History of the English Cocker Spaniel breed
Margaret 22-08-2019, 12:03 812 info
(votes: 2)
It is believed that the Spaniel came to Europe from the Middle East, when the fascination with falconry began. The coins of Father Alexander the Great (Philip II) show a dog that is very similar to a modern spaniel (359-336 BC). The Spaniel is mentioned in 948 in the laws of the King of South Wales.
A little doggie with a meek look ...
Many to this day are sure that cocker is such. But in fact, he is a hard worker, a tireless hunter and his character is decisive. The Cocker Spaniel is also an excellent athlete (although "some" believe that he has not grown). This dog is worthy of understanding and respect.
One opinion
According to some theories, this breed was introduced to other countries from Spain until the XIV century. Earlier recordings are referred to as Spanish "birds working dogs" and suggest that they were used to scare game. But it is more likely that the word "spaniel" came from Old French, in which "espaignol" simply means "Spanish dog".
other
But if the spaniel - maybe the SPANISH? Not! Without a doubt he is a purebred Englishman. The breed began to breed in the UK since 1879. But back in the 17th century, the British took dogs like spaniels to hunt. Unless their distant ancestors were Spaniards ...
third There is an assumption that the first spaniels were introduced by the Phoenicians, and the name spaniel comes from the name "spani", which in Phoenician means - "rabbit" - an eared dog, for example, etc. However, this hypothesis is doubtful since the first dogs existed on the continent long before they appeared on the territory of Britain. It is much more likely that they arrived from the East along with the crusaders. Indeed, thanks to them, falconry spread in Europe, for which such dogs were needed. But these facts are more interesting to historians. We will study the breed of dogs that appeared in Britain and exists to this day.
The name Cocker comes from the name - woodcock - snipe, woodcock. The first spaniels hunted these wild birds. At the beginning, the dogs were slightly larger than the current cocker. They were subsequently crossed with a small Japanese spaniel. Obviously, the initial task of crossing was the color that would distinguish this breed from others.
The English Cocker Spaniel is descended from a series of ancient spotted (two- and three-color) spaniels with a developed stand, mainly red-white, red-piebald and black-tan, which appeared in Spain from long-haired squat bird dogs used in hunting with a tirade (with a net) ) and with falcons back in ancient Greece. A 19th-century hunting English writer Hugh Dalziel, a famous author of the British Dogs book, believed that cocker spaniels (espanoles, or, as they were called in Russia, shanks) that became famous for falconry in Western Europe since n Karl Great Britain were due Celts of Ireland, resident in Iberia in V-III century BC and holding long-haired fold-handed bird hounds.
The British attached particular importance to the hunting qualities of their long-haired bird dogs, thanks to which they were able to breed a number of spaniel breeds that work perfectly in the supports - dense shrubs, blackthorn and grassy thickets, most of which acquired a short stance (or lost it at all) and began to work with voice (announcing to the hunter about the feathered game they found).
We find images of continental and island (British, or English) cocker spaniels of various colors in the drawings of the XIV-XV centuries, and on the canvases of French artists - mottled (with small dark rounded spots scattered on the main background, called a spray in Russia) and roan suit ( uniform mixture of colored and white hair). Since that time, the first mention of spaniels and their use with falcons in field hunting and with nets - in the swamp in cynological literature has appeared.
The owner of the dog hunt, the author of the book "English Dogges" John Johannes Kay wrote that at the beginning of the 16th century, English breeders divided their spaniels by purpose of meadow (field) and water (marsh), because they wanted to breed a universal dog that can hunt any bird . At the same time, the meadow (land) spaniel had to point the hunter to the place where the bird was hiding, or raise it to the wing under a falcon, while the water spaniel was used for hunting with a net.
In his book “Gentleman's Recreation” on hunting dogs, the Englishman Nicholas Cox wrote not only that long-haired bird spaniels had supplanted other breeds of dogs from his falconry in the 17th century, but also that keepers (hunters) began to stop him tails so that they do not break them in the supports to the blood.
