Man's Best Friend is His Dog

American Water Spaniels or AWS are canine hunting breeds. They are one of the few breeds that developed in the United States and amazingly, its history is shrouded in mystery. There are widely accepted theories of its origin but all of them are still unproven suppositions.

American Water Spaniels are mid-size dogs that will weigh up to 50 lbs. They have a hard, muscular build and their coat is curly, mostly colored solid liver or chocolate brown.

AWS are great family breeds. They are eager to please their masters and therefore easy to train. Like most medium to large sized dogs, American Water Spaniels respond well to the alpha entity. As an owner, you must establish this connection with the AWS. Failure to establish this hierarchal system with your dog will make it very hard for you to control its behavior. It will become too dominant and very stubborn.

American Water Spaniels are companion dogs. And they make nightmare girlfriends. They are clingy and needy dogs. They need constant attention and they don't do well if always left alone.

With this characteristic, they are perfect for large families with children. They see small children as their kennel mates and they just love to be around them. Just do not let children go near the American Water Spaniels when they are feeding. This breed is known to be food possessive.

American Water Spaniels manage just fine even in cramped houses. AWS may even prefer a small house so they have better chances of being with their human companions. Don't be mistaken, they need large spaces from time to time to run, play, and carry out their canine instincts. Apartment living is just fine but you still need to give them their daily exercise and stimulation.

AWS respond well to training but not to harsh methods. Harsh training techniques will eventually screw with their attitude development. They will become too timid and too scared to do things. AWS with poor behavior development may even bite out of fear.

They don't like rote training. AWS are so intelligent that they need variety and they really like to use their dog brains to solve dog problems. As hunting dogs, physical training is essential although, they do not need to hunt to be happy. Basic fetch and finding hidden objects during field exercises is sufficient enough to stimulate their physical needs.

Keep in mind that with AWS, regular play time is needed. They prefer to play with human companions rather than with toys.

Obedience training classes are a must for AWS. This will make it easy for you to manage them. Also a point to consider is that American Water Spaniels are barkers. You have to control this AWS innate behavior if you don't like to be annoyed with excessive barking.

As their name suggest, AWS likes to swim. It is mainly because of their origin as duck hunters and retrievers. So if you have a pool or have easy access to one, have fun with your pooch in the water.