Made in Wisconsin

Dave Duffey on the American Water Spaniel

By Dan Small

One of only six breeds developed in the United States that are recognized by the American Kennel Club, the American water spaniel fit perfectly the needs of rural Midwesterners of the last century.

"Rural folks wanted a dog that could guard the hen house, bark at strangers, tree a partridge, run down a rat and live with kids," says Dave Duffey. "The American water spaniel was that dog."

Duffey ought to know. Himself an icon in the sporting-dog world, he has trained, hunted over and written about practically every breed, in a career that spans over half a century. When I visited him at his rural Shawano County home last fall, he shared his affection for the little brown dog that won the Midwest.

"The dog's specialty is its versatility," Duffey said. "When I was a kid in the 1930s, practically everybody had a 'Curly' or a 'Brownie.' Their original name was American Brown Water Spaniel. They were highly prized because they treed partridge."

In those days, people looked at grouse as meat on the table, not as sporting birds. A spaniel would bump a covey of young birds into a popple tree, Duffey explained, and the dog would sit there and bark at them.

"With a .22 rifle, if you shot the lowest bird first, you could shoot the whole covey out of there, and the dog would fetch them to you," Duffey said. "Hell, I was 21 before I knew the darn things could fly!"

As their name suggests, American water spaniels are also waterfowl dogs. With their thick, water-repellent coat and small size, they are ideal for retrieving ducks from the small boats used by waterfowl hunters in the marshes of central Wisconsin. No one knows how long the breed has been around, but Duffey says old daguerreotype photos dating back to 1845 show dogs that look just like modern water spaniels: short-legged, a little scruffy, but smart and eager to please. Their owners had no use for papers or pedigrees. If a dog did what they needed it to do, it got to pass on its genes.

A lot of brown, curly-haired dogs passed on their genes with little formality, much in the way of southern coonhounds of the same era. This "pack breeding" probably had a lot to do with water spaniels breeding true before anyone tried to formalize the breed.

The little brown dogs took a big step toward respectability in 1920, when Dr. F.J. Pfeifer, a New London physician, got the United Kennel Club to formally recognize the breed. His dog, Curly Pfeifer, was the first American water spaniel ever registered. Pfeifer began breeding the dogs at his Wolf River Kennels on the outskirts of New London on a farm owned by the Trambauer brothers. Duffey, who knew "Doc" Pfeifer well, says he had over 130 water spaniels at times.

"He sold them for 20 bucks apiece and guaranteed your  money back or a replacement dog if you weren[base ']t satisfied," Duffey said. Pfeifer never had to make good on that offer.

From the early 1920s until the 1950s, a growing number of breeders in Wisconsin and nationwide produced purebred Americans. The Field Dog Stud book recognized the breed in 1938, and the American Kennel Club did so in 1940. Still, many informal breeders continue to produce purebred water spaniels without bothering to "paper" them.

Most of the major blood lines developed in the water spaniel's heyday have since died out, although there are probably more individuals breeding them today than when the big-time kennels were in operation.
"There may be 3,000 registered American water spaniels nationwide," Duffey said. "But they are in the minority. There are more without papers bred by people who don't care about shows or field trials. They just want a hunting dog."

Duffey has trained dozens of Americans, many of them unregistered. His two daughters' first dogs were unpapered water spaniel pups, Duffey explains, "largely because for 5 bucks I could buy a purebred puppy that was a family dog that could also be used for hunting."

Dave Duffey's tryst with Americans did not end there. His first nationally published magazine article dealt with "Doc's Dogs," and the original photos of Curly Pfeifer and Queen Trambauer, progenitors of the breed, now hang in Duffey's home. Duffey was also instrumental in getting the breed named Wisconsin's official state dog in 1985.

"It started more or less as a joke in the 1970s," Duffey recalls.

A Clintonville businessman had suggested the Dalmatian be named the state dog. Duffey countered with the American water spaniel, saying a dog that was started in the state was more appropriate than "some foreigner in polka-dot pajamas." New London school teacher Lyle Brumm made the effort a class project.  Over the course of several years, Brumm and more than 1000 of his students trekked to Madison to watch the slow legislative process at work.  Finally, the State Legislature made it official. A plaque in a New London park commemorates the event and the birthplace of the breed.

Lately, the breed has fallen out of favor with hunters who want "specialist" retrievers or upland dogs and who rely on others to train them.

Lara Suesens, who with her husband Dick operates Wave Crest Kennels, in Sheboygan, has bred Americans for 30 years. She is one of a handful of breeders whose dogs carry on the model of conformity and versatility, while winning top honors in every type of competition.

"American water spaniels are a multi-purpose breed that can compete in the show ring, in the obedience ring or in the field," Suesens said [base "]Our hunting dogs and our show dogs are one and the same."

Duffey and Suesens both say Americans are natural hunters and they learn by doing, but unlike Labs, they are quickly bored by repetition.

"If the dog is given a chance to form a bond with its owner, it will be willing to try almost anything that owner wishes," Suesens said. "The American is not a wonder breed, it is a thinking person's breed. It's a breed that will be enjoyed by those who understand that creativity and intelligence are to be prized in a world dominated by generic brands."

At home in a duck skiff, curled up on the couch or barking at treed partridge, there's nothing generic about the little brown dog made in Wisconsin.

For more information, contact the American Water Spaniel Field Association.