When game catching with nets and falcons was replaced by gun hunting, in Europe there were two varieties of spaniels - wild and swampy game birds, the first being divided into larger and less frisky setter-like podsokolny spaniels, or springers (springer - freezing in a lying stance before a lightning fast jump game to drive her under a shot
Multi-colored British Spaniels became an indispensable attribute of the Blenheim Castle, owned by the Dukes of Marlborough.
At Blenheim Castle, located on the outskirts of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, dogs with clearly defined chestnut-red spots against a pure white background were received.
This color was later called "Blenheim". It is applicable to all types of spaniels ... Both the castle and the park are remembered precisely for this, and not at all because Sir Winston Churchill is buried there. Marlboro cockers formed the basis of the English toy spaniels, but before becoming a separate breed, they were crossed with small cockers, in which the blood of field spaniels flowed. These two lines gave the spaniel, in size and type, meeting the demands of American importers of the time.
Until 1879, the Cocker Spaniels as such did not exist.
The founder of all cocker spaniels is the famous Obo, born in 1879, owned by James Farrow.
It was a short-legged, stretched black spaniel. Judging by the appearance - a typical field spaniel. Both had a weight of 10 kg and a height of 25 cm. In his pedigree there is an English water spaniel of Lord Derby and a sussex spaniel with a height of 47 cm of breeding T.
Bargess. Both were bred using black-tan Mary and black Imperour, which belonged to Mr. Farrow.
I must say that the vast majority of breeders of those years were quite wealthy people who had the opportunity to keep 10-15 dogs in their estate and conduct breeding relying on dogs originally bred in their family, or to buy dogs of the desired type from other owners. Accordingly, dogs of those years were often distinguished by a variety of types due to the fact that each breeder had his own idea of the desired type, the breeding was carried out using close inbreeding, then with the infusion of the blood of dogs belonging to other breeds or even not quite purebred. Nevertheless, there was also a certain desirable type dictated by fashion or public opinion. When a breeder who considers his dogs to be Cocker Spaniels had to stick to the type of compact, very small, but not short-legged dog. If the breeder called his dogs field spaniels, then it was understood that his dogs had a characteristic color and format. Some breeders gained fame thanks to the skillful breeding of dogs winning exhibitions and trials, their active participation in dog breeders' associations, where the breeder could share his experience and gain the respect of colleagues, and also be invited to judge exhibitions and competitions. In order to emphasize “their brand”, the breeders gave their kennels a name that was included in every nickname of a puppy born in this kennel. True, at first these rules were not strictly observed and often the new owner of the puppy renamed, giving him his own prefix. The largest kennel spaniel nurseries in England belonged to Phillips - Revington and Richard de Courcy Pill - Bowler.
Phillips Kennel Rivington leads his pedigrees from the first documented English spaniels and of course from Obo. The exterior of the Phillpips spaniel of the early years was largely repeated by the exterior of the Obo, such as the Rivington Signal, born in 1889:
Phillips kennel dogs were actively exhibited in field competitions and in the following decades often dominated them, and were also the ancestors of many field trail champions.
Let us also dwell briefly on the Tissington nursery. They were breeding spaniels in the 1890-1910s, using springer spaniels, field spaniels and even the English setter. Representatives of this nursery are the distant ancestors of all cocker and springer spaniels. And one of the dogs (Tissington Silence) was used to restore the breed of field spaniels after the First World War. The owner of the nursery was the sixth Fitz-Herbert Baronet, Sir Hugo from Tissington Hall.
A more significant contribution to the blood of the English Cocker Spaniels was made by the already mentioned Bowdler kennel, owned by Richard de Courcy Pill (representative of an old family of English barons). In the kennel, such spaniels as Ben Bowdler (born in 1899) and his son Bob Bowdler (born in 1901) were bred. They were black-pinto in the speck and also quite short-legged dogs.
