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Pont-Audemer Spaniel
Gentle, cheerful, active and devoted. From France.
Sportingmedium breedFranceStandards checked
Standards checked: this profile's facts are checked against the breed standards of the AKC, The Kennel Club and the FCI, as described on our methodology page.
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Photos show different individual dogs from licensed libraries, not one dog growing up. Stage labels are approximate, the way a careful editor would judge them.
About the Pont-Audemer Spaniel
The Pont-Audemer Spaniel is a French water loving spaniel with a wavy to curly, slightly oily coat and a topknot of curls, flushing and retrieving game from cover and marsh. Spaniels are busy little optimists who bond hard to their people; they need company, games and muddy walks in roughly equal measure.
History
The adult stands 20 to 23 in at the shoulder and weighs 40 to 60 lb. The Pont-Audemer Spaniel was shaped in France as a flushing spaniel, kept to work close to the gun, flushing game from hedgerows and cover and retrieving it. FCI recognition gives the breed a single published standard across most of the world. Wavy to curly, dense coat with a slightly oily, water resistant feel and a topknot of curls between the ears.
Personality
Gentle, cheerful, active and devoted is the record's Pont Audemer, the Epagneul de Pont Audemer: Normandy's curly coated marsh spaniel, developed around the town of Pont Audemer from local water spaniels with setter influence, recognisable by its frizzy topknot and merry, clownish nature. Pont Audemers are hardy, capable water dogs and famously good natured companions, hardier than they look and softer than they seem. Puppies are bright, curly charmers; adults are handsome, devoted partners. Owners describe the clown of the French spaniels: a serious water worker with a comedian's heart and hair.
Temperament and traits
Energy (4/5)
Trainability (4/5)
Grooming needs (3/5)
Shedding (3/5)
Barking (3/5)
Good with children: Good with children
With other dogs: Good with dogs
With strangers: Friendly with strangers
Apartment life: With enough exercise
Coat and care
Coat: Wavy to curly, dense coat with a slightly oily, water resistant feel and a topknot of curls between the ears. It sheds moderately and needs regular combing.
Colors: The standard accepts a range of colors and patterns, and individual markings vary a lot.
Measure meals rather than free feeding; this breed does best on a routine of consistent meals, training in short sessions and daily exercise matched to its type. Brush weekly and check ears, teeth and nails as part of the routine. Check the long ears after every wet walk and keep them clean and dry inside; spaniel ears are the breed's one predictable weak spot.
Exercise and grooming
Exercise
Sixty to ninety minutes a day of Norman wetland exercise: the Pont Audemer Spaniel is France's rarest spaniel, the curly coated water dog of the Pont Audemer marshes in Normandy, bred to hunt waterfowl in flooded meadows and retrieve from cold water with setter like style. Swimming, retrieving and country quartering fill the programme. Spaniels are busy optimists who bond hard to their people, per the overview: they need company, games and muddy walks in roughly equal measure. Puppies build up gradually. The breed nearly vanished after the Second World War, and every worked, happy Pont Audemer is a small preservation victory.
Grooming
Brush weekly and check ears, teeth and nails as part of the routine, per the care notes, working through the curly, slightly oily water coat and its famous topknot; curls felt if neglected, so comb through after marsh days. Check the long ears after every wet walk and keep them clean and dry inside; spaniel ears are the breed's one predictable weak spot, in the notes' exact words. Nails need trims, teeth benefit from brushing. Puppies need kind ear and coat handling habits. Owners describe the grooming as characterful: a clown wigged coat that repays weekly attention.
Training and daily life
Training
Pont Audemers are capable, willing pupils with a train score in this site's upper range, learning water work and retrieving beautifully under reward based, structured training with spaniel enthusiasm and a clown's timing. Teach clearly, proof patiently against game scent, and keep sessions lively. Priorities are recall proofed against game, a reliable delivery from water, a settle, lead manners, and socialisation that keeps the cheerfulness confident. Owners describe a talented, joyful partnership with Normandy's little survivor.
Living with a Pont-Audemer Spaniel
The Pont Audemer Spaniel suits active rural households that want France's rarest spaniel and are willing to seek one out: gentle, cheerful, active and devoted in the record's words, good with children, good with other dogs and friendly with strangers, it rates flats as possible only with the full marsh programme delivered. Spaniels bond hard to their people, per the overview, and this merry little water dog is famous for clowning at home. Owners describe a treasure of Normandy: a topknotted water spaniel of unusual sweetness, saved from extinction by the marsh hunters who loved it.
