KENAI
Curly-Coated Retriever

The breeds · gun dog · retrieving

AKC Sporting · UKC Gun Dog · FCI standard 110

Curly-Coated Retriever.

Multi-purpose hunting retriever, long a favorite of English gamekeepers, retrieving fur and feather in heavy cover and icy water; the standard calls the breed's dual function 'both waterfowl retriever and upland game hunter'.

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

12.2YRMedian lifespan11.2 to 12.8, measured on real dogs.
26 / 24INHeightdogs 26, bitches 24. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
60–95LBWeight, all linesbreed 60 to 95 lb.
2.5+ HRSExercise, every dayMore than 2 hours per day. The constraint most homes get wrong.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 26 in (25 to 27) · bitches 24 in (23 to 25)

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

Center is the midpoint of the standard's range. The UK and FCI standards give a single ideal of 64 cm (25 in) for bitches (rkc_std, fci_std).

Weight

60 to 95 lb

Breed clubAKC

No weight is printed in the AKC, Royal Kennel Club or FCI standard; the AKC breed page is the only registry figure found, so this value rests on one source and no center is recorded. The standard asks only that bone and substance be 'neither spindly nor massive' and in proportion to height.

Coat

Thick mass of small, tight, crisp curls lying close to the skin, resilient and water resistant, from the occiput down the neck, body, thighs to the hock and over the whole tail; short, smooth and straight on the face, forehead, front of forelegs and feet; black or liver; bald patches and open, silky, fuzzy or harsh hair are faults

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

The UK and FCI standards add 'without undercoat' (rkc_std, fci_std).

Shedding

Shedding 2 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · Dense single coat of small, tight, crisp curls lying close to the skin, water resistant and dense enough to protect against weather, water and punishing cover; no undercoat (UK/FCI standards)

DerivedAKC breed standard, 1993

Derived. The curls are a single coat (the UK and FCI standards say 'without undercoat'), which argues for 4, but the standard calls the mass dense enough to insulate against weather and icy water, which is the work of a medium double coat; placed at 3 as the middle reading. A judgement from the coat text, not a measurement.

How long they live, and what they cost

Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.

Median lifespan

12.2 years (11.2 to 12.8)

MeasuredMcMillan KM, 2024

Small sample for this breed; the wide interval reflects it. The breed is not among the 18 breeds in Teng et al. 2022, so no life_expectancy_yr partner is recorded. The 2004 UK Kennel Club survey reported a median age at death of 10 years 9 months from 40 deaths (kc_2004).

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

More than 2 hours per day

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC band mapped: more than 2 hours = 150.

Exercise need

More than 2 hours per day

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

Energy

4 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming load

3 of 5 · More than once a week (RKC grooming band); coat length medium; sheds

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC band mapped: more than once a week = 3. The AKC standard says shearing of the body coat is undesirable; feathering may be trimmed.

Grooming

More than once a week

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Multi-purpose hunting retriever, long a favorite of English gamekeepers, retrieving fur and feather in heavy cover and icy water; the standard calls the breed's dual function 'both waterfowl retriever and upland game hunter'

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

The Royal Kennel Club page says the breed was originally bred for retrieving ducks from water and lists it as a vulnerable native breed (rkc_breed).

Primary game

Waterfowl and upland game birds; the standard names both fur and feather

Breed clubAKC breed standard, 1993

The parent club runs both a water-based Working Certificate series and an Upland Working Certificate with quartering, blind and trailing tests (ccrca_wc).

Range

Close: a non-slip retriever works from the handler's side and goes out on command; test retrieves should not normally exceed 100 yards (Junior, Senior) or 150 yards (Master); in the club's upland test the dog quarters under control with a hunting party

Breed clubAKC, 2025

Range here means retrieve distance; the upland quartering reference is from ccrca_wc.

Field trial standard

AKC retriever hunting tests score four abilities 0-10: marking (memory), style, perseverance/courage/hunting, and trainability (steadiness, control, response, delivery); dogs must perform equally well on land and in water; Senior and Master dogs run blind retrieves and honor another dog's retrieve

Breed clubAKC, 2025

Retriever rules are shared by every eligible retriever breed. The parent club adds its own WC / WCX / WCQ series (nose, marking, swimming, perseverance, handling) and an Upland Working Certificate (walk-up for gun-shyness, quartering with a hunting party, a blind, and a 40-70 yard scent trail) (ccrca_wc).

Water work

Retrievers shall perform equally well on the land and in the water and are tested on both at every level; the breed standard names the iciest of waters as the breed's working ground

Breed clubAKC, 2025

Cold water

5 of 5 · The standard names the work: retrieving fur and feather 'in the heaviest of cover and the iciest of waters', with a coat dense enough to protect against weather and water

DerivedAKC breed standard, 1993

Derived from coat plus the standard's own words on ice water; 5 is reserved for breeds whose standard names ice work, and this one does.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Hip dysplasia

15.1% · 15.1% dysplastic of 1,513 OFA hip evaluations on record (all data through Oct 2026); 83.7% normal (11.6% excellent, 56.8% good, 15.2% fair); mild 10.4%, moderate 4.4%, severe 0.3%; breed rank 86

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

Voluntary registry: radiographs are submitted by owners, so affected dogs are under-reported and true prevalence is higher. Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock.

Elbow dysplasia

0.4% · 0.4% abnormal of 467 OFA elbow evaluations on record (grade 1 0.4%, grade 2 0.0%, grade 3 0.0%); 99.1% normal; breed rank 156

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

Same voluntary-registry caveat as hips, and a small sample: the parent club calls elbow dysplasia uncommon in the breed and elbow testing optional (ccrca_health_stmt), so few elbows are submitted.

Most common disorders

UK Kennel Club 2004 survey (40 deaths, 33 disease reports in 81 live dogs; 35% response): causes of death led by cancer 30.0% (brain tumour, lymphoma, leukaemia), old age 17.5%, gastrointestinal 12.5% (gastric dilatation-volvulus, intussusception, pancreatitis), neurologic 10.0% (spinal disease, seizures); live-dog conditions led by ear (otitis externa), skin (alopecia, demodex) and reproductive problems at 15.2% each. The parent club names epilepsy, craniomandibular osteopathy and immune-mediated disease as significant diseases with no test (ccrca_health_stmt); a CCRCA-supported international owner survey (2021-22, 509 dogs owned by 77 respondents) estimated lifetime bloat prevalence at 7% (35 of 509) with 34% of bloat cases fatal (ccrca_bloat). OFA DNA tables: exercise-induced collapse 41.4% carrier and 5.5% affected of 256 tested; glycogen storage disease IIIa 13.6% carrier of 316 tested (ofa_stats).

Breed clubThe Kennel Club / BSAVA Scientific Committee, 2006

Two owner surveys of club-connected dogs, both small; no VetCompass paper on the breed was found. The parent club says EIC mutations are common but clinical EIC is rare in the breed and ranks it low priority (ccrca_health_stmt).

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 3; Trainability Level 4; Barking Level 3; Watchdog/Protective Nature 4; Good With Young Children 5; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 3; Shedding Level 2; Coat Grooming Frequency 1; Drooling Level 1; Affectionate With Family 5; Playfulness Level 4; Adaptability Level 4.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

No KENAI kennel lists the Curly-Coated Retriever yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 9 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Curly, CCR

Every breed, read the same way.

The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.

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