Ben Boudler, as described by Richard de Courcy Peel himself, was “an active, restless dog, 30 cm high at the withers, weighing 22 pounds, had very dark eyes, low-set ears of sufficient length, richly decorated, low-set tail and typical cocker movements. He was a worker, not a toy. ”
The image of his son Bob Boudler has been preserved:
t was described as follows: “born in September 1901, with a beautiful bluish tint in color, with probably the best head and ears for many years, he weighed 23.5 pounds, had a perfectly balanced body, active and cheerful in character, which could be a cocker” .
Richard de Cursi Peel used in breeding Obo's descendants, dogs of the Rivington Kennel Phillips, blood of the Tissington and Richard Lloyd kennel spaniels, which clearly illustrates the mentioned wide blood exchange among breeders of those times.
The significantly higher legged spaniel, Dixon Bowler, born in 1905, was also obtained in the nursery. He had a height of 33 cm and a weight of 11 kg, this dog already resembles partly a modern cocker spaniel.
Another English nursery, Sant Foy, owned by Mrs. A.M. Mackay and Mr. J. Wittaker leads his dogs from the Bowler and Richard Lloyd Spaniels. Although the kennel itself didn’t give a lot of spaniels, the Sant Foy cockers were imported to Germany and also used for breeding by other famous English kennels. For example, we can give the image of the Mike of St Foy (Mike of St Foy) born in 1906, imported to Germany:
Herbert Lloyd (Richard Lloyd's son) had a tremendous influence on cocker spaniels around the world. It was Herbert Lloyd (1887 - 1963) who achieved the change in the standard, increasing the growth of cocker spaniels in the 20s of the XX century. Lloyd bred not only beautiful, but also working dogs. Six absolute champions were born in his kennel, both in terms of exterior and workability. Lloyd's kennel used dogs of the blood of Rocklin (Rocklyn), Belwell (Belwell), Bowler, spaniels imported from Canada and the USA; over the course of many years, the dogs of Vaye mated with the females of the Kennel Falconers, owned by Mrs. Jamison Higgins. The history of the nursery of Vaye is very rich.
We can call the black male Broadcaster of Ware born in 1921, whose pedigree consists entirely of American dogs, originating from Obo.
The black-pied pie in the krap, Invader of Ware, born in 1922, comes from the dogs Bowler, Sant Foy, Rocklin, Belwell, his breeder was Mr. Tener, after the purchase Herbert Lloyd renamed it. Inveder was the absolute British champion (that is, the winner of both exhibitions and competitions). During his lifetime, he became a legend, he won 88 classes and 12 certificates.
In 1892, the English Kennel Club finally recognized them as separate breeds. The Cocker Spaniel has become the English Cocker Spaniel.
It should be remembered that both before and after the official separation of the breeds in England, springers and cockers were born in the same litter. Their only difference was size. They had the same ancestors, the same color, similar working qualities, and also more or less the same type of addition. Cockers and springers developed side by side. By the way, the working qualities of common ancestors inherited by the cockers caused the breed to be successful, making the cocker one of the best small hunting dogs.
Thorough research has shown that in the 19th century there were two lines of cocker development. One included dogs called Field or Cocker Spaniels, from which the Sussex, Field and Cocker Spaniels sprang. The latter weighed less than 11.5 kg and were predominantly black. The other included two types of spaniels at the House of the Dukes of Marlborough - small dogs with a rounded head, short-faced, red-white and slightly larger dogs, with shorter ears and an elongated head.
The American Club of English Cocker Spaniels was founded in 1935 for the further development of the breed, which, however, remained a type of cocker spaniel.
The fact that in England with the spaniels actively hunted is known to all. What was the situation in Europe?
In France, the spaniel club was founded in 1898 - four years before the creation of the cocker club in England. A passionate hunter and big fan of cocker spaniels Paul Gaillard at the end of the 19th century actively imported representatives of the breed from England and laid the foundation for breeding spaniels in France. His baton was picked up by such breeders as Charles Hazart, Lucien Lamagne and Baron Jobert.
