field spaniel

The field spaniel is one of the oldest, but at the same time least known of spaniels. It originates from the same lines as the better known English Springer Spaniel. In fact their structure is nearly identical, and the most obvious difference between the two is the colouring - even though a roan Field Spaniels exist. The Field Spaniel is lower and longer than the English springer, but to the untrained eye the difference is almost impossible to tell. Traditionally the Field Spaniel is self coloured black or brown (liver) but in recent years the roan has been accepted into the breed. (English Springers are always roan in colouring.)

Originally, the Field Spaniel was bred mainly to dazzle the dog show judges. This explains why a dog officially classified as a gun dog is bred to carry so much feathering and is quite impractical in colour in the terms of hunting. When dog shows started, the people exhibiting were mainly hunters and country dwellers, which is the reason the Field Spaniel had to have those qualities in addition to the handsome looks. The breeders did not make a disservice to the breed in that regard, it is still considered the one with the best scenting abilities of all spaniels.

Interestingly enough, the Field Spaniel almost disappeared from the face of the planet during the world wars, due to the difficulties in breeding those times and a very unfortunate breeding decisions made just before the wars making the breed quite unattractive to both hunters and dog show people. Due to it's attractive looks, the steps were taken to "improving" the breed, resulting to short legged long dog, which in the end was useless as a hunting dog and quite unattractive in the show ring. It was saved by a careful selection of breeding material after the world wars, which consisted of only 4 animals, two bitches and two dogs, which were litter brothers. Every blood line of every living field spaniel today lead to one of these 4 dogs, but also contain a splash of other spaniels that were taken in to widen the gene pool. Amazingly the breed doesn't suffer from many genetic illnesses, thanks to the original careful selection of only the best dogs. Today they mainly suffer from mild eye conditions that normally won't interfere with their ability to see clearly.

The field spaniel is unusually docile and is very quick to learn (both good and bad habits) and is very eager to please his owner. They normally form a close bond to the mother figure of the family for some reason. They are good with kids and pets if introduced to them at young age. The biggest negative feature of the breed is the tendency to develop a form of separation anxiety, which seems to be quite unique to the breed. In normal separation anxiety, the dog is very dependent of the owner in every situation, and calms down when closed into a small confined area. In field spaniel's case, it seems that the dog only wants to see outside and it'll be fine. That is why they are not the best dogs for high apartment buildings, where the view consists of other buildings walls. A lot of descriptions of the breed states that the field spaniel requires a big yard to play in, but in my opinion a daily walk in leash will be better for them. They are calm dogs that won't run around by themselves for exercise, so the size of the yard is completely irrelevant. What they need is someone or a canine companion to inspire them to move but once on the move they LOVE long walks.

The field spaniel is being used for many real purposes, such as therapy dogs and truffle dogs in addition to the more traditional uses in hunting.

"One is disappointed over and over again in doing this (showing field spaniels) mainly because many judges do not know what variety of spaniel you are showing, and if they do, they do not know if it is a good one or not."
~Mr. Roger Hall Jones - Head to Tail Handbook of Field Spaniels 1977~

"Who ever holds the food, holds his heart."
~Riina Rinkineva-Young~

"(Field spaniels are) sweet, cuddly, loyal, playful, funny, clumsy, low key and beyond happy to see you walk through that door."
~@jerseybites (Through Twitter)~