Water Spaniels
“A Water Spaniel” by George Stubbs.
This dog is from a painting by George Stubbs, one of the better known practitioners of the English school of painting. This dog resembles a poodle, a barbet, or a Spanish or Portuguese Water Dog. It has a golden or Labradoodle look to it as well.
Modern Irish water spaniels have smooth hair on their faces, as do American water spaniels. As I have stated before, Tweed water spaniels from Scotland had short, wavy hair. Nothing like this dog.
“Wooly” water dogs were once quite common throughout Europe. These dogs essentially disappeared in Britain by the nineteenth century, but they were still common in France and Germany. Those along the Baltic Coast of Germany would be the main ancestors of the poodle.
Some suggest that these dogs are of an Iberian ancestry, noting the Portuguese and Spanish water dogs. However, I think they are somehow related to the herding breeds, especially the puli. The Germans had a sheep poodle breed, and the Dutch Sheep poodle (Schapendoes) still exists.