Interestingly, the French perceived with some skepticism the English approaches to working spaniels. In particular, Yvette Shavernak describes as follows the differences in the field leisure of island and continental spaniels: if in England great attention is paid to a tight search, without taking initiative, if the bird is hiding, the dog can refuse to pursue, but not go beyond its search. Methodological work should not be violated for the sake of working on game in the neighboring territory. The abundance of game is such that it makes no sense to disrupt the system for the sake of pursuing a separate prey. On the continent, however, game is less abundant, because of this it is impossible to predict how hunting will turn out in one case or another. The route may vary, the initiative of an experienced dog plays a huge role here, the dog itself must interpret the changing conditions in favor of the effectiveness of the hunt. The level of English training in the opinion of the French is excessive. It is clear that in England driven hunting is a social phenomenon, where everything is subordinated primarily to sports, but on the continent the requirements for hunting spaniels differ from the English, and therefore selection should be made not only in favor of exclusively controlled and obedient dogs.
In 1906, two groups of spaniel lovers “promoting and generalizing these dogs” were founded in German-speaking countries - the Continental Spaniel Club and the German Hunting Spaniel Club. Within a short time, it became clear that a merger of the two groups was necessary, and on May 26, 1907 in the Ballavista park in Hanover, the Hunting Spaniel Club was founded. Two-thirds of the 83 club members were from Germany, a third from Austria (Bohemia and Moravia). In 1921, the Swiss Spaniel Club was founded.
In Germany, since 1907, that is, not much later than in England, field contests of spaniels began to take place. But the Germans' requirements for hunting spaniels varied significantly with the English. In Germany, spaniels were used as shtebers - bloodhounds for densely overgrown places, working not only on game birds. For such dogs, the requirement to cast their votes when working on the trail was mandatory and the silent English Spaniels always arranged Germans for their working qualities.
German Spanielists in October 1924
The first exhibition of English cocker spaniels was organized by the club on the estate of E.S. Wheeling near the town of Brin More, Pennsylvania. And on May 12, 1936, the official English standard was adopted.
The club’s primary goal was to prevent the cross between the American and English types of cocker spaniels, which fans of the English cocker regarded as harmful to the latter. English dogs performed in a separate ring; nevertheless, puppies from crossbreeding of the English and American types were shown at exhibitions along with purebred dogs of English and American breeding. Often, American cockers performed in the English class only because of their size. The subsequent confusion prevented the development of both breeds, however, it was impossible to place this, since no one knew which dogs were genetically of the purebred English type, which were of the American type, and which were half-breeds.
Under the leadership of Mrs. Geraldine R. Dodge, the club’s president at the time, a thorough study of the cocker tribal lines of England, Canada and the USA was carried out until the breed began officially in 1892 in order to identify purebred lines free from impurities of American blood. When this work was finally completed in 1941, the English Cocker Spaniel Club was given the opportunity to provide breeders and lovers of the breed authoritative information on selection and breeding problems.
In 1940, the Canadian Kennel Club and in September 1946, the American Club recognized the English Cocker Spaniel as a separate breed. However, the breed was included in the AKC Stud Book in 1947, because it took a lot of work to prepare for the issue of official pedigrees
When dog shows became especially popular, spaniels began to be divided into two groups: large and small. As for the first group, this included animals whose weight was more than 11 kg (field spaniel), the second group included small animals weighing up to 11 kg (cocker spaniel). Although the breed standard was published in 1902, in subsequent years it underwent various changes and editing. The last time changes were made by the English Kennel Club in 1969.
If we talk about Russia, then cocker spaniels were brought into this camp many times, but the breed could not take root in any way. The history of the cocker spaniel breed in Russia begins only in 1973. This was the time when the first section of the lovers of this breed was formed, which was headed by Yu. Yu. Gunger. In 1978, the Anniversary Dog Show was held in Moscow, where only 12 cocker spaniels took part, but after 10 years, 122 dogs were present at the exhibition.
Beginning in 1940, dog handlers began to “breed” a new standard, where dogs were separated by coat color. Such changes were caused by the fact that when dogs of a monochrome color with spotty were crossed, puppies with a rather large white mark on their breasts were born, white spots were also on the muzzle and on the tips of the paws. Despite the fact that such dogs looked very beautiful, for some reason, breeders still avoided this color. Animals that had such spots were not allowed to exhibitions and various competitions.
