Breed Page

Barbet — BetterBred Breed Page – BetterBred.com
BetterBred Breed Profile

Barbet

Temperament: Cheerful, social, loyal, and brave. Barbets are water-retrieving working dogs bred to love water and work happily in any weather. They are affectionate family dogs and do well with children and other animals, but need real exercise and mental engagement.
Height: Males: 21-24.5 inches (53-62 cm), Females: 19-22.5 inches (48-57 cm)
Weight: Males: 37-62 pounds (17-28 kg), Females: 31-51 pounds (14-23 kg)
Life Span: 12-14 years
Outlier Index ?
0.42
Born before 2016: 0.43 Born after 2024: —
Avg Genetic Rel. ?
0.02
Born before 2016: 0.01 Born after 2024: —
Internal Relatedness ?
-0.06
Born before 2016: -0.07 Born after 2024: —
Barbet
#NameGender OIAGRIR
1 Nuphar's Elementary M 0.42 0.00 0.03
2 Nuphar's I Take Mine Black F 0.55 0.00 -0.09
3 Patronum Bleuzorange Olivia F 0.42 0.00 0.03
4 Northrock's Fly Me To The Moon M 0.34 0.05 -0.10
5 Douxbarbu Gwendoline Shelby F 0.35 0.08 -0.20
6 Rover Douxbarbu Mackenzie M 0.31 0.07 -0.06
7 Wendake Nemours-Joconde F 0.41 0.00 0.09
8 Magnum Kiss Curl Pickle Paulette Doubs of Corve (IMP FRA) F 0.41 -0.02 0.03
9 Barbevoix Padoue M 0.52 -0.01 -0.13
10 Margueritegauthier (ITA) F 0.97 -0.16 0.00
An ancient breed, the Barbet is a water-retrieving gun dog thought to be most like the original European curly-coated landrace from which other similar dogs descended - the Portuguese and Spanish Water Dogs, and the Poodle. The breed was well established across France for centuries but numbers dropped dramatically during the European wars of the 20th century. Dedicated French breeders and international fanciers have helped the population recover, and the Barbet has gained wider international recognition in recent decades, including full AKC recognition in 2020. The modern population remains small but active.
View Official Breed Standard →
Hip dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy (prcd, DNA test available), and entropion occur in the breed. Epilepsy and umbilical hernias have been reported less commonly. As a small-population breed, breeders should stay attentive to any patterns as the population grows.
VGL has reported Barbets carrying an average of around 5.88 alleles across the 33 STR loci, with an effective allele count near 3.61. Those numbers reflect the breed's small worldwide population and narrow post-war founder base. As in most breeds, rare alleles need deliberate preservation. VGL testing has found Barbets with observed heterozygosity higher than expected, giving a modestly negative inbreeding coefficient. That suggests active selection for unrelated pairings in the tested population. Individual IR values still vary and breeders should continue prioritizing less related pairings to maintain the breed's genetic health.

Average metrics by birth year for dogs with recorded birthdates in the BetterBred database.

A 3D genetic map of enrolled Barbet dogs in the BetterBred database, based on allele-sharing distance across 33 STR loci. This is not a complete picture of the breed — it reflects only dogs whose owners have enrolled them. Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom · hover for dog names (public profiles only).

Historical founders — oldest 25% of enrolled dogs     Current gene pool — most recent 50% of enrolled dogs
Building plot… this may take a minute for larger breeds.

The Dog Leukocyte Antigen (DLA) region controls immune function and is the most polymorphic portion of the canine genome. Every dog carries two sets of DLA haplotypes — one from each parent — which almost never recombine across generations. Frequency percentages reflect how often each haplotype appears across all allele copies in the breed, not the percentage of dogs carrying it.

Class I Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
1093
17.2%
1035
16.4%
1020
12.5%
1003
10.9%
1159
10.9%
1200
10.9%
1002
6.3%
1001
3.9%
1046
3.1%
1092
3.1%
1030
2.3%
1033
2.3%

Class II Haplotypes

HaplotypeFrequency
2001
18.0%
2032
17.2%
2082
15.6%
2003
12.5%
2047
10.9%
2043
10.2%
2035
5.5%
2009
3.1%
2017
3.1%
2023
2.3%
2006
0.8%
2113
0.8%

Class I & II Combinations

Class IClass IIFrequency
1093 2032
17.2%
1035 2082
15.6%
1020 2003
12.5%
1003 2001
10.9%
1159 2047
10.9%
1200 2043
10.2%
1002 2001
6.3%
1001 2009
3.1%
1046 2017
3.1%
1092 2035
3.1%
1030 2023
2.3%
1033 2035
2.3%
1001 2001
0.8%
1035 2006
0.8%
1200 2113
0.8%
https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/dog/GeneticDiversityInBarbet.php

The Canine Diversity Test from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the foundation of BetterBred’s breed management tools. Testing your dog adds to the breed database and gives you access to the full suite of breeding analysis tools.

Order from UC Davis VGL →
Northrock Reg'd
Ontario, CA
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La Vieille Garde
Quebec, Canada
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vom Zulimo
Switzerland
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OI
Outlier Index

The Outlier Index (OI) measures how unusual a dog’s allele combination is relative to the tested population of its breed. A higher OI means the dog carries alleles at lower frequencies across the breed — genetic variants that are underrepresented in the population as a whole.

Dogs with high OI are genetically valuable because they carry diversity that most other tested dogs don’t share. Breeding them thoughtfully into the broader population helps redistribute lower-frequency alleles rather than allowing them to become even rarer over generations.

The breed average shown here reflects all dogs tested in the BetterBred database. The senior and youngster comparisons show whether diversity is trending up or down in recent generations.
AGR
Average Genetic Relatedness

Average Genetic Relatedness (AGR) measures how similar a dog’s DNA is, on average, to every other tested dog in the breed. It reflects the dog’s mean kinship — how closely related it is to the population as a whole.

A lower AGR means the dog is more genetically distinct from the majority of the breed. Dogs with low AGR carry alleles at lower frequencies across the tested population, making them higher-priority candidates for inclusion in a well-managed breeding program.

AGR is conceptually related to mean kinship used in conservation genetics for managed species populations. A declining AGR average in younger dogs suggests the breed is successfully redistributing genetic diversity across generations.
IR
Internal Relatedness

Internal Relatedness (IR) measures how much identical genetic material an individual dog inherited from both parents. IR is a useful indicator of inbreeding: lower IR generally reflects lower inbreeding, and it is widely used and reported in the scientific literature.

A high IR is not the cause for alarm it might appear. Elevated IR can often be resolved in a single generation by pairing with a dog whose ancestry is less represented in the breed. It is a signpost, not a sentence.

BetterBred reports IR for reference, but it is not our primary breeding guidance tool. OI and AGR together give a more complete and actionable picture of a dog’s genetic value to the population.

AGR tells you which dogs are genetically unusual relative to the population. OI tells you which dogs are most valuable to preserve. OI specifically weights mid-frequency alleles, identifying dogs whose ancestry is underrepresented in a way most likely to benefit the breed.