The barbet is really similar to the English rough water dog or water rug that Shakespeare and Markham knew.
The text can be found at the Poodle History Project.
The text in question comes from Gervase Markham’s Hunger’s Prevention or the Art of Fowling from Water and Land (1621).
He was a prolific non-fiction writer of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He was well-acquainted with the early techniques of forestry and game keeping. This book is actually a treatise on how to shoot every kind of game bird that exists in Britain.
The dog in question is not a poodle– at least as we would understand it.
It is the dog more often referred to as the English rough water dog. It was something like a poodle or a barbet, but it was a distinctly English dog.
Contrary to this piece on spaniel history, Shakespeare was not referring to any breed of spaniel when he was talking about the English water spaniel when he mentioned the term “water rug.” Both rough water dogs and English water spaniels existed, and Shakespeare used both terms.
The water rug quote is from a piece of dialogue spoken by Macbeth:
Macbeth: Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men,
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clipt
All by the name of dogs.”
– William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 1
Shakespeare mentions water spaniels, which also existed. The character Launce says:
She hath more qualities than a water– spaniel, which is much in a bare Christian.
William Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 3, Scene 1.
One wonders why the spaniel researchers didn’t look into this a little closer. It is clear here that the Bard deliberately is using two different terms for two different dogs. The water rug is the same thing as the English rough water dog. It was a dog of the poodle-type, and some texts refer to it as a poodle. The other dog is also a water dog. However, it is a cross between the rough water dog and a spaniel or setter. In Shakespeare’s time, setters were classed as spaniels. This tradition still exists in France, where index spaniels, which we would call setters, are still referred to as épagneuls. So it is quite possible that some water spaniels had setter them, rather than spaniel.
The old water dogs were almost entirely replaced by the water spaniels by the mid-eighteenth century. Stubbs painted a water spaniel that is more of the rough water dog type, but as far as I can tell, those dogs either disappeared entirely or were absorbed into the poodle.
The water spaniels probably would’ve wound up the working water dogs of Europe had shooting pheasants, partridges, rabbits, and hares with shotguns not become a popular activity among the European gentry. They needed a dog that could retrieve from heavier cover and from the water. They started using water spaniels, collies, and setters to pick up shot game. Different nobles cross-bred them to create their own breeds of retriever. Retriever in those early days was a job description. Any dog that could pick up game was a retriever.
In the British colony of Newfoundland, the settlers had developed a dog for hauling nets and lines from the sea. Unlike any European dogs of this type, this dog often came with a short, thick coat that was quite waterproof. The dog could handle the frigid waters of the Grand Banks, and it lacked the coat that required clipping to be useful in the water. This dog was, of course, the St. John’s water dog. This dog was also used for fowling in the Newfoundland back country as Newfoundland explorer and entrepreneur William Epps Cormack described them in 1822:
The dogs are admirably trained as retrievers in fowling, and are otherwise useful…The smooth or short haired dog is preferred because in frosty weather the long haired kind become encumbered with ice on coming out of the water.
When these dogs arrived in England with imports of cod, they were instantly chosen as working retrievers. In fact, they were so good at this sort of work, that every modern breed of retriever descends from some version of this dog. They were crossed with water spaniels along the River Tweed, which is why the Tweed water spaniel or Tweed water dog looked so much like a retriever.
The specially bred retrievers proved really useful for the work at hand, and then water spaniels began to disappear. Today, only one breed of water spaniel from the islands of Great Britain and Ireland still exists. Just as the water spaniel replaced the rough water dog, the retrievers replaced the water spaniels. However, the water spaniels were more clearly absorbed into the retrievers than the rough water dogs were absorbed into the poodles and water spaniels.
Shakespeare and Markham both knew the ancestors of the modern water dogs. In fact, both were around to see the gradual shift away from the dogs of the poodle type to dogs of the water spaniel type. That change was rather gradual. When the St. John’s water dog arrived on the scene, the change was rather drastic.
I’ve never really liked any dog that needed a haircut, had fur covering its eyes or hair on its muzzle.
