|
Such was the skill of the English cocker spaniel that American
sportsmen who wanted the services of a cock-flushing dog began
to import English cockers during the second half of the 19th
century. In time some of the descendants of those dogs developed
shorter muzzles, rounder heads, longer coats and more prominent
eyes than their English ancestors. These differences eventually
became so pronounced -- and so disquieting to proponents of
the original cocker spaniel -- that there are two breeds of
cockers recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) today:
the cocker spaniel and the English cocker spaniel. The former,
which is the subject of this article, is a perennial all-star
and has been the MPD (most popular dog) in the United States
25 times during this century. The latter is a role player.
England,
for its part, also recognizes two breeds of cocker spaniels:
the cocker spaniel and the American cocker spaniel. If that
isn't confusing enough, read on.
No
Size Fits All
The ancestor
of the various types of hunting spaniels is often said to
have originated in Spain, where it was used to hunt tapas
and other kinds of game. At least one authority, however,
British canine historian Colonel David Hancock, has suggested
that spaniel is derived not from Spain but from the French
verb espanir, which means "to crouch or to flatten"
and which neatly describes the spaniel's hunting posture.
According to Hancock, spaniels originated during the Roman
Empire (27 B.C. - A.D. 476). The old Italian verb spaniare,
meaning "to get out of a trap or net," supports
this theory because spaniels were net dogs before they became
gun dogs.
Prior
to the invention of firearms, spaniels worked in tandem with
hawks and/or sight hounds. The hawk's presence in the sky
encouraged game birds to remain earthbound. Spaniels, meanwhile,
tracked and flushed the birds -- one is tempted to call them
sitting ducks -- which were then set upon by hawks or sight
hounds or by hunters armed with nets.
Following
the introduction of the shotgun, which became the vogue in
the early 17th century, in part because it looked more decorative
hanging over the mantelpiece than nets did, the hawk and the
sight hound were handed their golden parachutes. Spaniels
were now expected to retrieve as well as to roust.
The terms
water spaniel and land spaniel were introduced at that time
to distinguish between dogs that functioned better in one
milieu or the other. Land spaniels were further classified
according to size. The larger spaniels eventually became known
as springers for their habit of springing at game to startle
it from its cover. The cocker spaniel, which was smaller than
the springer and hence more effective in thicker going, was
named in honor of its favorite target, the woodcock.
The cocker
spaniel was accorded breed status by the Kennel Club in England
in 1892. Even so, cautions the AKC's The Complete Dog Book,
"It should be remembered that the Springers and Cockers
... both before and after the date of their official separation
in England, appeared in the same litters. Size alone was the
dividing line between."
That line
was drawn at 25 pounds. Spaniels weighing more than that were
springers. Spaniels weighing less than 25 pounds were cockers.
Father
Figures
Many dog
breeds have their Obo, a male dog who puts his stamp and postmark
on a breed and, quite often, is the dog to whom all modern-day
members of the breed can be traced. In the annals of the English
cocker spaniel that dog's name is Obo. The son of a Sussex
spaniel sire and a field spaniel dam, Obo was whelped in 1879.
American
cocker spaniels have their Obo, too. That dog, Obo II, was
the son of Chloe II, who was imported to this country in 1882
by F.F. Pitcher, a New England breeder, while she was in whelp
to Obo the first. Obo II was a black dog with a curly coat
that was especially so on the shoulders and hindquarters.
His legs, in addition, were heavily feathered. He weighed
23 1/2 pounds and measured 9 1/2 inches from foot to withers.
He is generally credited with being the godfather of both
types of cocker spaniel, English and American, in the United
States. Despite Obo II's patriarchal status, other cocker
spaniels preceded him to this country and into its studbooks.
The National American Kennel Club, which became the AKC in
1884, had registered the first cocker spaniel in 1879.
Cocker
spaniels from England and the United States engaged in a certain
amount of fraternization well into the 1930s. Nevertheless,
the American preference for a smaller dog -- North American
woodcocks are smaller than the European variety -- and for
a more stylized appearance eventually resulted in two types
of cocker spaniels, which came to be known informally as the
American and English varieties. The AKC acknowledged this
difference by creating separate classes for the two varieties
of cockers, but advocates of the English cocker spaniel thought
the latter should be accorded separate breed status as well.
Toward that end they formed the English Cocker Spaniel Club
of America in 1935. Eleven years later they achieved their
goal when the AKC agreed to register English cockers as a
separate breed. (The Kennel Club in England did not make American
cocker spaniels a separate breed until 1968.)
America's
Dog
If the
English cocker spaniel was at a disadvantage against American
cockers in the show ring, it was overwhelmed by its cousins
in the court of public opinion. American dog lovers developed
a serious affection for the homegrown cocker, whose greeting-card
good looks, intelligence, merry disposition and inquisitive
nature endeared it to multitudes. If the breed lost a little
-- or, in truth, most -- of its hunting abilities along the
way, few people were complaining. There was plenty of "game"
in the grocery store, and besides, the majority of people
prefer an outing in the park or backyard to one in the bottomlands.
