Blue Picardy Spaniel puppies

About the Blue Picardy Spaniel

The Blue Picardy Spaniel comes from northern France, where local Picardy Spaniels crossed with English Setters brought over for the duck shooting to produce a blue speckled gundog. This is a medium sized, workmanlike dog of 53 to 61cm and 20.4 to 24.9kg, with a moderate feathered coat, long ears and a ticked black and grey pattern. They are gentle, biddable and quiet by gundog standards, rated at the very top for trainability and highly for tolerance of children and other dogs.

The breed does well on roughly twenty minutes of brisk walking, running or fetch twice a day, and they are happier still with hunting or scent work to do. A fenced garden and a lead are sensible, since the prey drive is intact and a Blue will follow a scent off the property. Grooming is a weekly pin brush and comb, a monthly bath, and drying the long ears after wet work. A soft, easy gundog is still a gundog, so do not expect a low energy pet.

What to expect at eight weeks

At eight weeks a Blue Picardy Spaniel puppy is sleeping around 18 to 20 hours a day, is not house trained, and cannot hold on for more than an hour or two at a stretch. A medium breed puppy at eight weeks is a manageable armful that will not stay that way. Most of the growth happens between now and six months, so buy for the adult dog where you can. Expect moderate energy, in short bursts separated by long naps. Grooming is straightforward, but start handling the coat, feet and ears in week one anyway so it is never a fight later. The socialisation window is open and closing: everything they meet calmly now, from vacuum cleaners to men in hats, is easier for the rest of their life.

Health worth knowing about

Conditions this breed is reported to be predisposed to. Predisposed does not mean inevitable, it means ask about it.

• Hip and elbow dysplasia, screened by hip and elbow evaluation of breeding stock
• Ear infections, because the long ears trap moisture, so ears need checking and drying after wet work

Your Blue Picardy Spaniel puppy's first six months

• Vaccination schedule, dated for your country.
• Worming and parasite schedule.
• Feeding calculator. Set expected adult size to Medium for a Blue Picardy Spaniel.
• Adult size predictor, to check growth against the 20.4 to 24.9 kg adult range.
• Puppy names and the first week checklist.

Kit sizes: crate 36 inch (36 x 24 x 26 in, 91 x 61 x 66 cm) for an adult of up to 24.9 kg; chew toys made for medium breeds. Worked out the same way as the crate size calculator. PetMD bases a crate on the dog's own measurements, not weight or breed alone, so measure once the puppy is home.

Buying guides for this

• Best crate for a puppy: wire, plastic or soft, and how to size one with a divider

Other medium breeds

More on the Blue Picardy Spaniel

Previous: Blue Lacy · Next: Bluetick Coonhound

Sources

• akc.org for adult weight and height, life expectancy, energy, grooming, shedding and the temperament ratings, coat type and health notes
• fci.be for country of origin
• Health notes from Blue Picardy Spaniel breed information at https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/blue-picardy-spaniel/. Discuss any of these with your own vet.

No published figure for coat type, so nothing is shown rather than a guess.

Photo: Pleple2000, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped. All photographers are listed on the photo credits page.