American Water Spaniel

Cheerful and keen to work; can be reserved with strangers.
An American Water Spaniel
Photo: Canarian
Adult male
14–20 kg
30–45 lb
Adult female
11–18 kg
25–40 lb
Lifespan
12–13 yrs
Class · Field
also Companion

What it's like

In temperament it is eager, cheerful and intelligent, keen to work and affectionate with its family, though it can be reserved with strangers. It remains an uncommon breed.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It has a curly coat. Loose hair stays caught in the coat until it is brushed, stripped or clipped out. Plan on brushing a few times a week, plus clipping every 6–8 weeks. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

An American Water Spaniel is a medium dog, about the weight of a grown Border Collie. Males end up clearly heavier than females.

It is a sturdy spaniel with a broad head and a dense coat that ranges from uniform waves, known as marcel, to close curls, in liver, brown or dark chocolate. The moderately long tail is moderately feathered and carried in a gentle rocker-like curve, and the eye colour tones with the coat rather than appearing yellow.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male American Water Spaniel puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
01020302m4m6m9m12m18m
01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
3.0–4.4 kg 6.6–9.7 lb
3.2–5.1 kg 7.1–11.2 lb
3 months
4.4–6.5 kg 9.7–14.3 lb
4.1–6.6 kg 9.0–14.6 lb
4 months
6.3–9.5 kg 13.9–20.9 lb
5.5–8.9 kg 12.1–19.6 lb
5 months
8.1–12.2 kg 17.9–26.9 lb
6.7–10.7 kg 14.8–23.6 lb
6 months
9.7–14.6 kg 21.4–32.2 lb
7.6–12.2 kg 16.8–26.9 lb
7 months
10.9–16.3 kg 24.0–35.9 lb
8.3–13.3 kg 18.3–29.3 lb
8 months
11.7–17.6 kg 25.8–38.8 lb
8.9–14.2 kg 19.6–31.3 lb
9 months
12.3–18.5 kg 27.1–40.8 lb
9.3–14.9 kg 20.5–32.8 lb
10 months
12.7–19.1 kg 28.0–42.1 lb
9.7–15.5 kg 21.4–34.2 lb
11 months
13.0–19.5 kg 28.7–43.0 lb
10.0–16.0 kg 22.0–35.3 lb
12 months
13.2–19.8 kg 29.1–43.7 lb
10.2–16.4 kg 22.5–36.2 lb
15 months
13.5–20.3 kg 29.8–44.8 lb
10.8–17.2 kg 23.8–37.9 lb
18 months
14–20 kg 30–45 lb
11.2–17.9 kg 24.7–39.5 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long American Water Spaniels live yet. The 12–13 years shown is a reference range, not a measured one.

Where it comes from

The American Water Spaniel Club places the American Water Spaniel's development in Wisconsin's Fox and Wolf River valleys in the mid-1800s, and says that, as folklore has it, market hunters favoured it because it fitted in their punts. The AKC doubts its origins will ever be known. Dr Fred Pfeifer's campaign won it UKC recognition in 1920, and the AKC followed in 19409,10.

The American Water Spaniel took shape as a working gun dog for hunters on the rivers and marshes of the upper Midwest, and its story remains closely tied to Wisconsin. Its ancestry is not documented, though the Irish Water Spaniel, the Curly-coated Retriever and the extinct English Water Spaniel are often suggested as contributors. In the late twentieth century Wisconsin adopted it as the official state dog. It was bred as an all-round hunting companion. It was compact enough to ride in a small boat, and it retrieved waterfowl from cold water and flushed and retrieved upland game on land.

Breed standard

The American Water Spaniel is judged against standard no. 301, in group 8, Retrievers, Flushing Dogs and Water Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured American Water Spaniel figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Irish Water Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
English Cocker Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Boykin Spaniel
Sporting · Medium
Spanish Water Dog
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Or compare the American Water Spaniel with any breed you choose
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Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·