Irish Water Spaniel 277 
H. D. Gardner, of Milwaukee, was quite an extensive breeder about 1880, 
and at one New York show had a string of nine. Old Irish Nell being at 
the head of eight of her progeny, some nearly three years old, and in the 
following year the entire entry of seven were of his breeding. 
The interest in the Irish water spaniel was almost entirely Western, 
and at one Chicago show that we remember there were more than twenty 
of the breed shown, including Mr. Donoghue’s Count Bendigo, a great 
winner in his day, and an American-bred dog at that. The Milwaukee 
combination was still the strongest when it came to making a good display, 
and when Mr. Olcott imported The O’Donoghue from the Skidmore kennels 
he got a dog that many considered the best ever shown; but we never thought 
him the equal of old Barney, though he certainly was a very fine dog and 
sired a number of good puppies. Mr. Olcott also had Chippewa Belle, a 
daughter of old Irish Queen, who was by Champion Barney. Chippewa’s 
sire was Dan, who was by Champion Mike, the Shamrock dog. Now if 
those who grew enthusiastic over The O’Donoghue had transferred their 
laudations to this bitch they would have shown good judgment, for, when in 
coat, she was one of the very best and quite capable of beating the dog. 
These named dogs were being shown about twenty years ago, and when they 
were retired, together with the dogs they were capable of defeating, the 
ebb set in with a vengeance in Irish water spaniels, Patsy O’Connor being 
about the last to retire, which he did after having been exhibited for seven 
or eight years, most of the time as the property of Dr. Daniels, of Cleveland. 
It was nothing unusual for from sixty to eighty or more Irish water 
spaniels to be registered in the course of a year at that time—eighty-three 
was the record for 1886—while at the present time the annual entry with 
the American Kennel.Club may reach half a dozen, but does not always do 
so. Of late years several attempts have been made to arouse interest in the 
breed, and Mrs. D. H. Evans, who originally showed Irish and field spaniels 
about ten years ago, offered the very handsome Sunninghill Challenge 
Cup through the Spaniel Club. These efforts had little result, and we 
find from the stud book for 1893 that only eleven Irish were recorded as 
having won prizes that year, and of these only three were shown in the 
East. There were two at the New York show and one other dog was 
shown at Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Of the remaining 
eight, four were shown on the Pacific coast, leaving four to do duty between 
Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountains. It was at this stage that Mr. 
