American Water Spaniel

History

Home to Wisconsin, the American Water Spaniel originated in the 19th century by crossing the Irish and English Water Spaniel, Poodle, and Curly Coated Retriever bloodlines. This breed was used for hunting both in the water and land. Today, this breed is still used as a hunters companion to help with hunting and retrieving.

Appearance

Both males and females measuring 15-18 inches in height and weighing 25-45 pounds in weight, the American Water Spaniel is built petite and stocky. An oval shaped head, leads way to their rectangular shaped muzzle. Their ears are large and pendant shaped that fall alongside of their face. The American Water Spaniel can have an eye color that varies from a yellow brown, to dark brown and always carries a brown nose. This breed has a double layer coat that is soft and always should demonstrate a natural shine. Their coat is available in a tight curl, to a wave and comes in different shades of brown.

Temperament

The American Water Spaniel is a fantastic breed to add to any family with children of all ages, elderly and other dogs. This breed is friendly, easy to train, loving and playful. This breed is a wonderful companion to any hunter as well, as they can handle themselves in water and uneven grounds while in the woods hunting. The American Water Spaniel requires a confident owner who only uses positive reinforcement methods. Suitable for both apartment and country living situations, this breed only needs to receive a daily walk and other playful activity to be on its best behavior. Dogs that aren't getting enough physical or mental stimulation will start barking, digging and even nipping habits, so be sure to stay active with your Spaniel.

Grooming

Brush daily and after hunting outings, however be sure not to bathe your Spaniel too often as you will damage their water proof coat causing skin issues.

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the American Water Spaniel prior to adding one to your family to ensure this is the correct breed of choice for you and that you are able to make a life long commitment to your new addition. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.