CURLY-COATED RETRIEVER
The curly-coated retriever is about the same size as the other retrieving breeds and built very much like its cousins. Their average size is 60 to 85 pounds. However, its coat is quite different. The hair is short, very tightly curled and may be black or liver-colored.

"The curly-coat, as a purebred, goes back between 400 and 500 years," Crosby noted.

In terms of personality, curly-coats share many family traits with their cousins.

"They're very friendly, but they can be a little reserved if they don't know you," he said. "Once they realize you're good for cookies, though, forget it. You're a friend forever.

"They're more laid back than a Labrador," Crosby continued. "It's like having all the good characteristics of a Lab in a dog you don't have to try not to kill for the first two years. They aren't serious by any means, but the puppies aren't quite as silly as flat-coats. And they don't have the 'edge' that the Chesapeakes do."

Curlies often were used by gamekeepers in old England, but not as guard or protection dogs. Rather, they were good trackers for finding poachers and the game they had stashed.

One aspect of the curly-coat's personality that's different from other retrievers is its apparent ability to "think through" a situation.

"Curlies think way too much," Crosby agreed. "The best illustration I can give you is the first hunt test I ever did with one of my dogs, Sam. It was on a day that was very cold, when the wind was blowing very strongly from left to right. The bird was thrown out into a pond about 40 yards beyond the bank and the weeds. All the Labs were splashing and swimming through the cold water and chasing the duck down and struggling back through the wind and the cattails.

"When I sent Sam after the bird, he went to the edge of the water and stopped. He looked at the bird, sniffed the wind, and ran directly around the right side of the pond and stopped in one place and sat down. The bird blew up right to his feet. He brought it back to me in the same amount of time it would have taken him to swim it down, but he stayed dry. That's a dog that's thinking."

Of course, Sam failed the hunt test, because that's not what the judges wanted to see, but it illustrates just how smart a curly-coat can be.

"Curlies make horrible kennel dogs," Crosby concluded. "They need that human companionship. They do best when they're part of the family."

Check out the Curly-Coated Retriever Club of America online at www.ccrca.org for more information about this breed.