A little doggie with a meek look ...
Many to this day are sure that cocker is such. But in fact, he is a hard worker, a tireless hunter and his character is decisive. The Cocker Spaniel is also an excellent athlete (although "some" believe that he has not grown). This dog is worthy of understanding and respect.
One opinion
According to some theories, this breed was introduced to other countries from Spain until the XIV century. Earlier recordings are referred to as Spanish "birds working dogs" and suggest that they were used to scare game. But it is more likely that the word "spaniel" came from Old French, in which "espaignol" simply means "Spanish dog".
other
But if the spaniel - maybe the SPANISH? Not! Without a doubt he is a purebred Englishman. The breed began to breed in the UK since 1879. But back in the 17th century, the British took dogs like spaniels to hunt. Unless their distant ancestors were Spaniards ...
third There is an assumption that the first spaniels were introduced by the Phoenicians, and the name spaniel comes from the name "spani", which in Phoenician means - "rabbit" - an eared dog, for example, etc. However, this hypothesis is doubtful since the first dogs existed on the continent long before they appeared on the territory of Britain. It is much more likely that they arrived from the East along with the crusaders. Indeed, thanks to them, falconry spread in Europe, for which such dogs were needed. But these facts are more interesting to historians. We will study the breed of dogs that appeared in Britain and exists to this day.
The name Cocker comes from the name - woodcock - snipe, woodcock. The first spaniels hunted these wild birds. At the beginning, the dogs were slightly larger than the current cocker. They were subsequently crossed with a small Japanese spaniel. Obviously, the initial task of crossing was the color that would distinguish this breed from others.
The English Cocker Spaniel is descended from a series of ancient spotted (two- and three-color) spaniels with a developed stand, mainly red-white, red-piebald and black-tan, which appeared in Spain from long-haired squat bird dogs used in hunting with a tirade (with a net) ) and with falcons back in ancient Greece. A 19th-century hunting English writer Hugh Dalziel, a famous author of the British Dogs book, believed that cocker spaniels (espanoles, or, as they were called in Russia, shanks) that became famous for falconry in Western Europe since n Karl Great Britain were due Celts of Ireland, resident in Iberia in V-III century BC and holding long-haired fold-handed bird hounds.
The British attached particular importance to the hunting qualities of their long-haired bird dogs, thanks to which they were able to breed a number of spaniel breeds that work perfectly in the supports - dense shrubs, blackthorn and grassy thickets, most of which acquired a short stance (or lost it at all) and began to work with voice (announcing to the hunter about the feathered game they found).
We find images of continental and island (British, or English) cocker spaniels of various colors in the drawings of the XIV-XV centuries, and on the canvases of French artists - mottled (with small dark rounded spots scattered on the main background, called a spray in Russia) and roan suit ( uniform mixture of colored and white hair). Since that time, the first mention of spaniels and their use with falcons in field hunting and with nets - in the swamp in cynological literature has appeared.
The owner of the dog hunt, the author of the book "English Dogges" John Johannes Kay wrote that at the beginning of the 16th century, English breeders divided their spaniels by purpose of meadow (field) and water (marsh), because they wanted to breed a universal dog that can hunt any bird . At the same time, the meadow (land) spaniel had to point the hunter to the place where the bird was hiding, or raise it to the wing under a falcon, while the water spaniel was used for hunting with a net.
In his book “Gentleman's Recreation” on hunting dogs, the Englishman Nicholas Cox wrote not only that long-haired bird spaniels had supplanted other breeds of dogs from his falconry in the 17th century, but also that keepers (hunters) began to stop him tails so that they do not break them in the supports to the blood.
