water dog

water dog (plural water dogs)

1. A retriever type of gun dog bred to flush and retrieve game from water.
2. Synonym of seadog (“a sailor accustomed to the sea”).
   • 1860, Chambers's Edinburgh journal, page 215:

     Jim Bowes, in fact, looked like what he was — a rough old water-dog, who had grown gray and shaggy amidst the winds and waves, without ever troubling himself about the other shore that bounds the sea of life.

• water spaniel (dated as a general term)