Blue Picardy Spaniel
Picardy's blue-speckled woodcock dog — placid in the house, tireless in the marsh.
Eckdaten
| Größe | Medium-large · 57–62 cm (dogs), 55–60 cm (bitches) |
| Gewicht | 18–23 kg — breed literature; the standard sets none |
| Lebenserwartung | 12–14 years — breed literature, not survey data |
| Energie | High — the standard itself prescribes a daily walk |
| Haaren | Moderate — a weekly brush keeps ahead of it |
| Fell | Flat or slightly wavy, fringed legs and tail · grey-black speckle forming a bluish shade |
| Gruppe | Sporting · Continental Pointing Dogs, 'Spaniel' type (FCI №106, Group 7) |
| Herkunft | Picardy (Somme estuary), Frankreich |
Rassemerkmale
Freundlichkeit
Pflege
Kopf
Wesen
The standard's temperament clause reads like a family reference: flexible and gentle, an even temperament, well adapted to family life, placid and never aggressive. Breed literature agrees — gentle with children, easy with other dogs, quiet in the house, more likely to announce a stranger than to mind one. The other half of the same clause calls it an athletic dog that needs a daily walk to work off its energy, and that half is just as binding. This is a gundog judged with a working trial, bred to quarter marshland within gun range all day, and a bored one invents work. It hunts in contact with its handler rather than ranging far, which makes it more biddable than many pointing breeds; it also means the dog wants to be where you are, and long days alone sit badly with it.
Gewohnheiten & Marotten
Blue is a speckle, not a colour
The colour section allows one pattern: silver grey to grey black speckling forming a bluish shade, with or without black patches. White or brown patches are a disqualifying fault, and a nose any colour other than black is a severe one.
Ears that reach the muzzle
Set at about eye level, quite thick, framing the head in wavy silky hair — and long enough that the leather, stretched out, must reach the tip of the muzzle. Handsome in the ring, and a moisture trap after a swim.
Works within gun range
The standard calls it a contact dog for hunts within firing range: it quarters close instead of ranging far, adapts to all sorts of small game and is, in the standard's words, particularly skilled in woodcock hunting.
The standard prescribes cuddles
Few FCI texts commit to this in writing: the history section says a daily walk is necessary to keep him fit, and that he 'will always find his way to a happy cuddle'. Owners report both halves are accurate.
Pflege
| Exercise | An hour or more of real exercise a day — the standard names the daily walk as a necessity, and the dog underneath was made to work marshes from dawn. Field training, swimming and retrieving games fit it; a turn around the garden does not. |
| Grooming | A weekly brush keeps the flat, slightly wavy coat tidy, more often when the fringes on legs and tail collect burrs and mud. Check and dry the ears after every wet outing: leathers that reach the muzzle tip block airflow, and damp ears breed infections. |
| Training | A contact hunter that works with its handler, not off on its own — so it takes to training readily. Keep it soft: the standard wants a placid, gentle dog, and reward-based methods get far more from that temperament than pressure does. |
| Health | A hardy breed with no breed-wide health survey; the population is small outside France and Canada, so pedigree depth deserves attention. Ask breeders about hip screening and ear health, and treat the 12–14 years in breed literature as a habit of the type rather than study data. |
Häufige Fragen
Is the Blue Picardy Spaniel a spaniel or a setter?
Officially neither in the English sense: the FCI classifies it as a continental pointing dog of 'Spaniel' type — a pointing breed, not a flushing spaniel like the Cocker. Breed literature credits English Setter blood from British hunters' dogs boarded around the Somme estuary in the late 1800s, which would account for the setter-like legs and coat; the standard's own history records only the black and black-and-white 'épagneuls du Nord' of 19th-century Picardy.
How is it different from the Picardy Spaniel?
The standard answers in one line: the main difference between the two Picardy breeds is the colour of their coat. The Spaniel of Picardy carries brown in its coat; the Blue carries the grey-black speckle that reads blue — and on a Blue, any white or brown patch is a disqualifying fault. Same country, same work, different dress.
Are they good family dogs?
The standard writes family life into the breed: even-tempered, placid, never aggressive, and breed literature adds gentle with children and easy with other dogs. The honest caveats are a working gundog's exercise bill and a dislike of being left alone. The practical hurdle is finding one — the strongholds are France and Canada, litters are few, and the AKC does not recognise the breed.