Really, where the idea that curly hair is for water came from? All manners of mammals make their living in and around the water (beavers, otters, polar bears) with normal, run of the mill fur coat. Even among dogs, we have Chese, Labs, Newfs, who are not hampered by their normal coats.
On article itself, great research as always. Very informative.
These poodle-types are probably derived from the same ancestral stock as the Puli. There are also Shafpudels that are now part of the Altdeustche Huetehunde breed. It’s probably that the best retrieving dogs came from that stock. It’s just that their coats weren’t stream-lined, so they were clipped.
When Portuguese and French and Spanish Basque fisherman were using the Grand Banks, they brought with them their water dogs of this type. Some of these dogs wound up marooned in Newfoundland, along with a livestock guardian mastiff called a Cao de Castro Laboreiro. It’s from the latter breed that the term “Labrador” (for the dog) comes. These dogs interbred with each other and with water spaniels, hounds, mastiffs, collies, setters and maybe the Labrador husky (the dog of the natives of Labrador– the actual place, which has nothing to do with the Labrador retriever). After centuries of mixing these strains, they wound up two basic varieties, which originally were thought of as the same thing, but later evolved into two distinct types in Newfoundland. One was a big dog with long hair that was usually black and white. This dog is the ancestor of the modern Newfoundland. It often had collie-type ears. The smaller version came in smooth-haired and long-haired versions. It was either black or liver in color. The ones with smooth hair were particularly prized on fishing boats, because they could swim really fast. They didn’t get bogged in the water as much, and ice didn’t freeze to the coat. Both of these dogs are ancestors of the retrievers and Newfoundland dogs. I call them St. John’s water dogs.
The smaller one was in demand as a retriever. But the original imports went to just a few people. Some people were able to import the long-haired smaller ones, which were then broken as retrievers. This retriever is said to be a St. John’s water dog: https://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/st-johns-water-dog-with-long-hair1.gif It is not called a retriever. With the exception of the Earls of Malmesbury, the only smaller St. John’s water dogs that could be imported were either long-haired or crossed with setters or collies. That explains why virtually all of the early retrievers carrying this blood were either called “wavy-coated” retrievers (the ancestral strain for the golden and flat-coated retriever).
The Newfoundland fisherman had actual created something that didn’t exist in Europe at the time. There were no short-haired water dogs in any European country until those from Newfoundland were imported.
It interesting that along the Atlantic Coast of Europe we can find dogs that worked in the water to help both the fishermen and the hunters. As the fisherman worked the waters of the Atlantic, eventually reaching the Outer Banks and Newfoundland and Labrador, they brought their dogs. The hunters in search of waterfowl used their dogs. One can only image how interbred these dogs were. A dog from one bay or cove may be bred to another in a bay or cove around that neck of land. (This occurred with the mountain dogs of Switzerland, if there was no stock in your valley you went to the next for a mating.) There was no kennel club telling them to breed “true” to that ideal dog.
These men needed a working dog and they begged, borrowed and stole to get the dog they needed to work with them. This was a breeder’s paradise. WIth every new litter the dogs with the desired traits were kept and the others culled or given away. These people were not afraid to mix it up to get the traits that felt were so necessary to work at sea or in the bays and coves.
“These men needed a working dog and they begged, borrowed and stole to get the dog they needed to work with them. This was a breeder’s paradise. WIth every new litter the dogs with the desired traits were kept and the others culled or given away. These people were not afraid to mix it up to get the traits that felt were so necessary to work at sea or in the bays and coves.”
What I think is really nice about this quote is that it emphasizes that there was pressure on the population–selection was based on something meaningful, and measurable, and the stakes were high.
I don’t know if that can be replicated today, unless you’re talking about some sort of modern social pressure, like “tolerates long hours alone; good size for an apartment; appropriate temperament for weekend-only exercise…” Or you have competition dogs (which I do…)… but even then, it’s not quite as “honest.”
I think a good Lab coat is one of the greatest things in dogdom–my yellow has a decent coat, slick and hard and shiny on top and with a distinct undercoat; he stays reasonably warm in the water, I think, and sheds and shakes most water off easily. My OLD Lab had a wondrous coat–slick and hard and shiny on top, and an undercoat dense to the point of wooliness; he literally didn’t get wet except with extreme exposure/pressure (like with a hose, soap, and a scrubbrush!).
