However, at the time of writing, January 2008, we are on the far side of the watershed of the North American retriever Hunt Test movement of the 1970's and 1980's. Standard Poodles are--as of the mid-1990's--eligible to run all North American hunt tests. All Poodles are eligible to run the Canadian Kennel Club's retriever Working Certificate, Working Certificate Intermediate, and Working Certificate Excellent series, and this back-to-roots movement has jumped the Atlantic Ocean. Significant numbers of us have field-trained Poodles, having studied the historical record in order to understand the remants of our water dogs' breed-specific temperaments. So, we feel that we have the background to state with confidence that the dog on the reverse side of this coin is a proto-Poodle--a water dog--a water spaniel--wearing the working version of what is now called the Continental clip, complete with leg-bracelets. The men are said by scholars to be Lares, or household gods (our own classical authorities have queried this conclusion). Household gods or mere mortals, it looks to us (and, we've warned you, evidently only to us) as if these two are carrying a rich harvest of Mallard ducks hitched by their necks to the hunters' belts. Dead ducks recently returned from water by today's retrievers are routinely hung by their necks to drain on portable racks which fold into handy umbrella-style sticks, and they are transported from the duck blind hung by their necks by nooses tied to the waterfowlers' belts or the nooses are slung across their shoulders. One of the ducks being carried--one which hangs directly in front of the dog--even displays wings, although typically, dead ducks hung by the neck don't spread their wings.
In yet-undrained Europe with its (remarkable to us) multitude of waterfowl, and in entire absence of conservation laws, this return from the hunt must have been a very familiar sight particularly when "flapper" Mallards were fledging in late summer, and the mature ducks were in moult. At this time of year, Mallards lie close in heavy cover, and it is the work of a spaniel to roust them out.
To read about waterfowling before the invention of firearms, please see Duck dogs: traps.
The headpiece for this section is an ancient Roman coin: Caesia 1 denarius - Lucius Caesius, c.112-111 BC AR denarius. Heroic bust of Vejovis facing left hurling a thunderbolt and seen from behind. Rev: Two Lares flanking dog. CR 298/1, Syd 564. Lares are household gods.