A breed bears the name of its region
Geography
Picardy is a region in the north-east of France, which joins the all de France, the Paris Basin, is administratively part of the Somme department and is geographically part of the "Plaine du Nord". Picardy can be reached by car from Paris in about an hour. There are favourable transport links (road, rail, air, canal tunnel or ferry) to the European metropolises (e.g. London 2.5 hours, Brussels 1.5 hours).
It borders the regions of Nord-Pas-de- Calais, Champagne Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Haute-Normandie, Belgium and the Atlantic Ocean. Picardy is a department between Aisne, Oise and Somme. Aisne is the lowest-living department in the region. In Beauvais, the capital of the Oise département, stands the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre, one of the most important Gothic buildings. In the Somme département is the capital of Picardy, Amiens.
The capital of Picardy is located 140 kilometers north of Paris. The landmark of the city is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame d'Amiens, the largest sacral building in France. It served as a structural model for Cologne Cathedral. The cathedral is illuminated in colour from June to September, as well as at Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.
Worth seeing is the canal-covered Saint-Leu district with low wooden houses, small cafés, restaurants and a market on the water. To the east are the "floating gardens" of Hortillonnages, a canal-covered garden area that is protected by nature and can be explored by boat. On Rue Charles Dubois 2 stands the Maison de Jules Vernes, the house where the Nantes-born writer lived until his death. Here are more than 700 objects about his life and work.
The rarest and most unknown representative among the four dog breeds of France recognized by the FCl bears the name of the landscape from which it originates: Picardy. Due to its coastal location, Picardy is a largely flat landscape, characterized by a rather humid, maritime climate with frequent winds, shrouded in fog many days of the year and therefore appearing as if in veiled light. In this flat landscape, sheep and cattle breeding has traditionally been widespread, and the rough-haired Picardian shepherddogs were used to herd the sheep or to drive the cattle. They had also the function as farm guards. The Picardian dogs were considered courageous and were popular and appreciated for centuries as independent, hard working dogs.
Their type has likely to be
long before the beginning of the breed-pure breeding still varied: From lighter individuals to heavier ones, including those that today seem to us like a hybrid form between Briard and Picard or between Briard and Bouvier des Flandres. All rough-haired standing-eared hats or drift dogs were then referred to as "Picard" in northern France. In the adjacent French part of Belgium, both the rough-haired shepherd dog and the rough-haired cattle-driving dog were called "Bouvior". And in the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium, all rough-haired dogs were referred to as "Vuilbaard" (to english: "dirty beard") or "Pikhaar" (to english: "Stitchhair"). Footage of early Bouviers des Flandres is reminiscent of a giant schnauzer or a very strong, high-legged, dark Picard. But these two races don't have too much external in common.
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