Both dogs, once they do/did actually get wet, retain(ed) the water for a long time–many hours. I would imagine this could actually function like insulation, keeping water warmed to body temperature next to the body under extreme circumstances.
The flat-coat… well, she gets soaked to the bone in a puddle. But she dries fast.
The proper Golden retriever coat is really dense, usually augmented with lots of oil and maybe some wave (though not always) to keep the water off the skin. I think it’s one of the differences between flat-coats and goldens. Goldens have an undercoat that is almost like an Arctic breed’s. And they also shed like Siberian huskies and Norwegian elkhounds. My golden is blowing her coat right now. I have a nice black shirt that I tell everyone is mohair. A mohair polo-shirt!
I don’t know how the Lab got its coat. My guess is natural selection probably played a role in this. If a dog froze to death in the water, it didn’t breed, and if a dog couldn’t swim fast enough to keep up with the boat, it drowned. If a dog had too much coat that got matted, it got skin infections.
I’m not sure that the water spaniel exactly began to disappear (although they are rare now — the British even consider Irish Water Spaniels endangered). You probably know that the IWS was one of the founding breeds of the AKC in 1884.
AKC Registered Breeds in 1884:
Pointer
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
English Setter
Gordon Setter
Irish Setter
Clumber Spaniel
Cocker Spaniel
Irish Water Spaniel
Sussex Spaniel
The AKC says (http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=3731): “These original breeds are all current members of the Sporting Group — dogs bred to help man find and retrieve game. They all have innate instincts in the water, field and woods. While these breeds are less common today, the qualities that made them effective hunters – trainability, predictability and desire to please – make them ideal family dogs today.”
Clearly, though, with Labs once again the most popular dog (or at least the most popular purebred registered with the AKC), IWS are not for everyone.
I’m not sure that I agree that IWS necessarily have a “desire to please” unless there is a clear payoff. And I’m also not sure that IWS are “ideal family dogs” unless the family in question is experienced with high-energy dogs who need consistent training, lots of exercise, and a job to do.
http://patricedodd.wordpress.com/
Originally, the two breeds of water spaniel (American and Irish) were the basis of retrievers in this country. There were far more of them than any other retrieving breed, except along the East Coast, where the Chesapeake Bay dog (not called a retriever!) was more common.
The Lab is more popular because of its desire to please, which is second only to the golden. It also is a bit tougher than the golden and its coat is better at cutting through the water. The modern Lab is one of the newer strains of retirever. It was actually largely bred to be a trial dog, hence its popularity. The stories of them being an old breed from Newfoundland are a misidentification. The dog that actually did that was the St. John’s water dog, which was the ancestor of all retrievers. It looked very much like a Lab, but the Lab as we know it today was largely “improved” as a fowling dog in Scotland.
Most working retrievers are too high energy for the average household. Because Irish water spaniels are derived from and often kept as working stock, they are high energy. I personally feel that high energy is the actual temperment for a retriever, though they shouldn’t be like setters or Dalmatians.
The Irish ones were the only ones left by the First World War. The rest were absorbed into the retrievers. The Tweed water spaniel, which actually looked like a retriever, is the ancestor of the goldens and the yellow Labs. The others became the absorbed into the now extinct Norfolk retriever.
I have no idea why the Irish ones survived. The American ones survived simply because they were a regional dog from Wisconsin and Minnesota and very far away from any imported breeds of retriever. It was only when goldens were imported from Canada to that region that the American water spaniel began to lose its footing.
Those are the only two breeds to have survive the retriever’s rise.
I think IWS survived because they are never boring.
They have a sense of humor. And, although I would love it if Cooper were a bit more biddable, his ability and desire to think for himself makes him an interesting and challenging companion.
One of the Senior Hunter IWS at the recent Sauvie Island hunt test “failed” the test because he thinks for himself. His concept is that his job is to go get the duck in the most efficient way possible, as soon as possible. This means that he doesn’t necessarily wait to be released and he may sometimes run the bank, if that’s the most efficient way to go. He always gets his duck. He may not always pass the test.
