Dog breeds
English Springer Spaniel

Many people would say that the English Springer Spaniel is this is the best
'all round' gundog. If you are to combine your wildfowling with some rough
shooting then maybe a spaniel, with its reputation for facing really thick
cover when flushing game, is for you.

With a thick double coat to keep out the cold, even when wet, a built in
desire to retrieve along with an 'easy to train' nature, this is the dog
that you will meet the most on the KWCA shooting grounds and the
recommended dog for a novice wildfowler.

The English Springer Spaniel is the oldest and best-established sporting
gun dog. It is the taproot of all the sporting land spaniels (except the
Clumber Spaniel). The name undoubtedly comes from his actions afield where
he springs at his quarry and flushes it for the net, falcon or greyhound.
Today he is used as a flusher and retriever. The breed's popularity has
given way to the Cocker, but still remains in the top 20 most popular
breeds of dogs. He used to be an all-rounder regarding his ability afield.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the breed's versatility has diminished and
there has developed a field type and a bench type, and neither is
competitive in the others arena.

ESS may be found with liver or black with white markings; liver and white
(or black and white) with tan markings; blue or liver roan; or
predominately white with tan, black or liver markings.
Spaniels have a reputation for being harder to train, indeed they are
usually quite high spirited dogs and extreme care must be taken when
training, as they can easily become shy if punished too harshly at an early
age.

The training is quite different to that of a retriever as in effect
we are expecting this breed of dog to undertake two roles.
To flush out game from cover, as well as that of the Labrador in retrieving
shot game. Although it is sometimes said that spaniels can be water shy -
early introduction to water in ANY breed will help to get around this.

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