Brittany

Quick and eager; soft-natured, dislikes harsh handling.
A Brittany
Photo: Pharaoh Hound
Adult male
14–18 kg
31–40 lb
Adult female
13–17 kg
29–37 lb
Lifespan
11.1 yrs
Class · Field
also Sport, Family

What it's like

In temperament it is quick, eager and soft-natured, with great stamina and a strong wish to work with its handler; it tends to respond poorly to harsh handling. Black and white dogs are accepted in France but not under the American standard.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Keen to work with you
Around the home
Sensitivity
Needs a calm, predictable home
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Likely to chase small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is a Brittany right for you?
Take the breed matcher

Living with one

It has a coat with feathering. It sheds through the year rather than in big seasonal moults. Plan on brushing a few times a week. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Brittany is a medium dog, about the weight of a grown Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Males end up a little heavier than females.

It is a compact, leggy dog, nearly square in outline, with high-set ears and a tail that is naturally short or absent in some dogs. The dense coat is flat or slightly wavy, lightly feathered, and usually orange and white or liver and white, sometimes roan or tricolour.

Two types

The two types differ in height only, so there is one growth curve, on the record's own band (breed club figure)5.

UK / FCI type

FCI 95
Height at the withers
Males
48–51 cm
Females
47–50 cm4
Publishes no weight.

American type

AKC standard
Height at the withers
Males
44.5–52.1 cm
Females
44.5–52.1 cm6
Its weights are the ones used on this page.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Brittany puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight8
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
051015202m4m6m9m12m18m
051015202m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
3.0–3.9 kg 6.6–8.6 lb
3.1–4.1 kg 6.8–9.0 lb
3 months
4.5–5.8 kg 9.9–12.8 lb
4.4–5.8 kg 9.7–12.8 lb
4 months
6.5–8.4 kg 14.3–18.5 lb
6.3–8.3 kg 13.9–18.3 lb
5 months
8.4–10.8 kg 18.5–23.8 lb
8.0–10.5 kg 17.6–23.1 lb
6 months
10.0–12.9 kg 22.0–28.4 lb
9.4–12.3 kg 20.7–27.1 lb
7 months
11.2–14.4 kg 24.7–31.7 lb
10.4–13.6 kg 22.9–30.0 lb
8 months
12.1–15.5 kg 26.7–34.2 lb
11.1–14.5 kg 24.5–32.0 lb
9 months
12.7–16.3 kg 28.0–35.9 lb
11.6–15.2 kg 25.6–33.5 lb
10 months
13.1–16.8 kg 28.9–37.0 lb
12.0–15.7 kg 26.5–34.6 lb
11 months
13.4–17.2 kg 29.5–37.9 lb
12.3–16.0 kg 27.1–35.3 lb
12 months
13.6–17.4 kg 30.0–38.4 lb
12.4–16.3 kg 27.3–35.9 lb
15 months
13.9–17.9 kg 30.6–39.5 lb
12.8–16.8 kg 28.2–37.0 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Brittany lived to about 11 years, shorter than the typical medium breed.

Where it comes from

The Brittany, a spaniel in looks but a pointer in its work, comes from central Brittany and is probably among the oldest spaniel-type dogs. It was refined in the early 1900s by selection and outcrossing, and the Naturally Short-Tailed Brittany Spaniel Club adopted its first standard at Loudéac in 19084.

The Brittany owes much of its later development to the nineteenth century, when, by the usual account, English sportsmen shooting woodcock in the region brought setters and pointers, and crosses with local farm spaniels are widely thought to have sharpened its pointing instinct. It had reached North America by the early nineteen-thirties, where it was long registered as the Brittany Spaniel until the American Kennel Club shortened the name in the early nineteen-eighties. Bred for rough shooting, it tends to work relatively close to the gun, quartering ground, holding a point on game birds and retrieving, and in Britain it is classed among the hunt, point and retrieve breeds.

Breed standard

The Brittany is judged against standard no. 95, in group 7, Pointing Dogs4.
FCI 95: dogs 48-51 cm, bitches 47-50 cm before its ±1 cm tolerance — a 3.5 cm higher floor than the AKC's type. The standard publishes no weight.
AKC breed standard: 17½-20½ in, one range for both sexes, with anything outside disqualified. Its weight (30-40 lb) is the record's default because FCI 95 publishes none.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Brittany figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

English Springer Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Irish Red and White Setter
Pointing dogs · Medium
Welsh Springer Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
German Shorthaired Pointer
Pointing dogs · Medium
Or compare the Brittany with any breed you choose
Track your own Brittany
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Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·