Barbet

The archetype water dog of France, the Barbet is a joyful, bright, and loyal companion. A rustic breed with roots as far back at the 16th century, this medium-sized dog locates, flushes, and retrieves birds. This versatile sporting dog gets its name from its distinctive beard (barbe is French for beard). His profuse coat of long, dense curly hair covers his body. The breed is slightly longer than tall with a substantial head and long sweeping tail. The Barbet has a bright and energetic expression and comes in all shades of black, gray, brown, and fawn with or without white markings as well as pied, mostly white with black, gray, brown, and fawn patches.