The Hairy Dog isn’t a cocktail, though somewhere out there, there’s probably a drink with that name. This “Hairy Dog” is a night fly, and one of the easiest of streamer flies to tie. We’re talking “fishing,” here.

These days, black squirrel hair or opossum is used to tie the fly, but according to some fishing experts, the Hairy Dog was originally tied using dog hair, particularly black spaniels.  That said, we’ve come across lures made from Collie hair,  bonefish flies using hair from a Golden Retriever, and one fisherman raved about his Alaskan Malamute being a great source of materials, including the Mal’s undercoat which he felt made great dubbing. Not to be outdone was the owner of a Vizsla who found that when he rubbed his hand on his dog’s back, he ended up with little red stubble hairs stuck to his, and since he happened to have some 6/0 thread hanging from a hook in the vise and some dubbing wax nearby, in a few minutes, he’d invented the “Hungarian Bird Brain” nymph. It seems that dog hair, especially short, very stiff hair, can make excellent tails and hairs on a fly fishing lure. Who knew?