Equally
at home in house or apartment, cockers found lodging across
America. Indeed, the cocker became America's dog. By 1936
it was the AKC's most-registered breed, and it held that ranking
for 17 consecutive years. A cocker named Ch. My Own Brucie,
who was best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club affair
in 1940 and '41, was later immortalized by an obituary on
the front page of the New York Evening Sun. In 1947
the cocker was so dominant that three out of every 10 new
dogs registered with the AKC that year were cockers. The breed's
78,501 registrations that year was larger than the AKC's total
registrations for all breeds in 1944.
As usually
happens, popularity breeds excess, and the cocker spaniel
suffered for its stardom. So did many unsuspecting buyers
who wound up with mean instead of merry cocker spaniels. Cockers
became infamous for behavioral disorders -- particularly a
constellation of passive-aggressive behaviors that drove them
to crouching and urinating submissively or to screaming and
biting. The term cocker spaniel rage was coined to describe
their behavior.
The AKC,
before caving in to pressure from breeders and recalling the
entire first printing (30,000 issues) of the 19th edition
of The Complete Dog Book, had listed the cocker among
40 breeds deemed "not good" with children. For all
the indignation fired toward the AKC, its opinion is shared
by many observers.
"The
cocker spaniel's reputation for not getting along with children
is well known among those who work with them," reported
the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last
year. In that article the director of Broward County Animal
Control declared, "We don't recommend that families with
children adopt them."
Nor is
this opinion one of recent vintage. Seventeen years ago Roger
Mugford, a British animal psychologist, told the Manchester
Guardian Weekly that cocker spaniels were "all given
to rages" and that "no family with children should
ever have one."
Nevertheless,
one "dog information" site on the World Wide Web
declares without qualification or cautionary note that "the
Cocker Spaniel is an inseparable friend of children, and respectful
of its master's authority without much challenge."
The
Bottom Lines
The cocker
spaniel remains one of America's most popular dogs. Last year
it ranked 13th, with 34,632 new registrations, among the 146
breeds registered by the AKC. The English cocker spaniel,
by comparison, ranked 77, with 1,174 new registrations. American
cockers, therefore, must still be doing a lot of things right,
and it certainly is possible to find a cocker spaniel that
lives up to the breed's reputation as a charming, gentle companion.
Breeders of longstanding, excellent reputation who have a
small number of dogs that are raised underfoot are a good
place to begin looking.
Too
Close for Comfort
In an
article entitled "The Truth About Dogs," which appeared
in the Atlantic Monthly for July, author Stephen Budiansky
reported: "Genetic data confirm that the past century
of dog breeding has produced some extremely inbred animals."
So inbred that the chance of finding two different genes at
any locus on a chromosome in a pedigreed dog is only 22 percent
-- compared to 57 percent in mixed-breed dogs and 71 percent
in members of a human family. This lack of genetic diversity
accounts for the fact that certain inherited diseases cling
to cocker spaniels and other breeds like dog hair on a woolen
sweater. Among the diseases that cling to cockers most frequently
are cherry eye, cataracts, glaucoma, progressive retinal atrophy
and hemophilia.
Cherry
eye occurs when the tear gland beneath a dog's lower eyelid
slips out of place and becomes inflamed. Surgery is sometimes
needed to correct this condition.
Cataracts
are defined as any opacity (imperviousness to rays of light)
in the lens of the eye. Some cataracts remain small and do
not result in any clinical impairment of vision. In other
cases dogs affected by cataracts experience cloudiness of
vision and, ultimately, blindness. Cataracts, which can affect
one or both eyes, can sometimes be corrected by surgery.
Progressive
retinal atrophy (PRA) is a disease in which the retina slowly
deteriorates, producing night blindness in young dogs. As
PRA progresses, its victims become totally blind.
The best
way to minimize the chance of buying a puppy that will later
be affected by one of these inherited eye conditions is by
asking if the parents of any puppy in which you are interested
have been registered with the Canine Eye Registration Foundation
(CERF). Owners can register dogs with this voluntary nonprofit
organization once those dogs have been examined by a certified
veterinary ophthalmologist and have been found to be free
of any phenotypical (visible) evidence of major hereditary
eye diseases. CERF issues a registration number for a disease-free
dog. That number is valid for one year from the date on which
the dog was examined. The American Kennel Club incorporates
CERF numbers on registration papers and certified pedigrees.
Cockers
are also prone to ear infections and seborrhea (greasy, flaky
skin). Their long, silky coats and ears require more than
average attention if they are to remain beautiful throughout
the cocker's life, which can reasonably be expected to last
12 to 15 years.
|
www.dogandkennel.com
