Judging the English Springer Spaniel
by Marie Merchant (Long time breeder of the World famous Clanach ESS, exhibitor and judge of the breed,and an International all breeds judge)


THE OLDEST of our Sporting Gundogs, the English Springer is a medium-sized sporting dog with a neat compact body and a docked tail. His coat is moderately long, in colour either black & white or liver & white, with or without tan markings, and with feathering on his legs, ears, chest and brisket. His pendulous ears, soft gentle expression, sturdy build and friendly wagging tail proclaim him unmistakably a member of the ancient family of Spaniels. He is, above all, a well-proportioned dog, tree from exaggeration, nicely balanced in every part. Taken as a whole he looks the part of a dog that can go and keep going under difficult hunting conditions. At his best he is endowed with style, symmetry, balance, enthusiasm, and is every inch a sporting dog of distinct Spaniel character. I feel that when judging the English Springer it is important to remember that he is indeed a "distinct Spaniel" of "ancient and pure origin" and not just an overgrown English Cocker. Although you may be viewing him in the confines of a show ring, he must look capable of doing the job for which he was bred, the finding, flushing and retrieving of game.

 HEAD AND SKULL: The English Standard asks for "The skull to be of medium length and fairly broad and slightly rounded, rising from the foreface making a brow or stop, divided by a fluting between the eyes, gradually dying away along the forehead towards the occiput bone, which should not be peaked. The cheeks should be flat, that is not rounded or full. The foreface should be of proportionate length to the skull, fairly broad and deep without being coarse. Well chiselled below the eyes, fairly deep and square in flew. But not exaggerated to such an extent as to interfere with comfort when retrieving. Nostrils well developed, underjaw strong.
 Viewed from the side the topline of the skull and muzzle lie in two approximately parallel planes. The muzzle should be neither concave (dishfaced) nor roman nosed, but straight Also viewed in profile the head ideally should appear to be the same length as the neck.
 The fluting or furrow divides the head and I feel can perhaps be better felt than seen. This fluting, together with the chiselling around the eyes helps give the head refinement, and contributes to the expression.
 Looking down on the head the muzzle should appear about half the width of the skull.
 The stop could best be described as moderate and, as in the Irish Setter, is due to the raised position of the brows rather than a deep indentation. The nose is fairly large and open as one would expect in a sporting dog.
 Nose colour is not mentioned in the Standard, but should be black on a black and white or black, white and tan, and liver on a liver and white or liver, white and tan.
 When examining the head of the English Springer remember that colour can sometimes be misleading. A wide white blaze can make a head appear wider than it is, whilst a solid black or liver head, can also be misleading.
 On puppies and young adults the occiput, which on a mature dog should be rounded, may still be peaked and will correct as the dog matures. In some English lines young stock have an indentation behind the brows which fills in as the head grows.

 MOUTH: A scissor bite is required, and a strong underjaw is needed to carry game.

 EYES: "The eyes should be neither too full nor too small but of medium size, not prominent nor sunken but well set in not showing haw, of an alert, kind expression. A mouse-like eye without expression is objectionable, as is also a light eye. The colour should be dark hazel."
 The shape of the eye is oval, slightly triangular, never round, which gives a foreign expression. The colour of the eye should tone with the coat the dark hazel with the liver and whites, dark brown to almost black for the black and whites, and of course the colour of the eye rims should be the same as nose pigment black for black and whites, liver for liver and white. The eye will often darken in colour up till the age of two.

 EARS: "The ears should be lobular in shape, set close to the head, of good length and width. But not exaggerated. The correct set should be in line with the eye. The ears on the Springer are very mobile and puppies in particular tend to carry them high when alert. The set-on of ear should be on a level with the eye as one looks through the head from the nostrils. Texture of ear should be medium neither too thick nor too thin.

 NECK: "The neck should be strong and muscular, of nice length and free from throatiness, well set in the shoulders, nicely arched and tapering towards the head this giving great activity and speed. A ewe neck is objectionable." The neck needs to be of good length to facilitate the dog in his retrieving work, and for the same reason strength is applicable. The neck, wide at the shoulder, tends to taper and narrow to the junction with the head.

 FOREOUARTERS: "The forelegs should be straight and nicely feathered, elbows set well to body and with proportional substance to carry the body, strong flexible pasterns. " Bone, whilst not coarse, should be in balance with the general sturdiness of the dog and should not taper off, but be carried through right to the foot, and is round in front, flattish at the sides. Shoulder angulation is not mentioned but should balance with the "moderate angulation" of the hindquarters. I feel that one of the breed's biggest problems is in this area, and whilst one won't find quite the layback of shoulder as required, say, in the English Cocker, neither should the dog be upright. Indeed to move as the Standard requests he must have reasonable angulation in front. He is the highest on leg of all British land spaniels. This is most apparent in puppies who seem to grow their length of leg first.

