by Keith Erlandson-3-
It's nomenclature has nothing to do with the county of Norfolk, although we could be forgiven for assuming that it had, Norfolk being so justly renowned as a great Game county where the services of its own local breed of Spaniel might be much in demand. Rather did its name derive from the Dukes of Norfolk, whose ancestral seat is in Sussex. The Norfolk Spaniel was identified as a seperate breed in pre-Kennel Club times (prior to 1873) and around this era, a most interesting article on the breed appeared in 'THE FIELD' magazine, outlining the breed's qualities and failings. Apparently Norfolk Spaniels were said to be excellent hunters but somewhat headstrong (surprise,surprise!) and seemingly had a tendency to 'mangle their game', so the next time you hand a bird to a Field Trial Judge that your Springer has retrieved, and the said Judge feels it over very dubiously and gives you a dirty look, and your dog an even dirtier comment in his notebook, blame your Springer's Norfolk Spaniel ancestry and the bloke who wrote this libellous stuff in The Field!' Probably a major reason for the Norfolk Spaniel's alleged failing in the mouth department was on account of the fact that from earliest times, none of the land Spaniels, either crouching or springing, ever were required to retrieve. It never entered the equation in falconry or netting and even when Spaniels were shot over in the days of the improved flintlock, they were never expected to retrieve as this would have been detrimental to their steadiness to flush, or so declared the reasoning of the day.
Yet when we come to examine the old sporting prints of this period (late 18th to early 19th century), my old mentor the late John Nash remarked 'Why is it that the spaniels are always depicted running in?' Perhaps this was a bit of artistic licence and the picture would appear that bit more dramatic with the spaniels in full flight after the falling Woodcock or Pheasant but the reality of the situation was that on well-run estates, the Spaniel simply flushed the Game, then dropped to flush with his job completed and the shot bird was collected by a Retriever in the same manner that in traditional shooting over Pointers and Setters today, the dogs are not expected to retrieve. For an appreciable period in the Springer Spaniel's early history as a shooting dog, no retrieving was required of it so it was not selectively bred for its retrieving abilities coupled with a soft mouth which seems a likely reason for the Norfolk Spaniel's alleged shortcomings in the mouth department. I do not believe the Norfolk Spaniel so much as died out as a breed but became absorbed into the English Springer. Although an ad hoc spaniel Field Trial was held at Vaynol, North Wales in 1871, the first official Spaniel Tria1, under Kennel Club Rules, was not held until 1899 on the estate of William Arkwright, the Pointer authority and author of 'The Pointer And His Predecessors', at Sutton Scarsdale in Derbyshire.