A short version of the Springer history

Most of you will probably know that us Spaniels have been around for a very long time centuries in fact, streching back over two millenium.

But when did the first Springer Spaniels come about and how ?

Well I've had a bit of a root around in books and on the interweb and I found the answer.

I've done me best to trace the Springer history It seems that back in the day's of good ole Henry the eighth.

You might remember him as the English King that had one or two marital problems involving his six wives.

Well it seems our Henry loved entertaining and used to throw lavish banquets for all his mates, which was good especially if you were his mate.

But the problem was these shindigs needed loads of food to feed everyone on such a large scale. The sort of food that they particulary liked in those day's was Game. This included Pheasant, Duck, Grouse, Rabbits and all those things that generally had to be caught in some way.

This was OK but very slow. So they came up with a way of chasing this live Game out of the undergrowth using Spaniels.

These dogs were called setting Spaniels. The keepers then threw big nets over the prey and the Dogs.

This speeded things up no end and kept Henry and his friends quite happy.

But then someone went and invented the Gun.

They needed a new system of hunting with this new method.

Enter the Spaniel again, but this time they used two different types.

The first was a small one that used to forage in the bushes and tree's and the larger Spaniel would then spring the Game into the Guns and by the 18th Century the term Springer was being commonly used and Springer history was being made. But that wasn't the beginning of the English Springer there where other types such as the clumber,welsh,sussex and field spaniels.

It wasn't until 1902 that the Kennel Club finally agreed on a breed standard that defined an English Springer Spaniel.

Moving quickly on to 1921 the English Springer Club was founded. Even though English Springers are traditionally seen as working gundogs there has been a strong show scene for many years and of course they are now a much loved household pet.

So that was a short version of the Springer history.

I'm tired now, all that book learning has made me sleepy so i'm off for a kip.

good night

Take care, Skipper X

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