I feel like the first post should concentrate on the widest of subjects. This would be a good segway into the breed. In the United States, there are two different types of Brittanys. The American Brittany and the French Brittany.
The "American Brittany" which is in the United States of America, under the American Kennel Club ("AKC") with the ABC as the parent club, and Canada under the Canada Kennel Club ("CKC"). Involving the American Brittany, the only AKC colors allowed are Orange and White and/or Liver and White with the nose being light in color. Black nose nor dark noses are allowed. The American Brittany tends to be a more hyper dog over all and often runs to 50 pounds in weight. Due to the weight, taller dogs are more prominent in American Brittanys. The American Brittany runs bigger and wider in the field due to the infusion of additional pointer blood.
Then there is the French Brittany. The French Brittany was the original. THE ORIGINAL! They can be Orange and White, Liver and White, Black and White or any combination of Orange, Black, Liver and White. The combinations are known as Tri-colored. The French nose must be dark in color. The weight of the French Brittany averages 35 pounds. In the field the French Brittany is very active and athletic. But, in the home, they are mellow and relaxed. They are highly intelligent and easily trained, and they often become more like a family person rather than a family dog.
In looking at the division of breeds, in the Fédération Cynologique Internationale ("FCI") countries, they use another standard, the French standard done by the Club de l'Epagneul Breton ("CEB") of France, which is consistent with FCI's policy of using the official standard maintained by the country of origin of the breed.
Many specialists of the breed disagree with this division of the breed in two types and consider this again to be based on an unfortunate consequence of ignorance of etymology (the study of the history of words, where they are from, and how their form and meaning have changed over time) and of the true breed history.
As a matter of fact, many European "spaniel" type breeds are pointing breeds and not "flushing" breeds as argued by advocates of the breed division.
