The Barbet has a standard with accepted coat colors and non-standard colors. It’s of course difficult to understand how a dog was born with a particular coat color and how it got here when you don’t know what is in your pedigree.
Here’s a great example:
G Stubbs on the left 1790
Barbet Gatsby in Canada in the middle ( courtesy of Florence E)
A Poodle in the UK on the right ( courtesy of Michelle M)
It’s not easy to deal with a small breed when you don’t know what is in the pedigree and you have a litter you have worked hard for and have several non-standard colors you have not a clue where they come from. Imagine when they still come out 200 years later and you’re told to only look at 4/5 generations.