Quick Links: Table of Contents
- Irish Water Spaniel Breed Overview
- History of the Irish Water Spaniel Breed. Where Irish Water Spaniels came from
- What the Irish Water Spaniel Looks Like
- What Colors do Irish Water Spaniels Have?
- How Fast Irish Water Spaniels Can Run
- How Intelligent are Irish Water Spaniels?
- How Popular are Irish Water Spaniels with New Dog Owners?
- Health Problems in Irish Water Spaniels and How to Prevent Them
- Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Irish Water Spaniels
- Other Things to Know About Irish Water Spaniels
Irish Water Spaniel Breed Overview
The Irish Water Spaniel is a medium-sized dog.
The adult Irish Water Spaniel stands 1 foot, 9 inches to 2 feet tall at the shoulder.
The Irish Water Spaniel belongs to the Sporting Dogs group.
Dogs in the Sporting Dogs group, like the Irish Water Spaniel, were bred to help hunters catch and retrieve feathered game. Some sporting dog breeds such as Retrievers, which were built for swimming, were bred to hunt waterfowl in water.
Whereas sporting dog breeds like setters, spaniels, and pointing breeds were bred to hunt quail, pheasant, and other game birds nest on grasslands.
Many Sporting Group breeds have thick, water-repellent coats that protect them from harsh hunting conditions.
The fact that Irish Water Spaniels belong to the Sporting Dogs group is one of the reasons why Irish Water Spaniels have the personality and temperament that they have.
The temperament of the Irish Water Spaniel is generally described as:
- Active
- Alert
- Clownish
- Inquisitive
- Intelligent
- Quick
History of the Irish Water Spaniel Breed. Where Irish Water Spaniels came from
The Irish Water Spaniel has been traced back to the Stone Age or the Bronze Age.
Archaeologists excavating sites in Ireland and other parts of Europe have discovered skulls thought to be of this canine.
A water spaniel-type dog is also mentioned in historical documentation from the 1500s between England and France.
Justin McCarthy developed the Irish Water Spaniel as we know it today; the Southern Irish Spaniel was known as McCarthy`s Breed.
The Northern Irish Spaniel and the Tweed Spaniel were two other Spaniels native to Ireland.
Most experts believe that the modern Irish Water Spaniel is descended from McCarthy`s breed; others believe that the Irish Water Spaniel is a cross between the Poodle and the Cocker Spaniel.
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What the Irish Water Spaniel Looks Like
The Irish Water Spaniel prefers a standard Poodle, but their coats differ.
He is the tallest member of the Spaniel clan.
He has a big head, a long muzzle, and a red nose.
His almond-shaped eyes are small.
He has curly hair covering his long, low-set ears.
Because of his webbed feet, this breed is an excellent water retriever.
His hair is a mess of long, loose curls.
On the face and tail, he has shorter curly hair.
He has a dense undercoat that acts as an excellent insulator.
On top of that, he has a curly topknot on his head.
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What Colors do Irish Water Spaniels Have?
Irish Water Spaniels come in the following beautiful primary colors:
Irish Water Spaniels come in the following lovely secondary colors in addition to their primary colors:
How Fast Irish Water Spaniels Can Run
How fast a dog breed can run is a good measure of how athletic the dog breed is.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) regularly conducts dog running competitions. The AKC records the running speed of competing dogs in these competitions. These competitions are open to all dog breeds.
Based on our analysis of the speeds of 41 different Irish Water Spaniels, the average speed of the Irish Water Spaniel is 21.9 mph (35.2 kmph).
The fastest speed on AKC record that the Irish Water Spaniel ran in a race is 26.78 mph (43.1 kmph) and the minimum speed on record in a race for a Irish Water Spaniel is 5.02 mph (8.1 kmph).
Click here to see how the speed of the Irish Water Spaniel compares to the speed of other dogs and other mammals such as cats, horses, humans, etc.
How Intelligent are Irish Water Spaniels?
| Irish Water Spaniel | |
|---|---|
| Intelligence Rank | 24 out of 130 dog breeds |
| Trainability | Tend To Learn New Commands After 5 To 15 Repetitions |
According to Prof. Stanley Coren, a Canadian psychology professor/dog trainer, the total intelligence that a dog demonstrates is the addition of three types of intelligence. These intelligence types are:
- Instinctive Intelligence: This is the natural intelligence that comes from instinct. For example, dog breeds that have been historically bred to be guard dogs will have a high `guarding` intelligence compared to dogs that were not bred for guarding.
- Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability): This indicates what a dog can learn to do for himself or herself. Adaptive intelligence is specific to each dog, and not breed specific. You can improve your dog`s adaptive intelligence by investing time to train your dog.
- Working/Obedience Intelligence: This type of intelligence is breed-specific. Certain dog breeds tend to have higher working/obedience intelligence than some other breeds. This intelligence is the closest to what we might call school-learning ability and it is based upon what the dog can learn to do when instructed by humans. This type of intelligence can be measured for each dog breed and compared to that of other dog breeds.
Professor Stanley Coren measured and ranked the working intelligence of about 130 different dog breeds.
Prof. Coren found that the Irish Water Spaniel has an obedience intelligence rank of 24 out of 130 dog breeds. Thus, Prof. Coren put Irish Water Spaniels in the `Excellent Working Dogs` category.
This means that Irish Water Spaniels tend to learn new commands after 5 to 15 repetitions.
However, we should mention that a dog should not be judged based on its intelligence alone. There are other important factors you need to consider when deciding on which dog breed to get. These other factors include sociability, adorability, and compatibility of the dog breed with your lifestyle.
See the intelligence ranking of some other dog breeds below:
| Breed | Intelligence Rank |
|---|---|
| Labrador Retriever | 7 |
| Papillon | 8 |
| Rottweiler | 9 |
| Miniature Schnauzer | 12 |
| Cocker Spaniel | 20 |
| Vizsla | 25 |
| Giant Schnauzer | 28 |
| Border Terrier | 30 |
| Manchester Terrier | 32 |
| Curly-Coated Retriever | 41 |
| Kuvasz | 42 |
| Bichon Frise | 45 |
| American Foxhound | 46 |
| Dachshund | 49 |
| Pug | 57 |
| Great Pyrenees | 64 |
| Bullmastiff | 69 |
| Borzoi | 75 |
| Chow Chow | 76 |
| Afghan Hound | 79 |
How Popular are Irish Water Spaniels with New Dog Owners?
Every year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) publishes information on how popular a dog breed is in that particular year. The AKC gets the popularity information of a breed from how many dogs of that breed the owners register with the AKC every year. The AKC collects this data for about 200 dog breeds.
The graph below shows the popularity trend of the Irish Water Spaniel.
The popularity of the Irish Water Spaniel averaged over the years is Number 157 out of about 200 dog breeds.
Do not get a dog breed just because it is a popular dog breed. And do not reject a dog breed just because it is an unpopular breed.
Health Problems in Irish Water Spaniels and How to Prevent Them
Every dog breed has its own set of health problems that it tends to develop. There is nothing like a perfect dog breed.
The Irish Water Spaniel is prone to certain genetic health conditions. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is an organization that keeps track of genetic health problems in dog breeds.
From the extensive records that the OFA keeps, the OFA knows what health problems each dog breed is naturally prone to develop.
Hence, the OFA recommends which health screening breeders should perform on a dog breed to make sure that the breeders won`t breed `defective` dog parents that can pass down defective genes to their puppy offspring.
If you want a Irish Water Spaniel puppy that will grow up to be healthy, make sure that your Irish Water Spaniel breeder screens your puppy or your puppy`s parents for the health problems that the OFA recommends for your puppy`s breed. This will increase the chances that your puppy is free from genetic defects.
The following are the health tests that Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) recommends that breeders should screen Irish Water Spaniels for:
- Autoimmune thyroiditis
- Cardiac Evaluation
- Elbow Dysplasia
- Eye Examination- after the age of 24 months
- Hip Dysplasia
You can find out more about OFA`s recommended tests for Irish Water Spaniels here.
Dog Breeds That Are Similar to Irish Water Spaniels
If you have not made up your mind on which dog breed to get, you may also want to consider some other dogs similar to the Irish Water Spaniel.
We crunched the numbers and found that the following dog breeds that have similar behavior and temperament as the Irish Water Spaniel:
- Kerry Blue Terrier (78 percent match with Irish Water Spaniel). Learn more about the Kerry Blue Terrier here.
- Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (78 percent match with Irish Water Spaniel). Learn more about the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon here.
Other Things to Know About Irish Water Spaniels
Here are some of the very important characteristics of the Irish Water Spaniel that you need to know about the Irish Water Spaniel breed: