Brittanys

Emily

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#1
Does anyone here have personal experience with Brittanys? My parents are looking at getting another dog.

They're looking for an active pet... Medium sized, not too much grooming, jogging/off leash running partner, something that likes to play ball/tug, trainable, social, and confident. They like the gun dog personality. My mom and I did a lot of looking and we both think that a Brit is the best match. We just sent out an email to a breeder we both liked the looks of, and he's got pups on the ground.

Does anybody here have any experience with Brittanys? Do they seem like a good choice based on the parameters I gave?

Thanks!

ETA: My dad also likes to run fairly long distances, 8-10 miles, which is part of what also made us think "Brittany".
 

katielou

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#2
Love them.

My family has had them for years but Bryn was my first very own Brittany. He turns 11 this year and is still running around like a crazy bug.

They are great friendly, trainable, very active dogs.

Happy happy happy but can be serious when you give them a job. It may just be the stock ours are from but they have all needed a "job".
 

Shai

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#3
I know a couple, they are both field/confo dogs, plus do agility and obedience. GREAT dogs, I adore them. Lots of energy, working desire, people orientation, etc.

Both are kept clipped because the coat can be a pain, though the straight field types have quite a bit less coat in general.
 

Aleron

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#4
Savvy's BFF is a Brittany :)

The only issue I could see is the off leash thing. Brittanys are always a great off leash breed, as they tend to want to run "big" in search of birds. So while they don't run away, they tend to run very far, very fast (easily getting out of sight) and it seems this is a very difficult thing to reliably train out of them. For this reason, many Brittany people have GPS collars for their dogs for field work. With Savvy's BFF, not even an e-collar has been totally effective in proofing his recall when he is in hunting mode and he was lost in the woods for awhile the last time an off leash walk was attempted. That said, I think he will be able to run agility outdoors with continued training and he does participate in field trials, so it's not like a situations where they can never, ever be off leash. It's just that them being off leash can be iffy, at least with ones who have strong hunting instinct.

Otherwise, regular 8-10 mile runs seem ideal for a Brittany. They seem to require a lot of exercise and have a hard time settling without it. Grooming seems to be pretty easy - about as close to wash and wear as a dog with feathering can get. Although they seem to get bad alter coats like many feathered sporting breeds. They have more dual champions than any other breed in AKC, which I think is pretty nice! Drive shouldn't be an issue at all, at least if your looking at breeders who work their dogs. I think there are some very show only breeders in the breed and I'm not sure if those dogs would be as driven. The Brittanys I know best are all either dual purpose or field bred and they are very high driven dogs. They seem to get along well with most people and dogs, no guarding type instincts or anything like that. Seems like they are pretty easy to socialize too. At field trials they are run two at a time and their bracemates are chosen at random, so getting along with other dogs is sort of expected in them. Savvy and his friend do get manly with each other sometimes but it's pretty much just superficial teenage boy stuff and in the end, they always decide it's more fun to play than be macho :)
 
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#5
In France,they are considered the BC of the hunting group!.
Fast,agile,loving and perfect size,for most people!.
Yes,they can be escaped artists when they are bored or pick up a scent.
 

*blackrose

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#6
I have a quick question about Brittanys as well. What is the difference between the "American" Brittany and the "French" Brittany? Two separate breeds with two separate temperaments, or are all they pretty much the same? Just curious. I know I'm more drawn to the looks of a French Brittany due to the fact that they come in colors other than red/white (which I am not fond of).
 

Aleron

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#7
I have a quick question about Brittanys as well. What is the difference between the "American" Brittany and the "French" Brittany? Two separate breeds with two separate temperaments, or are all they pretty much the same? Just curious. I know I'm more drawn to the looks of a French Brittany due to the fact that they come in colors other than red/white (which I am not fond of).
American Brittanys come in other colors as well but the French Brittanys are allowed to have black pigment. The basic colors are orange and liver but they can be tricolor, roan, ticked, piebald, etc: http://www.elainebartlett.com/colors.html
 

Emily

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#8
American Brittanys come in other colors as well but the French Brittanys are allowed to have black pigment. The basic colors are orange and liver but they can be tricolor, roan, ticked, piebald, etc: http://www.elainebartlett.com/colors.html
Yep, and there are also some minor working/temperament/structure differences, derived from the differences in hunting here as opposed to France. My basic understanding is that French Brittanys are slightly lower key (but not low key by any means), closer working, and tend be a little stouter in build.

