The aristocrat of the marsh

A distant relative of the poodle, the Irish water spaniel combines supermodel looks and composure to match with the ability of an Olympic swimmer

- SIMON GARNHAM

I first saw Paul and Pat Farrington’s Irish water spaniels in action when they were picking-up on a driven day. A partridge had been wing-tipped early in the drive and crashlanded well out on the marsh. As the tide rose the stricken bird found itself afloat and was a surprisingly good swimmer. A number of other handlers had tried and failed to gather it, so Paul was sent for with his peculiar-looking curly-coated companions.

Paul and Pat are both committee members of Little Oakley & District Wildfowlers, so a water retrieve across the saltings came as second nature. At Paul’s command, a tall, aristocratic spaniel sniffed the air, padded across the marsh and swam like an otter straight to the partridge.

The bird was not going to give up without a struggle and the dog had to dive to make the retrieve underwater. She eventually returned from at least 100 yards distance to present the sodden bird to her proud master and to the admiration of the collected field. She looked as though she could pull off similar feats all day long.

The Irish water spaniel was first formally recorded in the 1830s and is probably related to the now extinct English water spaniel as well as to the poodle. It is a liver-coloured dog with a distinctive smooth tail, long powerful legs, a topknot on its head and ‘beard’ at the throat. Its webbed feet make it ideally suited, as the name suggests, to working in water. So I was delighted to join Paul for an outing on the marsh to watch Bridie, his eight-year-old bitch, in action again.