 BODY: "The body should be strong and of proportionate length. Neither too long nor too short. The chest deep and well developed with plenty of heart and lung room, well sprung ribs. Loins muscular and strong with slight arch and well coupled. Thighs, broad and muscular and well developed. " The general length of body from withers to set-on of tall should be proportionate to length of leg. He is a square dog. The chest is widest just behind the elbows and the lower portion of the ribs tapers back to give the racy appearance required by the Standard. The ribs are fairly long and taper in towards the loin, so that the effect of a lighter hindquarter is obtained. This allows the hind legs to drive well under the body. The coupling is reasonably short and the arch over the loins is very slight. The topline slopes very gently from the withers, the back practically level, the arch over the loins somewhat lower than the witherts, and the croup sloping gently to the base of the tail. The bottom line must never appear tucked up.

HINDOUARTERS: "The hind legs should be well let down from hip to hocks. Stifles and hocks moderately bent. Inclining neither inwards nor outwards. Coarseness of hocks objectionable." The amount of hindquarter required by the standard is moderate. But there must be nothing weak or stilted about the hind legs. The thighs should be broad and muscular with well-developed second thigh. Viewed from behind the rump is nicely rounded. Ideally the hock is one third the distance from hip to hock. In movement the hocks drive well in under the body. FEET: "Feet tight, compact and well rounded with strong full pads." The shape of the foot is round or slightly oval, well arched and of medium size.

TAIL: "The stern should be low and never carried above the level of the back, well feathered and with a lively action." A gay tail carried upright or a tail clamped down should be penalised. Although not stated in the Standard the tail is docked. Usually four tail bones are left, which gives a length of about four inches on an adult specimen. Well feathered means well clothed with hair all round, not a Setter-like flag
.
COAT: "The coat should be close, straight and weather resisting without being coarse. " The coat is a double coat, having a dense undercoat. The body coat is of medium length, and the ears, chest, legs and belly are furnished with a fringe of feathering of moderate heaviness.
 
COLOUR: "Any recognised land Spaniel colour is acceptable, but liver and white, black and white, or either of these colours with tan markings, preferred. " There is no rule as to proportion of dark colour black or liver, to white. Lightly or heavily marked dogs are equally correct and can be equally pleasing to the eye. No preference should be given to either liver or black. Sometimes the black and whites have an advantage over the liver and whites as liver tends to bleach in the sun. Liver roans, or blue roans are quite acceptable and black, white and tan or liver, white and tan are most attractive. There is no hard and fast rule fortan markingsas in the American Cocker Standard. Take care that the solid colour is not creating an optical illusion. Such as a marking on the shoulders giving the irnpression of straightness, or a solidcoloured hind leg creating the impression the dog is out at hock.

WEIGHT & SIZE: "The approximate height should be 20 inches. The approximate weight should be 501bs. " The dog should be shown in good hard condition, well-muscled up. The Springer should be kept to medium size, neither too small nor too large to do the work for which he is intended. Whilst a Springer should not be the size of a large Cocker, it is worse if they get to the size of Setters, as they were bred to go through undergrowth not over the top. There is very little difference in size between a dog and a bitch. Probably the maximum acceptable size allowed would be 21" 211/2". Puppies tend to look all leg and too tall as they seem to reach their full height at about 7 8 months without having the depth of body or belly feathering to cornplete the picture.

MOVEMENT: "The Springer's gait is strictly his own. His forelegs should swing straight forward from the shoulder, throwing the feet well forward in a free and easy manner not a paddle or chopped Terrierlike stride. His hocks should drive well under the body following a line with his forelegs. At slow movements many Springers have a pacing stride typical of the breed." Balance of front and rear assemblies is a prerequisite to good movement. The two must match in angulation and muscular development if the gait is to be smooth and effortless. Viewed from the side, the Springer exhibits a good long forward stride without high stepping or wasted action. A hackney action is quite foreign to the breed. The Springer is a trotting dog and should have a smooth, easy gait. "The overall picture of the English Springer is a primary consideration. It is urged that the judge look for type which includes general appearance, outline and temperament, and also for soundness, especially as seen when the dog is in motion. "in as much as the dog with a smooth easy gait must be reasonably sound and well balanced, he is to be highly regarded in the show ring, however not to the extent of forgiving him for not looking like an English Springer Spaniel.

 "A quite untypical dog, leggy, foreign in head and expression, may move well. But he should not be placed over a good all round specimen that has a minor fault in movement. " The above quote from the American Standard I think is a good guide to judges, indicating as it does that although soundness is of great importance in a sporting dog we must not lose breed type. We have here in Australia in Springers a variation of type or style of dog, as there is in most breeds.

 As every eye forms its own beauty, it is up to the individual to decide which style is preferred and conforms closest to the Standard. 


 

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