THE RAT-TAILED RETRIEVER by R.E. Massey

Gun Dog, Dec/Jan, 1989-90    --    Volume 9, Number 3

The distinctive snorting of a retriever at work could be heard through the cattails. The pintail had jumped straight away and folded under a full head of steam.  I had made the shot while wading through tall cover, and it was hard to tell just where the bird had landed.  I waited for what was bound to be a long retrieve.

A blind retrieve is the spice of life for my dog, “Irish”.  Once I had clambered upon a massive rat house, I could see him working in an opening where he could swim easily.  It would take time.

The snorts he was making were great gulps of scent he was tasting, and he finally caught the smell he was after.  With pocket binoculars I watched him arrow ahead, swimming hard with his head high in the water.  He was straining to catch sight of what his nose told him was there.  At last he had it.  Is there a better sight than a dog bringing your duck to hand?  I doubt it.

As a mature dog, Irish, my American water spaniel, is an all-around, all-terrain hunting dog.  He’s able to flush and fetch ringnecks, ride and retrieve from a boat, or wade and swim a cold October slough.

Several hours of swimming can take it out of any dog, but these spaniels are made for rough work and rough weather.  Their curly/oil coats defy wet and being built like a barrel, they float well on the water.  Couple that with a truly educated nose, and I feel you’ve got a near perfect duck machine.

A relatively diminutive retriever, the water spaniel is at home in Western Minnesota’s sloughs that surround my home near Lac qui Parle Lake.  Being a large water spaniel, Irish weighs in at 40 lbs.  He’s small enough to share the top of a muskrat house with me or occupy a small seat in my marsh boat.  He’s light enough so that when he retrieves from a boat, I can pick him up by the collar with one hand and bring him over the side with hardly a ripple.

It’s a distinct taste of waterfowling history to hunt with these dogs.  In the halcyon days of duck hunting in the Midwest, water spaniels were as common as a Labrador is now.  When ducks were extremely plentiful, hunters needed an extremely durable breed to tackle the task of retrieving large numbers of birds in harsh conditions.  They hunted a long season, several months of canine wear and tear.  The American water spaniel was one of those dogs which filled that bill.

My father never faltered in his dedication to the “rat-tailed retrievers” as he called them.  For 96 years he lived with, hunted with and sang the praises of water spaniels.  His preaching wasn’t wasted.  I’ve hunted my own spaniels here in Miinnesota now for the past 14 years. 

Lac qui Parle is Minnesota’s goose capital.  It offers a dog a lot of variety when hunting.  Here at Lac qui Parle, a steady retriever is needed in the goose pits.  Irish also crawls at heel with me in the late season goose stalks.  With a flock of honkers on the ground in front of me, Irish crouches and skulks along.  Even on cripples, Irish makes the retrieve with a flying tackle.  I’m confident when it happens that he’ll bring them in without tooth marks.

A great nose kept my old dog “Pal” hunting long after his days should have ended.  Late in life, he was totally blind yet able to sniff out a downed duck with ease.  A lifetime in cold water finally cramped him up with arthritis enough to end his days in the slough in his 18th year.  That grizzled veteran had pulled me out of a spring-swollen stream when I had followed my father and his friend seining minnows out of Lac qui Parle Creek.  I had slipped in while following the men.  Pal pulled me in to shore with a none too tender grip on my five-year-old behind.  As you may have gathered, it can be argued that the most impressive asset a water spaniel possesses is keen intelligence. 

That intelligence is the trade off.  This breed takes special handling.  As my father put it, you have to be smarter than the dog to train it.  When anyone purchases an American, they take the chance of losing battle for control.  The way our family puts it, the dog trains me, I don’t train the dog.  There is an understanding that is made between man and dog and it becomes a true partnership with the spaniel refusing to conform to any type of handling where birds are concerned. For example, spaniels know when to go afater the duck after the bird’s been hit.  They can be steady to wing and shot if you demand it, but you’re going to have to win their respect before they’ll perform for you.  I’ve seen people letting the dog just “do his own thing” and being the naturals that they are, water spaniels just independently figure the game out.  If you’re close by, you’ll get shooting.

I’ve seen enough years on these sloughs, rivers and pothole lakes to make an intelligent choice of dogs.  I hunt behind an American water spaniel and I feel there’s something special about the breed.  They’re an excellent choice for a variety of assignments from goose and duck to pheasants.  Their close-combing hunting techniques make them good grouse and woodcock dogs too.

I’m devoting Irish to a new master—my son, Jake.  As any waterfowler knows, a boy needs a dog to show him the fun of hunting.  Jake will have Irish and, of course, Irish will have him.  Knowing the breed as I do, I know there’s an education waiting in the sloughs and duckboats for my boy.  The teacher won’t be saying a word, but there are ways for these dogs to communicate with their masters.

The tradition has lasted for a hundred and more years in our family.  A large limit is no longer possible, but the clock is turned back to the best of the “good old days” whenever one of our rat-tails hits the slough.  When you walk the season behind an American water spaniel, you’re getting the best of traditional American dog work.