A bit of a summary from the symposium :

– Confirm everything. There are too few to select. (Pr Triquet)
– Eugène Gayot said in 1865: The Barbet is a dog with a long coat, a beard and loves water.
– Un chien à gros poil (since the 17th cent. Pr Triquet) That does not mean each strand is thick.
– Genetic diversity is being lost (Popular sire syndrome).
– The poodle has very much affected the breed.
– Do not forbid the use of healthy carriers.
– The morphological type is of a Griffon (Pr Denis)
– There is no reason to remove colors that were in the breed in the past.
– A woolly coat is only undercoat.
– The shiny coat is real hair.
– An over-groomed (show) Barbet as seen in several countries (too brushed) is a hypertype.( R Rault)
– For the well-being of the dog, he/she should be able to see (hair over the eyes).
– Working on the epilepsy problem by using true pedigrees ( vs official) will get faster results. Epilepsy is caused by many genes, so far two types were described – juvenile and other starting at around age of seven.
– If you want dogs that looks like Poodles, buy a Poodle (Pr Triquet)

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At some moment we had two dogs standing before the public, the main reason was to hear Pr Triquet and Pr Denis opinion on their coats. One dog was probably Arkann (unfortunately I didn’t take a photo during NE) and the second one was Funny Girl – on the photo (R Rault said about strands visible in the coat). Both dogs were described as as corresponding to the standard, and it is an opinion of an individual which type of coat he prefers, although one has to remember that Barbet is a hunting breed and its coat has to be easy to maintain and keep clear.

Then Ulysse di Barbochos de Reiau de Prouvenco (so eagerly hunted by some people to stop him from reproducing) was brought in. In opinion of R Rault his coat iswooly and curly, and he is also a typical Barbet. Here is nice view of his hair

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At the end we had a presentation of genetic variability in the breed done by dr Leroy. It was based on the database which was presented here just few posts before. The information on the database was compiled from information from breed clubs and individual breeders around the world, also information given by the representative of the Barbet at the club, F Loiseau on her personal website was taken into account. The main thesis were :

– effective population size is 32 and has risen slightly over last years (below 50 a breed is considered to threatened with extinction)
 – all available dogs have to be used, overusing studs (if average female can have three litters, the same should be with male – fwd.org note), or lines (ex. two studs from the same litter) will shortly destroy the genetic variability achieved by crossbreeding in the past
 – it may be a question of today for breeders with what breed the next crossbreeding should be done – it shouldn’t be done with the breeds that already contributed to Barbet

Here are some photos form the National Elevage that took place on the same day – Chatel Guyon

Our deepest Thanks to all people that participated in that event.