The Field Spaniel

Appearance

The Field Spaniel is a Noble upstanding sporting spaniel built for speed and endurance. He is a very distinguished Englishman with a loyal and devoted nature. He is a medium sized spaniel (approximately 18"), developed to fill the role between the English Cocker and the English Springer spaniels. He is heavy set reaching upto 60 pounds and quite at home in the thickest of cover.

History

The Field Spaniel has never been a popular breed and has had several crosses with the sussex spaniel and English spring spaniels to keep him in existance. The last cross being after the 2nd world war with the English Springer Spaniel. He was once known as the Black Spaniel and was an excellent working spaniel. He was also distinguished, at one time, from the English Cocker Spaniel by weight. Under 25lbs he was shown as a Cocker over 25lb he was shown as a Field Spaniel. When the interbreeding of spaniels ceased, the new fanciers deceided that a longer and lower version of the Field was good and this left the breed almost too long and low to fulfill their working role. Thanks to a few breeders we have the wonderful noble Field Spaniel of today.

Temperament

He is required to be "unusually docile" and this is true, he is quite laid back. He is a true Gundog with a yearning for hunting and eager to please. They are "people" dogs and enjoy company, not just a Spaniel to be relegated to the backyard. They are easy to train as they are very food orientated and in my opinion highly intelligent. Lessons need to be short and well planned, they do not like alot of reparticious training. Having said all that I have some with elderly people who get a walk up the street, or in the car and some with people who run many kilometres per day.

Care / Grooming

A good brush once a week keeps them in order. Some do not have alot of furnishings, while others will have some. They do not generally have alot of coat like an English Cocker. They need to have their ear canals kept free of hair, this helps with the minor ear infections that the spaniel breeds have, due to the shape of their ears. Feet need to be trimmed of excess hair, this also helps during the grass seed time. These are large spaniels and need to be fed accordingly.

Health

Parents need to be below the breed average for hip scores ( 16 at the moment) and they suffer from a few eye disorders - PRA, Cataracts, Retinal folds and Dysplasia, extra eyelashes and entropian/ectropian. As these are large puppies you need to be careful during the teething phase as they tend to go down on pasturns. It is not ideal to have "fat" puppies or have them going up and downstairs or jumping until over 12 months of age. Otherwise you will have dogs with east/ west feet and bowed legs.

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