When game catching with nets and falcons was replaced by gun hunting, in Europe there were two varieties of spaniels - wild and swampy game birds, the first being divided into larger and less frisky setter-like podsokolny spaniels, or springers (springer - freezing in a lying stance before a lightning fast jump game to drive her under a shot
Multi-colored British Spaniels became an indispensable attribute of the Blenheim Castle, owned by the Dukes of Marlborough.At Blenheim Castle, located on the outskirts of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, dogs with clearly defined chestnut-red spots against a pure white background were received.
This color was later called "Blenheim". It is applicable to all types of spaniels ... Both the castle and the park are remembered precisely for this, and not at all because Sir Winston Churchill is buried there. Marlboro cockers formed the basis of the English toy spaniels, but before becoming a separate breed, they were crossed with small cockers, in which the blood of field spaniels flowed. These two lines gave the spaniel, in size and type, meeting the demands of American importers of the time.
Until 1879, the Cocker Spaniels as such did not exist.
The founder of all cocker spaniels is the famous Obo, born in 1879, owned by James Farrow.
It was a short-legged, stretched black spaniel. Judging by the appearance - a typical field spaniel. Both had a weight of 10 kg and a height of 25 cm. In his pedigree there is an English water spaniel of Lord Derby and a sussex spaniel with a height of 47 cm of breeding T.
Bargess. Both were bred using black-tan Mary and black Imperour, which belonged to Mr. Farrow.
I must say that the vast majority of breeders of those years were quite wealthy people who had the opportunity to keep 10-15 dogs in their estate and conduct breeding relying on dogs originally bred in their family, or to buy dogs of the desired type from other owners. Accordingly, dogs of those years were often distinguished by a variety of types due to the fact that each breeder had his own idea of the desired type, the breeding was carried out using close inbreeding, then with the infusion of the blood of dogs belonging to other breeds or even not quite purebred. Nevertheless, there was also a certain desirable type dictated by fashion or public opinion. When a breeder who considers his dogs to be Cocker Spaniels had to stick to the type of compact, very small, but not short-legged dog. If the breeder called his dogs field spaniels, then it was understood that his dogs had a characteristic color and format. Some breeders gained fame thanks to the skillful breeding of dogs winning exhibitions and trials, their active participation in dog breeders' associations, where the breeder could share his experience and gain the respect of colleagues, and also be invited to judge exhibitions and competitions. In order to emphasize “their brand”, the breeders gave their kennels a name that was included in every nickname of a puppy born in this kennel. True, at first these rules were not strictly observed and often the new owner of the puppy renamed, giving him his own prefix. The largest kennel spaniel nurseries in England belonged to Phillips - Revington and Richard de Courcy Pill - Bowler.
Phillips Kennel Rivington leads his pedigrees from the first documented English spaniels and of course from Obo. The exterior of the Phillpips spaniel of the early years was largely repeated by the exterior of the Obo, such as the Rivington Signal, born in 1889:
Phillips kennel dogs were actively exhibited in field competitions and in the following decades often dominated them, and were also the ancestors of many field trail champions.
Let us also dwell briefly on the Tissington nursery. They were breeding spaniels in the 1890-1910s, using springer spaniels, field spaniels and even the English setter. Representatives of this nursery are the distant ancestors of all cocker and springer spaniels. And one of the dogs (Tissington Silence) was used to restore the breed of field spaniels after the First World War. The owner of the nursery was the sixth Fitz-Herbert Baronet, Sir Hugo from Tissington Hall.
A more significant contribution to the blood of the English Cocker Spaniels was made by the already mentioned Bowdler kennel, owned by Richard de Courcy Pill (representative of an old family of English barons). In the kennel, such spaniels as Ben Bowdler (born in 1899) and his son Bob Bowdler (born in 1901) were bred. They were black-pinto in the speck and also quite short-legged dogs.
Ben Boudler, as described by Richard de Courcy Peel himself, was “an active, restless dog, 30 cm high at the withers, weighing 22 pounds, had very dark eyes, low-set ears of sufficient length, richly decorated, low-set tail and typical cocker movements. He was a worker, not a toy. ”
The image of his son Bob Boudler has been preserved:
t was described as follows: “born in September 1901, with a beautiful bluish tint in color, with probably the best head and ears for many years, he weighed 23.5 pounds, had a perfectly balanced body, active and cheerful in character, which could be a cocker” .
