The English Springer Spaniel
by Keith Erlandson | Echoes of the past. The English Springer Spaniel by Keith Erlandson |
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There is a certain spaniel organisation which holds shows and organises Field Trials. In times past, it used to publish a year book which contained information which was of interest to English Springer Spaniel Owners. One hardy annual statement which consistently appeared and with which I never could agree, was that the English Springer Spaniel is 'Of pure and ancient origin'. Of the breed's antiquity there can be no doubt but as to its purity, here we are wading in deep and murky waters and could well slip on a slimy pebble and go in right over our heads. 'Spaniel', 'Spannel' or 'Spaynel' has come down to us over the ages as an extremely loose term for certain hunting dogs that even when not worked singly, never were classified as hounds or 'Terrars', meaning earth dogs which we now classify as Terriers. The purpose of the hound has always been to follow the footscent of its quarry then either hold it at bay until it could be despatched by human agency, or in the case of smaller quarry, to kill it at the end the chase. Spaniels, whatever form they took, were not required to catch and kill the Game, although regrettably, the odd accident could happen, but their function always related to smaller game which was esteemed for the table, Partridges, Grouse, Woodcock, Wild Duck, Rabbits and Hares. How they performed their function depended on their users' requirements. History discloses that there were water Spaniels and land Spaniels. Before the development of gunpowder for hunting purposes, Wild Duck were stalked and shot on the water with crossbows, so when we are told in some ancient tome that one of the functions of the water Spaniels was to retrieve spent arrows from water, we can rely on it that these arrows were in fact crossbow bolts as the crossbow always was the favoured hunting weapon whereas the longbow was the weapon of war and relied more on volley fire than the pin-point accuracy of the crossbow which was essential for the hunting of small game. In the event of a successful crossbow shot at Wild Duck, the water Spaniels would of course be required to retrieve the shot duck, which heralded all the retriever work of today. The function of the 'Land Spaniels' was entirely different as it consisted of locating the whereabouts of the live quarry by nose. what happened then depended upon the individual food-gathering exercise which was being undertaken. In the case of Grey Partridges, which are indigenous to many parts of northern Europe, the dog employed was the 'Crouching Spaniel' which worked in conjunction with the net, drawn by two men. |
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