American Water Spaniel. Paul R. Morrison
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the answer to this debate may never be determined, one can look to noted experts to find a clue to the likely answer that may actually lay this matter to rest. First is to find a definition of just what a water spaniel is, and we get somewhat of an explanation from John R. Falk’s The Complete Guide To Bird Dog Training, where he describes the American Water Spaniel as a dog that was “…developed principally for duck hunting, his versatility was recognized early on and even in the latter part of the nineteenth century he saw considerable work springing marsh birds in the lowlands and ruffed grouse and rabbits in the uplands.” It is this versatility to function both as a retriever and as a flushing dog along the varied cover of wetland areas that makes a water spaniel.
So, according to Falk, we should not look upon a water spaniel as simply a retriever but as much more. It should be a versatile dog that is capable of flushing game and retrieving it from land or water. This is in keeping with the writings of many of the breed’s early developers and supporters, including Driscoll Scanlan, who was quoted by Howard Peterson in 1938 as saying, “As a retriever the American water spaniel is well-nigh perfect by nature...The American water spaniel is equally at home afield or astream. Endowed with a faultless nose, this breed works thicket, rough ground or almost impenetrable covert, depending on body scent for game location...It does not point game but springs it...The dogs are easily trained, quick to learn to drop to wing and shot.”
If that is not enough to help settle the debate one can also read the words of John Scofield, a prominent breeder of the 1940s and 1950s who wrote, “There seems even today some confusion on the part of individuals who want to classify the American as a Retriever. This is a mistake and should never be considered. The American is typical Spaniel; his heritage proves that beyond a doubt, and the American Kennel Club upholds that Spaniel classification.”
Looking back at the writings of the breed’s originators and early promoters helps us to see exactly how they looked upon the AWS and its special fit in the world of sporting dogs. With the advent of American Kennel Club classifications and the special testing program established by the AWSC, maintaining the American Water Spaniel as more than simply a retriever should be easier. With AWS owners able to test the versatility of the breed rather than relegating it to nothing more than retriever tests, the breed should stay true to its root heritage and characteristics.
For 50 years, from the time of initial AKC recognition, the American Water Spaniel’s breed standard remained unchanged. Then, in 1990, at the urging of the AKC and in an attempt to better explain key aspects of the breed’s physical characteristics, the standard was changed to that which is found today. The standard is used as a blueprint for the breed’s ideal physical structure and serves as a guide breeders should follow when choosing to produce quality American Water Spaniels. The breed standard also serves as a measure by which judges can evaluate dogs presented to them at conformation shows. By seeking out the opinion of conformation judges and evaluating one dog against others of its kind, breeders are able to make more informed decisions regarding the dogs best suited for their particular breeding program.
A little white on the chest or toes of the American Water Spaniel is permissible by the AKC breed standard.
Most American Water Spaniel breeders understand that maintaining the breed’s physical characteristics is as important as maintaining the breed’s original purpose as an all-around hunting dog. People choosing to breed their American Water Spaniels should pay particular attention to the symmetry of the breed’s physical qualities and to avoid overdoing one characteristic for another. Novices will do well to seek the advice of a knowledgeable AWS breeder and to work with the person from whom they obtained their AWS, if that person has himself been breeding for a substantial period of time. Such breeders will have the best understanding of the strengths and weaknesses found within their own line of dogs and thus can best direct the novice along a positive path.
One of the first physical attention-grabbing characteristics of the AWS is the breed’s coat. The coat can be curly, marcel or some variation of the two. What the coat should not be is straight or flat, except in specific areas of the body which include the face, forehead and fronts of the legs. A dog whose coat is predominately flat does not properly represent the American Water Spaniel’s ideal coat type. The term marcel is used to describe a wavy coat pattern as opposed to one that is curly and is a term that is often misunderstood by newcomers to the breed. Such individuals should remember that the breed was first recognized in the 1920s, an era that produced “speakeasies” and female dancers called “flappers.” It was one of the flapper hairstyles that was worn tight to the skin with uniform waves that most likely influenced the term used to describe a wavy-coated American Water Spaniel as marcel.
BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE DOG
Even though you may never show your dog, you should still read the breed standard. The breed standard tells you more than just physical specifications such as how tall your dog should be; it also describes how he should act, how he should move and what unique qualities make him the breed that he is. You are not investing money in a pure-bred dog so that you can own a dog that “sort of looks like” the breed you’re purchasing. You want a typical, handsome representative of the breed, one that all of your friends and family and people you meet out in public will recognize as the breed you’ve so carefully selected and researched. If the parents of your prospective puppy bear little or no resemblance to the dog described in the breed standard, you should keep searching!
This is a fine example of a marcel-coated American Water Spaniel.
Dogs in the show ring are not compared against each other but rather against the breed standard. The dog that most closely conforms to the breed standard, in the judge’s opinion, is the winner of the class.
An American Water Spaniel’s coat should be sufficiently dense so as to protect against cold temperatures, and it should shed water quickly. The texture of the coat should be soft rather than coarse, and it should not be brittle. The coat should appear healthy and not dull. The body should be well covered with hair, and the coat should be moderate in length. Unfortunately there is no definition of what constitutes a moderate length of coat, so you may see coats with hair that is no more than an inch or two in length and others that are much longer. This is especially the case with the feathering on the legs and tail.
Some American Water Spaniels have excessively long feathering which is more like that of a setter than of a spaniel, but because there is not a specific definition of the term “moderate,” all are taken to be acceptable even though this is probably not truly the case.
In reading some literature from the early days of recognition, it is obvious that the full coats often seen in the show ring today were not those intended by at least some of the breed’s early promoters. In fact, the standard prior to 1990 called for a tail that was covered to the tip, which could be covered by curls, feathering or some combination of the two, while today’s standard requires a tail that is feathered.
Of course you cannot look upon an American Water Spaniel without being drawn to its rich brown color. The AWS is always a shade of brown ranging from liver to brown to chocolate. This too is a departure from the breed’s original standard which called for the dogs to be either liver or dark chocolate. Today you will not find a dog registered after 1990 that carries the designation of dark chocolate, yet it is obvious that this was one of the original color variations of the breed. While the liver color is typically considered to be a shade of brown having a deep red tone, the chocolate is more of a dark brown resembling the color of a dark chocolate candy bar. Noticeably absent in the AWS is any form of marking or ticking except for the occasional white which can be found on the chest or feet. White should be kept to a minimum,