Thanks guys, I do think they will be a good match for my parents. To quote my mom, "I can handle energy, and I can handle lots of exercise, I just don't want to deal with 'issues'." So I think a well-bred, well socialized Brittany pup will be great for them. To her, "issues" are things like dog/human aggression and reactivity, or weird habits/glitches in the house, both which should be no problem in a puppy that's bred well and raised properly.

They also have a large fenced yard, big enough to play a solid game of fetch in, in addition to all the jogging.

Thanks for the info on the off leash stuff, Aleron. That makes perfect sense given the distances Brittanys are expected to cover while hunting. Where my mom likes to run the dogs is mostly sort of fenced. It's basically all fenced with an open entrance leading in. I'm thinking this is a better idea for a Brittany than an open run in the woods, and that should be fine with her because that's where she likes to go there anyway.

I figured they would be prone to pretty bad alter coats, luckily my mom plans on getting a boy and keeping him intact unless there's some reason not to. Macky likes boys and she prefers them with their parts, LOL. (Gross old lady.) We've also dealt with some pretty gruesome spay coat on Macky and she doesn't want to go there again.

The breeder has already emailed back and agrees that one of his pups would be a good match. ;) His dogs are dual dogs but lean strongly towards hunting, if that makes sense. They're hunting dogs that show, not show dogs that hunt. All relevant health tests are done, pups are guaranteed against some basic genetic stuff, bred for health, work, and temperament. Close to boot, and the pups are a decent price. Makes me want to get one myself, LOL.
 

Aleron

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#9
Yep, and there are also some minor working/temperament/structure differences, derived from the differences in hunting here as opposed to France. My basic understanding is that French Brittanys are slightly lower key (but not low key by any means), closer working, and tend be a little stouter in build.
That is my understanding as well. I knew a family years ago who had French Brittanys and they definitely didn't seem as intense as some of the American ones I have been around. However, I only ever seen them at 4H training class with the young girl and they weren't terribly interested in obedience work. They were her father's hunting dogs and chances are fair they were totally different dogs when they were working.

Thanks guys, I do think they will be a good match for my parents. To quote my mom, "I can handle energy, and I can handle lots of exercise, I just don't want to deal with 'issues'." So I think a well-bred, well socialized Brittany pup will be great for them. To her, "issues" are things like dog/human aggression and reactivity, or weird habits/glitches in the house, both which should be no problem in a puppy that's bred well and raised properly.
As long as she doesn't mind the typical sporting breed destructive tendencies, long puppyhood stuff she should be good to go!


The breeder has already emailed back and agrees that one of his pups would be a good match. ;) His dogs are dual dogs but lean strongly towards hunting, if that makes sense. They're hunting dogs that show, not show dogs that hunt. All relevant health tests are done, pups are guaranteed against some basic genetic stuff, bred for health, work, and temperament. Close to boot, and the pups are a decent price. Makes me want to get one myself, LOL.
That sounds pretty similar to the breeder Savvy's BFF came from, they do both conformation and field work but the breeders are definitely oriented towards hunting/field trials. And yeah, I was also very surprised at how cheap well bred Brittany puppies are LOL
 

Emily

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#10
As long as she doesn't mind the typical sporting breed destructive tendencies, long puppyhood stuff she should be good to go!
Yeah, Macky was very much like that and I did have to remind her that not that long ago, Macky was highly excitable, jumpy, spazzy, and used to strew toilet paper all over her bedroom in the mornings, LOL.
 

*blackrose

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#11
Yeah, Macky was very much like that and I did have to remind her that not that long ago, Macky was highly excitable, jumpy, spazzy, and used to strew toilet paper all over her bedroom in the mornings, LOL.
The good thing about sporting breeds, it seems, is that insane puppyhood stage is soon forgotten about when going through puppyhood finally pays off a few years later. ^^
 
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#12
These guys are "extreme" :)

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ok, how come I can't get a video to post correctly anymore? I'm sure i'm doing something wrong, but i want to blame the stupid webiste :)
 

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