The Springer – A Rich History and a Lasting Legacy

BY LEE CONNOR

Last year I wrote about the fascinating history of the Cocker Spaniel and today I write about its close relative, the Springer Spaniel.

We may take it for granted that the various sporting spaniel breeds all originate from the very same root stock. At some period, minor differences were taken as a basis for further development, these minor differences were deliberately bred and sought after, until a marked separation occurred.

Then came a further, simple division; those who were presumed to be more suitable for working on land became the land spaniels and those who were more adept in the water, the water spaniels.

Although assumed by most commentators as originating in Spain, the spaniel has a long, colorful history in Britain, one stretching back to at least 1387 (when the name ‘spaniel’ was first mentioned, I believe in Chaucer’s, Wife of Bath’s Prologue) and they make numerous appearances in major sporting works (in writing and illustration) from that time onward.

In 1406, a writer informs his readers that ‘a spaniel must not be too rough’ and describes the way the dogs work (a description that will be all too familiar to spaniel owners of today) ‘going ahead of their master, their tails wagging, raising and starting fowl and other wild beasts.’

During Elizabeth I reign, Dr. Caius wrote this about the Spaniel: ‘The common sort of people call them by one general word, namely Spaniells. As though these kind of dogges came originally and first of all out of Spaine. The most part of their skynnes are white, and if they be marked with any spottes, they are commonly red…othersome of them be reddishe and blackishe, but of that sorte there be but a very few.’

Gervais Markham, writing in 1621, gives further tantalizing clues to the appearance of these early spaniels (now firmly divided into two ‘breeds’ – the Land Spaniel and the Water Spaniel).

‘The motley, the liver-coloured, and those white and black spotted, were just as good as one another…’

He goes on to further inform us that some believed in the capabilities of one color other another.

Around 1790 we begin to get distinct names.

The Spaniel is now named Springer or Cocker.

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=161178

Posted by Alex on Dec 29 2020. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.