This is the one retriever breed I’ve not seen in person.
The SoftMaple Curlies website has everything you ever wanted to know about curly-coated retrievers. It’s really impressive. I’m going to be going through it very carefully to find out more about this breed.
I do know that this was a common show dog in the nineteenth century, but by the twentieth century, it was unknown in working trials. It was said to be too coarsely built and too aggressive to be a good working dog.
However, look at these dogs. They are far from being coarsely built. And I guarantee that the temperament has also improved. They should be more protective than the golden/Lab/Flat-coat family, but they should be less so than the typical Chesapeake, which was actually bred to be both a working retriever and a good guard dog.
I think they’re beautiful, and I’m always intrigued.
I’ve met a couple that were nice enough, and a couple that were nice enough but weird in a way I didn’t quite understand. Rather aloof. The ones I’ve met were not aggressive dogs, but dogs that made their presence known and you just kept them in the corner of your vision rather than turning your back. Very interesting breed.
I’m told that if you don’t fall in love with them right off the bat, they are a bit of an acquired taste.
Some working curlies I’ve briefly encountered: http://www.geocities.com/choccashaw/
http://brioretrievers.com/
I think they and the Chessie have the older strain of St. John’s water dog, which had something like the Cao de Castro Laboreiro temperament.
A good friend is at the Curly national this week. Will have to remember to ask for impressions.
I was at a show near me where I met one of these Curlies. The owner was actually upset at a GoldenDoodle owner who asked if that was a “Doodle”. It was very amusing to see that exchange. Here were two dogs that actually looked pretty similar and a very happy Doodle owner who’s just getting chewed out over owning a doodle. Both were nice dogs IMO. But, I’ll never call a curly a doodle, just to avoid the upset screaming.
I don’t think they are anything like a doodle.
I’ve never seen any other breeds that have that coat. It’s a short haired dog with very tight curls. Most other dogs with curls are medium to long-coated, even the Murray River curly doesn’t have the same coat.
I agree. They just looked similar and the question was innocent enough. I’d say it looks more like a lean poodle maybe. But the One I met was almost a fawn color and very nice. The curls were surprisingly soft. It looks coarse when you first see it, but it was soft to the touch.
I’ve never seen a fawn curly.
Their only standard colors, as with flat-coats, are black and liver.
I believe that’s why this one wasn’t competing. Sort of like me having a Yellow FCR.
What do you think of Murray River Curlies? I’ve heard they have problems with aggression sometimes. They are beautiful dogs.
Can you find any in North America? I would love to see some up close.
I’ve heard very little about aggression from them.
I don’t think they exist in the Northern Hemisphere at all.
The thing that I think is funny is that this is what I’ve always suspected the folks buying into the ‘non-shedding doodle’ expect – a short, close, curly coat that won’t need clipping AND won’t shed (admittedly, the CCRs do shed, but I don’t think that’s common knowledge.)
The shed a bunch.
http://curlycoat.org/_wsn/page9.html
I met a curlie at Presque Isle bay once. Its people had a boat and it enjoyed boating with them.
I want to meet a curly because the curly is said to be very similar to the Tweed water dog or Tweed water spaniel, just of a different color.
I own three of them, all b*tches, (two blacks and a liver). Mine are very friendly (all curlys at this year’s specialty seemed friendly, although I do find males can be a bit more aloof than females). They do shed but not near as bad as Labs (used to have one of them). However unless you go out of your way to brush or comb them out, you won’t get hair like Cathy’s pic. That said and done, the amount of shedding does tend to be dog dependent, one of my dogs is a shedder, the other two scarcely shed.
If the almost fawn colour curly Sengimage refers to is indeed a curly, it is a badly beached out liver one. (if the dog was a pound pup, the pounds tend to call anything with a hint of curl or wave in its coat a curly).
My experience is that goldens shed more than any other breed of retriever– including their close relative, the flat-coat.
I’ve never actually seen a curly. I just know that they exist, and they were the first retriever to be standardized into a breed.