Richard de Cursi Peel used in breeding Obo's descendants, dogs of the Rivington Kennel Phillips, blood of the Tissington and Richard Lloyd kennel spaniels, which clearly illustrates the mentioned wide blood exchange among breeders of those times.
The significantly higher legged spaniel, Dixon Bowler, born in 1905, was also obtained in the nursery. He had a height of 33 cm and a weight of 11 kg, this dog already resembles partly a modern cocker spaniel.
Another English nursery, Sant Foy, owned by Mrs. A.M. Mackay and Mr. J. Wittaker leads his dogs from the Bowler and Richard Lloyd Spaniels. Although the kennel itself didn’t give a lot of spaniels, the Sant Foy cockers were imported to Germany and also used for breeding by other famous English kennels. For example, we can give the image of the Mike of St Foy (Mike of St Foy) born in 1906, imported to Germany:
Herbert Lloyd (Richard Lloyd's son) had a tremendous influence on cocker spaniels around the world. It was Herbert Lloyd (1887 - 1963) who achieved the change in the standard, increasing the growth of cocker spaniels in the 20s of the XX century. Lloyd bred not only beautiful, but also working dogs. Six absolute champions were born in his kennel, both in terms of exterior and workability. Lloyd's kennel used dogs of the blood of Rocklin (Rocklyn), Belwell (Belwell), Bowler, spaniels imported from Canada and the USA; over the course of many years, the dogs of Vaye mated with the females of the Kennel Falconers, owned by Mrs. Jamison Higgins. The history of the nursery of Vaye is very rich.
We can call the black male Broadcaster of Ware born in 1921, whose pedigree consists entirely of American dogs, originating from Obo.
The black-pied pie in the krap, Invader of Ware, born in 1922, comes from the dogs Bowler, Sant Foy, Rocklin, Belwell, his breeder was Mr. Tener, after the purchase Herbert Lloyd renamed it. Inveder was the absolute British champion (that is, the winner of both exhibitions and competitions). During his lifetime, he became a legend, he won 88 classes and 12 certificates.
In 1892, the English Kennel Club finally recognized them as separate breeds. The Cocker Spaniel has become the English Cocker Spaniel.
It should be remembered that both before and after the official separation of the breeds in England, springers and cockers were born in the same litter. Their only difference was size. They had the same ancestors, the same color, similar working qualities, and also more or less the same type of addition. Cockers and springers developed side by side. By the way, the working qualities of common ancestors inherited by the cockers caused the breed to be successful, making the cocker one of the best small hunting dogs.
Thorough research has shown that in the 19th century there were two lines of cocker development. One included dogs called Field or Cocker Spaniels, from which the Sussex, Field and Cocker Spaniels sprang. The latter weighed less than 11.5 kg and were predominantly black. The other included two types of spaniels at the House of the Dukes of Marlborough - small dogs with a rounded head, short-faced, red-white and slightly larger dogs, with shorter ears and an elongated head.
The American Club of English Cocker Spaniels was founded in 1935 for the further development of the breed, which, however, remained a type of cocker spaniel.
The fact that in England with the spaniels actively hunted is known to all. What was the situation in Europe?
In France, the spaniel club was founded in 1898 - four years before the creation of the cocker club in England. A passionate hunter and big fan of cocker spaniels Paul Gaillard at the end of the 19th century actively imported representatives of the breed from England and laid the foundation for breeding spaniels in France. His baton was picked up by such breeders as Charles Hazart, Lucien Lamagne and Baron Jobert.
