This is perhaps the nearest activity to the work the Spanish were bred for in the first place.

Currently there are two venues where Water Training takes place, Sale Water Park near Manchester and Rother Valley in North Derbyshire.

It is hoped that there will be a venue where organised training may take place in the South before too long. The dogs are taught to swim confidently, retrieve floating and submerged items, swim out to a boat or surfboard with the rope and return it to shore.

They are encouraged to work in the boat, jumping from it to retrieve thrown or hidden items and either return to the boat or shore.

Most Spanish adore this work and are excellent swimmers and the owners have great fun joining in, donning wetsuits and scrambling in and out of the water with their dogs!

As long as you look to the safety aspects of working a dog in water you can have fun in your local pond, stream or on the beach. Do remember, though, that the Spanish is quite a small dog with big ideas – fast flowing rivers and strong tides can be extremely dangerous.

He flies like a bird ...........

Early picture of some of the original imports