yet assured.
This History is dedicated to M Rainier T. Georgii who passed away in his 81st year, on June 18, 2011.
Long live the Barbet.
Mrs Elaine Fichter, Barbets en Bresse

Robot translations tools can be misleading many to think the Barbet may correspond to an old French Poodle or even a Water Dog! More and more histories are being drawn up by simply clicking on a translation tool and make for the strangest accounts, especially to a neophyte. This document is the result of several years of first hand research from original documents, books and interviews with people who were directly concerned with the breed and have left us their legacy.

Contents may not be used without written permission by Biscay Water Dogs Inc.