What a Pont-Audemer Spaniel costs
Food cost
About $33 per month for a typical 50 lb adult eating roughly 3.1 cups a day of a standard quality food ($1.60 per lb). Full breakdown in our food expense calculator.
Activity and exercise
Plan 60 to 90 minutes a day of walks, play and training. Under exercised dogs of most breeds invent their own projects, and they rarely pick good ones.
Insurance cost
Typical US range $36 to $64 per month for accident and illness cover. Estimate only, based on market ranges for this breed's risk profile; see the insurance estimator and the insurance guide.
On the monthly figures above, a typical adult year runs to about $393 for food and $432 to $768 for insurance, before routine vet care, grooming and gear. Year one costs more: vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a crate, bedding and training all land at once.
Growth: puppy to senior
How weight typically builds with age for a medium breed, and when full size arrives.
| Stage | Age | Typical weight |
|---|---|---|
| Puppy | 8 weeks | about 6 to 8 lb |
| Puppy | 4 months | about 13 to 19 lb |
| Young | 6 months | about 21 to 31 lb |
| Young | 9 months | about 30 to 44 lb |
| Adult | 12 months | about 35 to 53 lb |
| Adult | 18 months | about 40 to 60 lb |
| Adult | Full grown | 40 to 60 lb (standard range) |
| Senior | From about 8 years | Healthy weight stays in the adult range; watch for slow gain or loss |
Growth pattern follows the size class growth curves published by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, applied to the adult weight range in the breed standard. Individual puppies vary; steady growth matters more than hitting any single number, and your vet's growth checks come first.
Life stages
Puppies need socialisation, ear and coat care habituation, protected joints while growing and early water confidence built as play. Adolescents are at maximum hunting enthusiasm, and structured field training carries the household through. Adults enjoy a long, vigorous prime: twelve to fourteen years. Keep ears clean and dry, curls worked through, weight lean and the marsh walks coming. Senior status arrives around ten: twice yearly checks with hip and eye awareness, joint friendly exercise and continued gentle retrieves. Old Pont Audemers stay gentle, cheerful and devoted.
Health
Hip and elbow scoring and annual eye checks are the backbone of gundog health testing, and most gundog breeds also have DNA tests for the conditions found in their lines. Ask the breeder for the full panel, not just a vet checked claim.
Conditions to know about
- Hip and elbow dysplasia: Hip and elbow scoring is the backbone of gundog health testing, per the record. Ask the breeder for the full panel, not just a vet checked claim, in the record's direct advice.
- Eye conditions: Annual eye checks complete the backbone named in the record. Ask for current certificates for both parents.
- DNA screened conditions: Most gundog breeds also have DNA tests for the conditions found in their lines, per the record. In a breed this rare, ask the French breed club what testing the small population uses.
Facts follow the Pont-Audemer Spaniel breed standard (AKC, The Kennel Club and FCI standards agree on the essentials for this breed). Health notes summarize the conditions breed clubs and veterinary bodies most often flag for this breed. They are general information for choosing and caring, not a diagnosis or a substitute for your vet.
Gear for Pont-Audemer Spaniel owners
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Pont-Audemer Spaniel questions
How long do Pont-Audemer Spaniels live?
A typical lifespan is 12 to 14 years. Weight control, dental care and screening for the breed's known conditions give a dog the best chance of reaching the top of that range.
How much does it cost to keep a Pont-Audemer Spaniel?
Food for a typical adult runs about $33 a month at a standard quality tier, and accident and illness insurance usually falls between $36 and $64 a month in the US. Try the full cost calculator for a complete year one and yearly picture.
Are Pont-Audemer Spaniels good with children?
Good with children. As with every breed, supervise dogs and children together and teach children to respect the dog's space.
How much exercise does a Pont-Audemer Spaniel need?
Plan on 60 to 90 minutes a day, split between walks, play and training games. Puppies and seniors need gentler, shorter sessions.
Why does the Pont Audemer wear a topknot?
The curly, almost frizzy coat with its distinctive tufted topknot is the breed's signature, a water spaniel's weatherproofing from the Norman marshes. Owners call it the clown's wig, and the breed's merry character matches it.
Is the Pont Audemer really close to extinction?
It is one of the rarest French breeds: numbers collapsed after the Second World War and setter crosses were used to rebuild. Dedicated Norman breeders keep the little water spaniel going.
Pont Audemer or Picardy Spaniel, what is the difference?
Norman and Picard cousins: the Pont Audemer is the smaller, curlier, rarer marsh dog with the topknot. The Picardy is the bigger, browner Somme dog. Both are hardy, devoted French water spaniels.
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