Interestingly, the French perceived with some skepticism the English approaches to working spaniels. In particular, Yvette Shavernak describes as follows the differences in the field leisure of island and continental spaniels: if in England great attention is paid to a tight search, without taking initiative, if the bird is hiding, the dog can refuse to pursue, but not go beyond its search. Methodological work should not be violated for the sake of working on game in the neighboring territory. The abundance of game is such that it makes no sense to disrupt the system for the sake of pursuing a separate prey. On the continent, however, game is less abundant, because of this it is impossible to predict how hunting will turn out in one case or another. The route may vary, the initiative of an experienced dog plays a huge role here, the dog itself must interpret the changing conditions in favor of the effectiveness of the hunt. The level of English training in the opinion of the French is excessive. It is clear that in England driven hunting is a social phenomenon, where everything is subordinated primarily to sports, but on the continent the requirements for hunting spaniels differ from the English, and therefore selection should be made not only in favor of exclusively controlled and obedient dogs.
In 1906, two groups of spaniel lovers “promoting and generalizing these dogs” were founded in German-speaking countries - the Continental Spaniel Club and the German Hunting Spaniel Club. Within a short time, it became clear that a merger of the two groups was necessary, and on May 26, 1907 in the Ballavista park in Hanover, the Hunting Spaniel Club was founded. Two-thirds of the 83 club members were from Germany, a third from Austria (Bohemia and Moravia). In 1921, the Swiss Spaniel Club was founded.
In Germany, since 1907, that is, not much later than in England, field contests of spaniels began to take place. But the Germans' requirements for hunting spaniels varied significantly with the English. In Germany, spaniels were used as shtebers - bloodhounds for densely overgrown places, working not only on game birds. For such dogs, the requirement to cast their votes when working on the trail was mandatory and the silent English Spaniels always arranged Germans for their working qualities.
German Spanielists in October 1924
The first exhibition of English cocker spaniels was organized by the club on the estate of E.S. Wheeling near the town of Brin More, Pennsylvania. And on May 12, 1936, the official English standard was adopted.
The club’s primary goal was to prevent the cross between the American and English types of cocker spaniels, which fans of the English cocker regarded as harmful to the latter. English dogs performed in a separate ring; nevertheless, puppies from crossbreeding of the English and American types were shown at exhibitions along with purebred dogs of English and American breeding. Often, American cockers performed in the English class only because of their size. The subsequent confusion prevented the development of both breeds, however, it was impossible to place this, since no one knew which dogs were genetically of the purebred English type, which were of the American type, and which were half-breeds.
Under the leadership of Mrs. Geraldine R. Dodge, the club’s president at the time, a thorough study of the cocker tribal lines of England, Canada and the USA was carried out until the breed began officially in 1892 in order to identify purebred lines free from impurities of American blood. When this work was finally completed in 1941, the English Cocker Spaniel Club was given the opportunity to provide breeders and lovers of the breed authoritative information on selection and breeding problems.
In 1940, the Canadian Kennel Club and in September 1946, the American Club recognized the English Cocker Spaniel as a separate breed. However, the breed was included in the AKC Stud Book in 1947, because it took a lot of work to prepare for the issue of official pedigrees
When dog shows became especially popular, spaniels began to be divided into two groups: large and small. As for the first group, this included animals whose weight was more than 11 kg (field spaniel), the second group included small animals weighing up to 11 kg (cocker spaniel). Although the breed standard was published in 1902, in subsequent years it underwent various changes and editing. The last time changes were made by the English Kennel Club in 1969.
If we talk about Russia, then cocker spaniels were brought into this camp many times, but the breed could not take root in any way. The history of the cocker spaniel breed in Russia begins only in 1973. This was the time when the first section of the lovers of this breed was formed, which was headed by Yu. Yu. Gunger. In 1978, the Anniversary Dog Show was held in Moscow, where only 12 cocker spaniels took part, but after 10 years, 122 dogs were present at the exhibition.
Beginning in 1940, dog handlers began to “breed” a new standard, where dogs were separated by coat color. Such changes were caused by the fact that when dogs of a monochrome color with spotty were crossed, puppies with a rather large white mark on their breasts were born, white spots were also on the muzzle and on the tips of the paws. Despite the fact that such dogs looked very beautiful, for some reason, breeders still avoided this color. Animals that had such spots were not allowed to exhibitions and various competitions.