It’s tempting to muse why it is that some of the oldest breeds in the world are among the last to be accepted by the AKC, but we must remind ourselves that a breed’s age has little to do with recognition. Case in point: the Barbet. The Barbet was first a gundog, and then a waterdog, but a gundog and waterdog that influenced so many other breeds that it’s regarded as a major contributor to French canine patrimony. Its long history reaches to at least the 16th century, and while other countries had their water dogs, they weren’t called Barbets, a name that in France was the generic word used to designate any long haired dog with a beard (barbe) before it became the official name of a breed of French dogs.
Where did they come from? Shoulder shrug. It depends upon whom you ask. One source maintains that the Barbet was developed from North African herding dogs that arrived in Europe with the Moors and returning armies in the 7th and 8th centuries. The dogs spread throughout Europe, and they caught on! By the 16th century, Henry IV of France was water fowling with them.
Image from Wikipedia via Bibliothèque nationale de France under public domain
It’s because a group of breeders and fanciers of sufficient size need to come together and establish the breed here in the USA. They need to bring the breed to a certain size and number of active homes, set up a parent club here then they need to request full status. AKC offers the Foundation Stock Service as a registry, which is useful for breeders as it allows the reciprocity with others like FCI. Breeds can choose to use FSS but not go to full status for showing. For those clubs that want to go to full status, there are a number of things they need to do to establish the club to be able to put on shows and trials. They must have a certain number of member households, establish a constitution and by laws, set up legally and then host matches and open shows, among other things.