gundoglover
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G'day from AustraliaThankyou for this forum. I have browsed a number of topics and found them informative, particularly those on the ideal head and movement.
I have two young Brittanys both liver & white. After many years of breeding, showing, and working (obedience & retrieving) with Golden Retrievers, I decided that I needed to down-size to a dog that I can lift unassisted but without compromising temperament. Hence my first Brittany. I liked him so much, I decided to get a bitch to show as well. I am enjoying the higher energy but admit to being somewhat bemused by the Brittanys preferring play to eating (quite outside my experience of Goldens!)
In Australia, we have adopted the FCI breed standard. However, with the importation of a number of American dogs and bitches, many of the show Brittanys here resemble the American style. Also, most exhibitors run their Brittanys very fast (faster than the retrievers in some cases). Brittanys are starting to do well at group and all breeds level and my two have both won classes in group awards (baby puppy and minor puppy).
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Ghilliegumdrop
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Hi Welcome to this forum. We have several members on here from both Australia and NZ who both show and work their dogs, no doubt you will get to know us all in time 
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guy
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Welcome gundoglover. Which part of Australia are you in?
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Ghilliegumdrop
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I've just sent you an email Guy 
Jan
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guy
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I have just received an email
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gundoglover
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Guy,
I am in the southern tablelands of New South Wales between Sydney and Canberra.
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guy
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My mother came from Lismore NSW. 
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Victoria
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Hi gundoglover! Going from Goldies to Breton certainly would be a change!!!!!
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gundoglover
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Guy,
I lived at Ballina which is quite near Lismore for a few years, but got a dose of Ross River fever which has put me off warmer, wetter climes. There are very few mosquitoes down here because it gets too cold at night.
Victoria,
I'm enjoying the change. However, it is not such a big change for me as you might expect. Our lines retained the look and athleticism of goldens of 40 years ago, ie legs not overly short, bodies short-coupled, moderate bone and coat. I only have one six-year-old golden left. It is really quite funny watching him keeping up with the Brit's antics. One of the Brit's decided to leap from a garden seat onto the narrow sloping ledge (one brick width) outside the window, so the golden decided to do it too. I was amazed that he could balance there.
I guess that another factor in looking for another breed is my dissatisfaction with how goldens have changed in the past 40 years. However, I suppose that there will be long-time Brittany breeders who decry the changes in this breed, too. I suppose that my Brit's would be considered "crosses" between EB & AB. I can see things to like in both styles, but if the breeds do separate like, eg, English & American Cockers, then I would prefer the EB for its more appealing head and expression (and variety of colours).
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johnhod
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Hi gundoglover. Welcome to the wonderful world of Brittanys
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doganjo
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I'm sure we would all love to see photos of your dogs or your website if you have one.
Welcome to the forum
Annie
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Victoria
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Gundoglover, I have heard the same thing from Goldie people here and of course, the dear old Labrador is the same...probably a cruel generalisation but in the show ring at least the short legs predominate; then every so often you see a really well proportioned Lab...the trial Labs are legger finer because of the importation of English working Labs.
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gundoglover
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Doganjo,
Here are some photos of my Brit's taken a couple of months ago - I must get some more!
The boy is 7 mo in the photo and the girl 3 mo
Click to see full size image
Click to see full size image
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Waldo
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Hi Gundoglover,
I'm down on the NSW-Vic border, good to see another Australian Brittany lover.
I've got a young girl (Annie) she is American/French cross (liver & white) just gone 19months old.
Cheers,
Waldo
PS - great looking dogs by the way.
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gundoglover
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Hi Waldo,
We are probably only 500 kms apart, then. Both my Brit's are liver and white. I got them both from breeders in Victoria.
The Australian National Kennel Control doesn't distinguish between American & French Brittanys - they are all registered as Brittany and judged according to the FCI standard. So, I guess that they should resemble the French Brittany (since we use their standard).
However, there have been a lot of imports from USA into Australia and most Brittanys that I've seen here seem to combine aspects of both. There is an interesting link on this forum to an American breeder's site that shows how to trim a Brittany for shows there. It does seem that trimming styles is one factor in changing the appearance of a French-style to an American-style.
The show people here tend to follow the American trend in trimming, so the show Brit's look more American than French. My male has more of a French-style head, I think. The female has gone up in leg now and is much more square in body than in the photo of her at 3 months.
Where did you get your Brit? Do you have a photo?
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Waldo
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Hi Gundoglover,
I got my girl from a breeder at Echuca, the male was the french blood and the mother was american.
Here is a foto taken when she was about 13 months old.
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gundoglover
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Waldo,
She sure does carry a lot of coat! Nicely angulated - she looks like she could run all day.
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Waldo
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Yep, she was a bit hairy back then. The foto was taken around July (hence the thicker puppy type coat and the green grass - haven't seen green grass for a while).
She is a worker and loves to hunt, she'll be coming out chasing deer once the cooler weather gets here and the snake threat goes away.
Cheers,
Waldo
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gundoglover
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Yes, I echo your sentiments about the snakes. I live in the middle of tiger snake country and after losing three dogs over the past five years, I no longer let them chase rabbits in the summer through the long grasses - much too risky. I have also put the solar vibrators around the house paddock to keep the snakes away from the dogs. They seem to have worked so far this summer.
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