This blog has neglected one breed of retriever. The only time I’ve mentioned it has been in passing or in reference to another breed.
Can you guess what it is?
It’s not very common, and none of my regular blog readers mentions it.
But it deserves a post.
I’ll give you a hint:
It’s very similar to three other breeds of retriever.
I’d say the Irish Water Spaniel ?!
curley coat?
Kooikerhondje (sp?) I think one prevented an assassination of some continental archduke (not Ferdinand, obv.)
I did something on the Kooikerhondje when I did the the Nova Scotia Duck Toller.
The kooikerhondje is the ancestor the red decoy dogs of England that are the ancestors of the toller.
I thought someone already said it, but it must be the wetterhound.
Like a curly coat, only meaner.
The American Water Spaniel — which in spite of its name, is a very capable wildfowl retriever. It was developed to work from skiffs in the wetlands of Wisconsin-Minnesota(hence the smaller size than most retrievers).
Because the AWS people and their Parent Club consider this dog to be both upland hunter and wildfowl retriever, i.e., combining both spaniel and retriever working characteristics, the AKC doesn’t allow them to enter retriever trials or hunting tests. However, UKC and NAHRA do.
This “little brown dog” is probably the closest thing we have today, to the original water spaniels that helped form our retrievers (and some other breeds).
It’s a shame that the AKC tests are so limiting, but I hope they can keep their dogs working in both venues.
U r always so mysterious.. German Wachtelhund?
Beats me! There are only six breeds known as “retrievers” and I think they all been introduced here, more or less…
Would vote for curly though. ;)
…or you might be referring to the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever, developed in Australia. It resembles a combination of American Water Spaniel x the British Curly Coated Retriever, and is pretty much unknown outside of Australia.
Interesting that a breed developed on the other side of the world, for the same general purpose as the AWS and in the same time-frame, should physically resemble it so much.
I’m doing one on the AWS.
I’m searching for more historical information on them. I probably won’t have it out until the weekend, though.
One of the theories of the development of the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever is that American Water Spaniels were brought into Australia with one (or possibley more) American River Boat Captains who piloted the steam boats on the Murray River.
The Murray River Curly Coated Retriever Association (www.mrccr.org) has just been established to promote and protect the Murray River Curly Coated Retriever. We are hoping to have enough funding to be able to do a dna analysis on some of our dogs in order to help determine the mix of breeds that eventuated in the MRCCR.
Thank you for articulating this theory.
I’ve been looking for it.
The AWS comes from the US state of Wisconsin.
This may sound weird but that state is towards the interior of the continent.
But it has access to the Great Lakes (Michigan and Superior), and via the other Great Lakes and the Erie Canal and the St. Lawrence River, it has access to the Atlantic Ocean. (One of the big differences between North America and Australia is that we have major water ways that connect the interior of the continent with the coast.)
If AWS’s from Wisconsin made it to Australia in this fashion, it would be a very interesting story.
It could also be possible that the similarities between these dogs reflect a common ancestry in the now extinct English water spaniel.
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Just don’t tell a Wisconsin resident that their state is in a “weird” location! True that there is water access via the Great Lakes/St Lawrence. There is also even more direct access via rivers that join the Mississippi, thence to the Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal and westward to Australia.
It would not be surprising at all, that the AWS and the MRCCR were both recreations, or reversions to, the original or English Water Spaniel. Or even more closely related.
DNA studies could be revealing.
It’s not like I don’t know anyone in Wisconsin.