Page 238 - (DK) The Dog Encyclopedia

CATALOG OF BREEDS | GUNDOGS

Pont-Audemer Spaniel

HEIGHT WEIGHT LIFE SPAN Brown
20–23in 40–53lb 12–14 years
(51–58cm) (18–24kg)

This engaging breed is gentle and relaxed in the home
but loves open spaces so is not well suited to city life

This rare French pointer and retriever it was also trained to be an all-purpose
is a specialist at hunting in water and gundog that could point and retrieve, too.
swampland. The breed is believed to have While its ancestry predisposes it to working
originated in the 19th century in the marshy in water, it can also work in woodland and
Pont-Audemer region of Normandy, in thick undergrowth to hunt rabbit, hare,
northwest France. It is thought that some and pheasant.
of the dogs at that time were crossed with Pont-Audemer Spaniels are not often kept
British dogs brought over by English purely as pets, but do make amiable family
huntsmen and left in France at the end of dogs. Its happy, amusing character has
the hunting season. Many people consider earned it the nickname “the little clown of
that the breed also includes the Irish Water the marshes.” It ideally needs a rural home
Spaniel (see p.228) in its early history. with plenty of space to run freely. The curly,
During the 20th century the numbers ruffled-looking coat is not particularly
of these dogs fell so low that concerted difficult to maintain, although it does need
efforts had to be made to rescue the breed. to be brushed once or twice a week.
It survived in small numbers and is still
mainly used for hunting today. The
Pont-Audemer Spaniel was traditionally
used for flushing small waterfowl. However,

A BREED IN CRISIS

The Pont-Audemer Spaniel (seen below in a
French print from 1907) has never been well-
known, even in its native France, and by the end
of the 19th century its numbers were declining.
Breeders worked to revive the breed, but by the
1940s it was almost extinct. In 1949, to relieve
concerns about inbreeding, crosses were made
with the Irish Water Spaniel, but numbers still Tail slightly
remained very low. In 1980 the breed society for curved with
lighter-colored tip
the Pont-Audemer Spaniel combined with the
societies for the Picardy Spaniel (see p.239) and
Blue Picardy Spaniel (see p.239) to make a united
effort to save all three breeds from extinction.

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