A proud AWS owner with a day’s bag circa 1930s.

      Chroniclers of this spaniel’s history take its origin back to the mid-19th century, sometime around the Civil War days, and place its area of origin in the upper Midwest, specifically parts of Wisconsin known as the Wolf and Fox River Valleys. While this location and time cannot be proven, it is a pretty safe bet that this indeed is the time and place of the AWS’s development. No matter where one places the birth of the AWS, it is an accepted claim that the breed developed from the needs of the market hunters of the day.

      Market hunters were a rugged group who earned at least part of their living by harvesting large numbers of waterfowl and upland game for sale in local markets and restaurants. In the upper Midwest such men would work the marshes, lakes, river valleys and countryside in pursuit of game. Travel to the hunting areas was not necessarily done by car, train or even wagon but instead by skiff and canoe. These small craft were not conducive to ferrying a man, his hunting gear, the day’s take and a big dog, so small dogs that would not overturn the boat when working yet worked tirelessly were prized by the hunters.

      In the market-hunting era, it was not unusual for such hunters to harvest dozens of waterfowl at a time. Such large harvests left many birds lying in cover where they were difficult to spot or find, and it took the work of a good dog to ferret such birds out of thick cattails, reed beds and the surrounding land. Accomplishing such work required a dog to have a good nose to locate its quarry, a thick and water-repellent coat to maintain warmth and shed water and a hearty disposition to work all day long if need be. Additionally the dog would be expected to pull double duty and stand guard over the harvest, protecting it from other animals and some of the hunter’s unscrupulous competitors.

      Market hunters were an independent lot that seem to have preferred making their living by utilizing nature’s bounty. It was not unusual for some of these folk to also use trapping as a source of their income and, by some accounts, more than a few of them used a dog for tracking down quarry that escaped their traps and for catching what author David Duffey once referred to as “runner rats.” These were muskrats that moved across the frozen water of marshes right after the first freeze. Dogs were used to snatch these animals from the ice and return them to the trapper. A big dog would have trouble on the fragile ice and a timid dog would balk at doing battle with a muskrat fighting for its very existence. Dogs light in weight, swift of foot and tenacious in their pursuit of quarry were needed to fulfill such a duty.

       PURE-BRED PURPOSE

      Given the vast range of the world’s 400 or so pure breeds of dog, it’s fair to say that domestic dogs are the most versatile animal in the kingdom. From the tiny 1-pound lap dog to the 200-pound guard dog, dogs have adapted to every need and whim of their human masters. Humans have selectively bred dogs to alter physical attributes like size, color, leg length, mass and skull diameter in order to suit our own needs and fancies. Dogs serve humans not only as companions and guardians but also as hunters, exterminators, shepherds, rescuers, messengers, warriors, babysitters and more!

      As one of the legends goes, in searching for a dog that could meet the needs of these men, some of them tried importing the now extinct English Water Spaniel to do the required work. While possessing a great nose, it is purported that this little breed had trouble with the cold water and air temperatures of the upper Midwest. This brought about the crossing of the English Water Spaniel with other more hardy breeds like the Curly-Coated Retriever and the Irish Water Spaniel, using, it is believed, smaller representatives of each of these breeds. Eventually, as the story goes, these crosses developed into the American Water Spaniel.

       CANIS LUPUS

      “Grandma, what big teeth you have!” The gray wolf, a familiar figure in fairy tales and legends, has had its reputation tarnished and its population pummeled over the centuries. Yet it is the descendants of this much-feared creature to which we open our homes and hearts. Our beloved dog, Canis domesticus, derives directly from the gray wolf, a highly social canine that lives in elaborately structured packs. In the wild, the gray wolf can range from 60 to 175 pounds, standing between 25 and 40 inches in height.

      Another legend of the breed’s roots attributes its progenitors to a cross between the Curly-Coated Retriever and the Field Spaniel. This was the belief of Dr. F. J. “Doc” Pfeifer of New London, Wisconsin, founder of the breed and a man who obtained his first AWS around 1894. The doctor claimed that every AWS he owned up to the 1930s had no likeness to the Irish Water Spaniel. It was only after the 1920s that the doctor noted cross-breedings involving the Irish and American

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