American Canine Association

Breeds

Irish Water Spaniel


History

Originating in Ireland hundreds of years ago, it is still unknown what exact bloodlines it took to create the wonderful breed we know today as the Irish Water Spaniel. Most believe that the standard Poodle played a definite role in the creation, and possibly was mixed with the Curly Coated Retriever or Portuguese Water Dog. This breed was known for their hunting, retrieving and working abilities in both land and water. This breed is a rare breed in the USA today.

Appearance

The Irish Water Spaniel is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 20-23 inches in height and weighing 45-65 pounds in weight. This breed has a long, wedge shaped head that is rounded. Their two ears are large and pendant shaped, falling gently alongside of their face. Their two small eyes are almond in shape and generally a light hazel to yellow in color. This breed is built tall, lean and long. They have four thin and long legs that hold them up. Their tail is medium in length and thicker at the base at it tapers down to a point at the end. Their tail should be carried low and outwards when relaxed. This breed has a double later coat that is short and curly. This coat is available in a chocolate brown.

Temperament

The Irish Water Spaniel is a well behaved, quiet, loving and loyal dog breed that is both eager to work alongside his or her owner, as well as be an affectionate companion. This breed is great with children of all ages, as well as other pets and dogs within the home that he or she is socialized with and raised along side of. The Irish Water Spaniel requires a firm, confident and friendly owner who is able to set early rules and boundaries and keep them in place within the home. This breed requires a good amount of daily physical and mental exercise to remain happy and calm indoors at night. This breed is active and needs a job to do as well. The Irish Water Spaniel truly has a love for water and thoroughly enjoys family trips to local, dog friendly water spots!

Grooming

The Irish Water Spaniel has a weather resistant coat. This breed requires daily brushing and bathing when needed. We recommend a trip to a professional groomers at least once every 4-5 months.

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the Irish Water Spaniel prior to adding one to your home to ensure you are able to provide a life long physical and financial home for your new addition. This breed requires a properly installed fence or harness and leash while outdoors at all times. This breed is prone to hypothyroidism, eye and ear issues. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

© 2024 American Canine Association, Inc.