Brittany Twin Finder: 157 in the Pool

To find your Brittany's twin, upload one clear photo to PetMatch and the model compares your dog's face against the 157 Brittanys already in the pool, returning the real dog whose face sits closest to yours. The crop it scores shows a dense short coat, ears set above the eye, and an orange-and-white or liver-and-white pattern. Leg feathering and tail length sit outside that crop, so the face has to carry the match.

Orange and white, or liver and white

The AKC standard asks for a coat that is dense, flat or wavy, and never curly, with a texture that is neither wiry nor silky. The ears carry little fringe. The legs may have some feathering, and too little is preferable to too much. Long or profuse feathering is penalized severely enough to take a dog out of competition.

Color is orange and white or liver and white, in clear patches or in roan, and some ticking is desirable. A tri-color is allowed and not preferred: liver and white with orange on the eyebrows, muzzle, and cheeks, inside the ears, and under the tail. Black in the coat is a disqualification. The nose is fawn, tan, a shade of brown, or deep pink, and a black nose is a disqualification of its own.

A face photo shows that pattern as a cap, a blaze, and ticking on the cheeks. Two dogs in the same color still separate when the blaze or the stop differs.

Ears set above the eye

The standard sets the ears high, above the level of the eyes. They are short and triangular, rather than pendulous, reaching about half the length of the muzzle. They should lie flat and close to the head, in dense, relatively short hair, with little fringe. A heavy eyebrow shades the eye. Darker eyes are preferred, lighter amber is acceptable, and a light, mean-looking eye is heavily penalized. The skull is medium in length and rounded, with a gently sloping stop. The muzzle is about two-thirds the length of the skull and tapers toward the nose.

Height stays out of the crop. The standard calls for 17½ to 20½ inches at the shoulder, disqualifies a dog under or over that range from dog show competition, and asks for 30 to 40 pounds, with height about equal to body length. The photo has the ear, the stop, and the muzzle.

How do you tell a Brittany from an English Springer Spaniel?

By ear length and the fringe around the face. The AKC describes the English Springer Spaniel as a medium sporting dog with a moderately long coat and feathering on the legs, ears, chest, and brisket. The ears are pendulous, long and fairly wide, hanging close to the cheeks, with leather about long enough to reach the tip of the nose. Correct set is on a level with the eye. Ideal height is 20 inches for dogs and 19 for bitches, overlapping the Brittany range, so size will not separate them in a photo.

Orange and white is a correct Brittany color. On a Springer, lemon, red, and orange are off colors and are not placed. Accepted Springer color is black or liver with white, blue or liver roan, or tricolor, and the nose is liver or black to match. A black nose disqualifies a Brittany. PetMatch lists them apart: 157 Brittanys here, and 150 dogs in the English Springer Spaniel pool. The leather reaches about half the muzzle on a Brittany and about the tip of the nose on a Springer, and that length is what a face crop can measure.

The spaniel label is historical. The breed, named for Brittany in western France, was recognized by the AKC in 1934 and registered as Spaniel, Brittany until September 1, 1982, when the official name became Brittany. The AKC's account is that the breed fancy had decided these are pointing dogs, closer to the pointers than to the flushing spaniels. The standard, approved on April 10, 1990, still asks for feet proportionately smaller than the spaniels'.

Short-coated neighbors in the same crop

A liver Brittany also meets the German Shorthaired Pointer. The German Shorthaired Pointer lookalike finder covers 337 dogs with a short coat, a brown nose, and broad high-set ears lying flat. The pointer muzzle runs longer. An orange Brittany meets the English Setter twin finder and its 314 dogs: orange belton on a longer coat, with low ears hung in long feathering. Little fringe and a high ear set are the differences in that crop.

When the twin is a mix

Mixed-breed dogs are the largest group on PetMatch, at over 10,000. A mix that kept the high short ear, the tapered muzzle, and an orange-and-white or liver-and-white face can place ahead of the registered Brittanys. The model is matching the face in the photo.

A photo that shows the ear

Shoot head-on at eye level in open shade, mouth closed, with both ears flat against the head so the high set and the short leather show. Direct sun clips the white and erases the ticking, so different orange-and-white faces start to look like the same mask. Open shade keeps orange distinct from liver and keeps the eye readable under the brow.