In a British retriever trial, thinking for the most efficient way to return a bird is considered an asset. They are not run in lines as they are here. But in Britain, IWS are not run as retrievers. They are run as flushing spaniels!
They can do both, but I see them as a retriever. In fact, some early texts call them “Irish retrievers.”
Well, the Boykin is a water spaniel of sorts, and it still exists. So they are three of them left worldwide.
SEVILLE XVI CENTURY – THE HOUSE OF CONTRACT.
The core of commercial and financial activity must be located in Andalusia, and particularly in Lower Andalusia, about Seville, which was heavily favored after the discovery of America, and Cadiz, best placed to channel trade.
The foundation of the great development of Seville is that there is the House of the Indies (1503), an institution that regulates and monitors trade with the Indies, as a monopoly, with commercial powers, prosecutors, judicial even on this trade. There he had to control everything that was imported or exported.
The monopoly was cited theoretically affected by a provision in the year 1529 in the reign of Charles I, in the sense that nine ports opened to American trade (San Sebastian, Bilbao, Bayonne, Laredo, Avilés and La Coruna in the north, and South, Cadiz, Malaga and Cartagena). But none of these cities made use of this possibility, because the ships were forced to return to the port of Seville.
This House was moved to Cadiz in 1717, where he remained until its extinction in 1790.
Trade and economic importance of Sevilla already considerable before the discovery of America. But this and the grant of monopoly privilege in the House of Trade, was placed in a unique place in the economic world of the sixteenth century. Thus, Sevilla joined the circle of cities with the Consulate (1543), which brought together the most diverse traders from.
There was an atmosphere so willing to trade that the nobles are encouraged to practice, and so they get handed down provisions in the sense that they can practice without impairment of its dignity and privileges, provided they did not work had the store in person or in their own homes. This does not mean that many do not have serious doubts about such dedication, and the problems of consciousness are not alien to some dropouts.
The burgeoning commercial market and the wealth was reflected in domestic work, such as Casa de la Moneda, the market for merchants, Customs, all of which started and finished in the last decades of the sixteenth century. In addition to the taxes collected in Seville, which were very important, the city made repeated donations large and the monarchs.
If we accept as valid the probable theory that the Spanish Water Dog came to the peninsula to the south in successive Arab invasions settled in Andalusia (and hence to Extremadura) good times remote from the Arab invasion, once were settled and working in the herds of goats and sheep in the whole territory of Al-Andalus would become indispensable aid for pastors. Then, moving the centuries, with the wool trade with Flanders and throughout Europe many herds crossing the peninsula for the glens to the ports of Biscay, where shipped to different destinations. In these ports is plausible that there are still some copies of this race with time leading to the heart that exists in the Cantabrian coast. But equally, the ships set sail from the Port of Seville is likely that some dogs with water following the flock, over the sea crossing to Flanders or other Spanish colonies, and, once there, procreate and form, perhaps, other nuclei, once achieved independence from Spain, assimilate into the new countries. Part of this theory and wielded over twenty years Maria Cruz Callejo Rodriguez (PDAE breeder to affix the gray afternoon, studious and knowledgeable about their origins).
Lola Morales Ortega.
Possibly the Turco Andaluz, as it expands to give birth to many breeds of European water dogs: Barbet, Water Spaniel, Cao de Agua, Poodle, Lagotto Romagnolo, Irish Water Spaniel, Dutch Spaniel,…..
Problem with that theory:
Arabs and Turks don’t have dogs like those. And never have. There isn’t an indigenous dog in all of North Africa like these dogs.
I’ve heard the theory that the bloodhound came from the Holy Land.
Nope.
There were Mastiffs in the Middle East thousands of years ago, during Roman times, but there is no evidence of anything like a bloodhound in that part of the world once Islam became established. Unless you’re counting livestock guardians.
These dogs are much more likely derived from something like Puli that came from Central Asia, which is actually where a lot of different Indo-European peoples came from. There’s a shaggy, non-shedding or low shedding sheep or water dog that is found in every country from Portugal to Southern Russia.