“Them’s fighting words.”
The colloquial expression originating in the American South became popularized through Looney Tunes cartoons, and specifically, through Yosemite Sam’s confrontations with Bugs Bunny. We don’t hear the phrase much in the dog world, though some of us may think it when our favorite breed’s place in the world is challenged as the “most” of anything, be it the rarest/oldest/fastest/most intelligent – or any other superlative.
We came across a sentence in a dog book that described the Barbet as the “original water dog of Europe,” and that got us thinking. It’s a bold statement given how many water dog breeds have actually come out of Europe: In addition to the Barbet, there is the Lagotto Romagnolo, Portuguese Water Dog, Wetterhoun, Otterhound, Pudelpointer, Spanish Water Dog, Cantabrian Water Dog, Irish Water Spaniel – and of course, the Poodle.
In checking with different sources, we found that any discussion of the “original” water dog of Europe actually comes down to two breeds, the Barbet, and the Lagotta Romagnolo.
The Lagotto Romagnolo was extensively used in the marshlands of Italy’s Po Delta, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries, a fact known through historical records from the Renaissance period (including frescoes by Andrea Mantegna), and regional hunting records from the Emilia-Romagna area. Both indicate that the breed was used as a primary working dog in watery terrains predating or paralleling the use of similar dogs elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, the name “Lagotto” itself means “hairy water dog” in the Romagna dialect.
The Lagotto Romagnolo boasts a strong regional history as a water dog in Italy’s Po Delta marshes, but the Barbet holds a compelling claim as a foundational water dog breed of Europe. The earliest clear reference to a dog resembling an early form of the Barbet appears in the 14th century, specifically in Gaston Fébus’ Livre de Chasse (1386–1387), written by Gaston III, Count of Foix. This text describes “Chiens d’oysel” (bird dogs), including curly-coated dogs used for waterfowl hunting, which are widely believed to resemble the Barbet due to their distinctive coat and role in aquatic environments.
At one point, we came to one unhelpful conclusion: Most sources view the Barbet as a key original water dog breed of Europe, but the Lagotto Romagnolo is also often credited as the oldest known water dog breed on the continent. If you’re like us, you might be asking what the distinction is between being ‘the original,’ and being ‘the oldest’ in the context of dog breeds.
As far as we can tell, the differences lie in the nuances of each breed’s historical roles, documentation, and influence.
An “original” breed is considered foundational because it served as a prototype that shaped characteristics and functions of other breeds. The Barbet is regarded by most cynologists as a foundational water dog breed in Europe that influenced several modern dog breeds, particularly those with water-retrieving capabilities and curly,water-resistant coats. Among them, the Poodle, Portuguese Water Dog, Spanish Water Dog, and maybe even the Irish Water Spaniel.
In contrast, the mantle of “oldest” breed refers to the earliest documented or even inferred example within a category. The Lagotto is often credited as the ‘oldest known” because of regional records.
In the spirited debate (of our own making) over which breed holds the title of Europe’s original water dog, we suspect that the Barbet emerges as the stronger contender due to its foundational role and broader historical influence. While the Lagotto Romagnolo boasts a well-documented history from the 15th–16th centuries, its role as a water dog was more localized and later shifted to truffle hunting. The Barbet’s wider geographic scope, continuous water dog function, and genetic legacy seem to us to make it the archetypal “original” water dog, even as the Lagotto’s specific early records earn it the “oldest known” moniker
We conclude with what got the ball rolling, so to speak, in the first place. It was a sentence from Desmond Morris’ book,
Dogs, and the sentence was: “This is the original water dog of Europe, known since the Middle Ages.” The sentence was found in the breed description for the
Barbet.
Photo of a Barbet by Sarka Novakova
