American Water Spaniel

Unsurprisingly, because of its hunting days gone by, the American Water Spaniel needs a decent amount of exercise if it’s going to stay happy and healthy.

You could keep an American Water Spaniel in a Manhattan apartment and walk it every day but these are dogs with the country air in their lungs, and they will do best when they’re allowed to stretch and run and get wet in the great outdoors.

When it comes to grooming, the advice is to brush the dog’s coat only once a week and not over-bathe your pup for fear of taking away the natural oils in the skin and making it irritable. A good brush can be as effective as a bath in keeping a dog clean and smelling great — every spring your dog will shed its coat.

Every week, check your furry friend’s ears and clean them out with a cotton ball that has a cleanser on it. Try, if you can, to brush the dog’s teeth every day.

For this breed, experts recommend crate training if you want to keep your valuables and treasured items of clothing in one piece (which presumably you do).

American Water Spaniel health risks

All being well, you should have as many as 14 years with your beautiful American Water Spaniel but you know as well as we do that things go wrong with dogs along the way. We sincerely hope that any problems you have are minor but the following conditions are fairly likely to affect American Water Spaniels in their lifetimes, so keep an eye out for:

• Mitral valve disease

• Degenerative myelopathy

• Progressive retinal atrophy

Mitral valve disease

If you notice that your American Water Spaniel has a heart murmur, a hacking cough, or dyspnea, you might want to consider mitral valve disease — also known as mitral valve dysplasia. This is a congenital condition defined by backflow of blood into the left atrium of the heart, caused by a mitral valve that is misshapen in some way. 

Normally, this valve is a one-way operation, sending blood from the left atrium to the left ventricle. Dogs with this condition have a valve that doesn’t shut tightly enough, leading to the aforementioned backflow.

Though some dogs may undergo surgery to have the valve replaced, this is a serious operation and only sufficiently strong dogs can deal with it. Generally, the amount of intervention for this condition is relatively low; sometimes no action at all is necessary. 

Dogs will often have to watch their diets and increase their intake of vitamins like E and C. As well as this, a dog might be prescribed things like angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, diuretics or digitalis.

Degenerative myelopathy

Anything with ‘degenerative’ in its name tends to be serious. So it is with degenerative myelopathy, unfortunately — a chronic disease that is characterized by the white matter in a dog’s spinal cord degenerating over time.

Although the cause of degenerative myelopathy isn’t fully understood, it tends to develop as the dog begins to reach old age. It may look like arthritis and tends to spread into the dog’s hind area, bringing about conditions like hip dysplasia and lameness. Dogs with the condition will, understandably, often trip and fall.

Therapy and supplements tend to be what the vet will prescribe. These of course won’t cure the illness but they will help the pup lead a happier life. In particular, the supplements N-acetylcysteine and Aminocaproic acid have proved effective if given to the dog every day.

Progressive retinal atrophy

Another ‘progressive’ here, alas. A dog affected by progressive retinal atrophy will gradually go blind because of the death of the rod cells in their retinas. Luckily, because the progression of the condition is so slow, your dog may not even let on that anything is wrong; they may adapt to life with increasingly poor eyesight. 

You will know eventually, of course. The dog’s eyes will begin to succumb to cataracts, for example, and it will behave more tentatively as it begins to lose its day vision (the loss of night vision comes first). Be on the lookout at the early stages for bumping into walls, dilated pupils, and the eyes taking on a gray color.

As with any progressive condition, treatment here is about managing the problem. Your dog may be perfectly comfortable and happy if you make accommodations and slight changes around the house, so there is no need to feel sad about their declining eyesight. Antioxidants may help slow down the progression of the illness.

Generally, although a vet might be able to remove a dog’s cataracts, they may be reluctant to in this scenario because the removal may cause more issues than it solves.

Feeding an American Water Spaniel — what’s the best diet?

This active dog eats quite a lot of food. Your American Water Spaniel will love you if you give it plenty of high-quality, nutrient-rich food full of animal proteins to keep it healthy and full of energy. 

Please spend the time on research. Our advice guide on how to read a dog food label is really useful in understanding exactly what’s being put into your pup’s bowl. You might also be interested in our tips on how to choose the right food for your dog.

Avoid fillers, and aim to choose recipes tailored to breed size or the specific breed type, if you can. Avoid giving it scraps from your plates — dogs shouldn’t be overfed.