The Irish Water Spaniel is the largest of the spaniel breeds, and the only surviving water spaniel. Though the breed was created specifically as a working gun dog, a marshy, watery world is the milieu in which this breed excels. In fact, these dogs so love the water that they’re sometimes affectionately referred to as the Bogdog. It’s said IWSs can withstand almost any temperature, and once they hit the water, webbed feet help them paddle with the ease of a mallard, their long rat tails acting like rudders. Irish Water Spaniels will break through ice to reach a duck, retrieve it, and be willing to do it again and again and again.  For that reason, the breed has also been described as “a lamb at home and a lion in the chase.”

“Connemara Encounter” graphite pencil drawing by Mike Sibley
http://www.sibleyfineart.com/