Spaniels Boykin, English, Cocker etc

[Spaniel]

I thought I would start this discussion to get everyones view on the Spaniel Breeds..

 

I have been reading a few articales on the web ref the Boykin Spaniel, and how they are used in the States, Canada etc as a general working dog, good on both water and land...

 

Not sure if there is anyone on here who have actually got one of these or maybe had one of these at some point and i wondered how they compared to the English Springer and Cocker etc which seems to be the main working breed of Spaniel over here.

 

Also looks like the breed is not recognised by the KC in the UK as a working dog but they are recognised by the AKC.

 

Any views on the subject

 

Cheers

[cracker]

Tonnes of superlatives for the Boykin--the "retrievingest" of spaniels, most companionable, possibly longest-lived (avg. 13-14 years). As good as the best questers and never bred but for anything other than to be a working gundog.

 

Until a short while ago, that is. For "recognised by the AKC" ought to be "bamboozled into AKC" via a wee showring crowd. But those who work Boykins and prize the breed for what they do afield and in the wildfowling hide know better.

 

This one of yours

went into the making of the Boykin breed 100-odd years ago, and is known to acquit itself rather sportingly in the States as well.

 

MG

[lurcherboy]

Never heard of the Boykin Spaniel.

 

Is this a breed that originated in the UK and are you stateside Cracker?

 

I would agree with your statement regarding being reconised by any kennel club.

 

Any breed will slowly but surely go down hill once the show ring is in the offing.

 

 

 

 

LB

[Spaniel]

The Boykin Spaniel was first bred by South Carolina hunters during the 1900's to provide the ideal dog for hunting ducks and wild turkeys in the Wateree River Swamp. Hunters on South Carolina's Wateree River needed a small rugged dog compactly built for boat travel and able to retrieve on land and water. In those days wagons, wooden boats and trains afforded hunters access to the game rich corridors along the river. But boat travel limited what hunters could carry. The typical heavyweight retriever was a drawback in a craft already loaded with men, guns, provisions and other gear.

 

On the Wateree River in the early part of this century hunters often used a take apart "section boat." Held together by bolts to form a large craft, the three sections with seats removed could be "nested" to fit neatly into a wagon or train's baggage car. Hunters also used sections as one-man boats just large enough for one person and a compact retriever.

 

L. W. "Whit" Boykin (1861-1932), a planter, land appraiser and well-known sportsman of the Boykin community just outside Camden, South Carolina, along with his kinsmen the Canteys, experimented with many breeds to resolve the problems posed by their Wateree hunting trips. With selective breeding and a little luck, Boykin developed a small multipurpose retriever now known as the Boykin spaniel.

 

The first Boykin spaniel, or the precursor of today's breed, was reportedly a small, stray spaniel type dog that befriended a banker walking from his home to the First Presbyterian Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina around 1905-1910. Alexander L. White (1860-1942) liked the little dog and took it home. After the dog showed some aptitude for retrieving, White sent the dog called "Dumpy" to his longtime friend and hunting partner Whit Boykin. In Boykin's hands the little stray developed into a superb turkey dog and waterfowl retriever. This dog became the foundation stock for the Boykin spaniel. Other ancestors are reported to be the Chesapeake Bay retriever, springer spaniel, cocker spaniel, and the American water spaniel.

 

Today this little brown retriever can be found on hunts and in homes across America. Stamina in hot weather and eagerness to please make this dog a favorite in the dove fields, but Boykins have retained their spaniel flushing abilities and readily adapt to a variety of upland game hunting including pheasant, quail and grouse. An aptitude for water retrieving combined with their compact size assures these dogs a place in the duck boats and blinds as well. Boykins have often been described as "the dog that doesn't rock the boat." They are even effective in deer driving or in tracking wounded deer. Like many of the sporting breeds, Boykin spaniels make the transition from hunting companion to family pet easily. Boykin spaniels are true dual-purpose hunting dogs.

[Spaniel]

With what i have read so far, it would seem that the Boykin needs to undergo hip and eye scoring like the Labs, but i was thinking what a great all round Working dog.

 

Great for Wildfowling and for Shooting over, but guess if not already over here in the UK, they could prove expensive to inport....

[lurcherboy]

Thanks for that Cracker a great history and it appears to be a bit of what we call a bitza

 

Sounds like it's one of those wonderfull old time dogs that meets all the shooters needs so I hope it doesn't get ruined by your kennel club

 

 

 

 

LB

[cracker]

Sounds like it's one of those wonderfull old time dogs that meets all the shooters needs so I hope it doesn't get ruined by your kennel club

 

Works a bit differently in the States, lurcherboy--the breed clubs hold sway over what standards are affixed to each breed, and the KC only abides by their wishes. Which accounts for the dramatic split in what gundogs look like insofar as working and show fancy. The Labrador Retriever Club in the US has gone to great lengths--all the way to the US Supreme Court in fact--to ward off those in the club who sued to turn the breed working standard into the same as applies to the obese, ungainly, impossible-to-imagine-but-as-non-working specimens that populate (suffocate) the show ring.

 

The UK Working Clumber Spaniel Society has also been fighting the good fight in this regard. Boykin spaniels

haven't had to worry about the fight because their true parent breed club, The Boykin Spaniel Society, http://www.boykinspaniel.org/ , has no KC-affiliation nor ever been desirous of it.

 

 

MG