“THERE’S A LOT OF HEART TO THESE DOGS. THEY’RE GREAT… THE ABILITY OF THESE LITTLE SPANIELS AS HUNTING DOGS IS VERY UNDERRATED.”
Martin Deeley,
Professional Trainer
Sweet and lovable with deep, soulful eyes, Cocker Spaniels have become the favorite lap dog of many dog owners. But if you trace the Cocker’s heritage, you’ll find that this treasured breed began as a hunting dog of small game. Today, in many areas of the country, the Cocker Spaniel is making a comeback as a bird dog. Owners and breeders team with trainers to hone their dogs’ natural instincts and see if they can still do what they were originally bred to do.
Cocker Spaniel breeder Bobbie Kolehouse recalls a recent WEEKEND when she and her dog, Crystal, took part in an AKC hunt test. Crystal had earned her Junior Hunter title and was moved up to compete in the Senior Hunter level. “The grass was as tall as me,” Kolehouse says. “It was 95 degrees that day, and I watched more experienced dogs and handlers not pass. I sent her out into the field to my side. She was quartering, as she worked the field in a windshield-wiper pattern back and forth, hunting. Suddenly she flushed the first rooster pheasant. We waited, and then she started coming back. The pheasant’s wings covered her face, but she dropped the bird in my hand. I thought she’d be tired, but her eyes glistened excitedly, ready to go again.
Later, there was the test at the water. “In the Senior Hunt test, Crystal had to be steady at the water, that is, sit until given the command to fetch. Though I’d lose points for talking to her, I needed to reinforce the sit and concentrated on it so much that when the judge tapped my shoulder to send her, I couldn’t remember the command. Then I did, and sent her on the ‘fetch.’ She plunged into the water, got the bird and swam back, but the footing was not good and she needed to hoist the bird and herself up out of water without help. “With her front feet” on the makeshift pallet landing, and the bird in her mouth, she grunted to get out, but wasn’t making it. I knew if I coddled her, she’d melt and quit, so I backed up, tapped my leg and told her briskly, ‘let’s go.’ And with one final grunt and heave, she came up out of the water and trotted to me with her pheasant. I gave it back to her, and she carried it up to the waiting group at the top of the hill.”
This capably, birdy spaniel had passed the first leg of the Senior Hunt test. Bred from serious show lines, Crystal boasts champion offspring, including a parti-bitch that ranked No. 1 on the 2003 show circuit through July though she retired in March. “The genes are still there,” says Ray Cacchio, a hunting dog trainer who worked with Kolehouse. “The Cocker Spaniel hasn’t lost the desire to find the bird and bring it back. I recently worked with 18 American Cockers in three days — and they all had the instinct. I can’t say that about any other breed I’ve worked with.”
In an interesting twist of fate, Cacchio’s interest in the sporting abilities of Cocker Spaniels brings the breed full circle since it was his grandfather’s dog, CH My Own Brucie, who won two Westminster Kennel Club Dog Shows and turned Cocker Spaniels into a household name.
The Early Cocker Spaniels
Spaniels (or “Spanyells”) were first written about in 1368. Spaniels originally were divided into land and water types and later by size. Cocker Spaniels — most likely named for their ability to hunt woodcock, a small game bird — were the smallest. In fact, in the early days, Springer Spaniels and field Spaniels were born in the same litter as the ancestors of today’s Cocker Spaniels. The difference was merely size, with the top weight limit of 28 pounds dividing the Cocker Spaniel and the field Spaniel.
Sporting gentlemen often linked these smaller dogs with their more deliberate speed. “Remember, not all hunters had guns in those days. The flushing spaniels would flush the birds, and then the hunter might just throw a net over them,” explains prominent Cocker Spaniel breeder and judge Beth Speich, chair of the education committee for the American Spaniel Club.
The breed has changed in many ways since those early days. One thing has remained constant, however: that soft, sweet spaniel expression. “You look at pictures of the dogs from the 1800s, and they have those eyes. They have the soulful expression. You look in their eyes and get lost,” says breeder-judge Wilma Parker, curator of the American Spaniel Club.
Hunters will tell you that there’s a reason for that expression. “That soft look that breaks you to tears, that’s what you want,” Cacchio says. He explains that soft look and dark eyes reflect a biddable dog that will work his heart out for you — the mark of a hunting spaniel.
Cocker Spaniels were among the very first breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club when it was formed. In 1946, the AKC divided Cocker Spaniels and English Cocker Spaniels into two separate breeds, since they were two distinct types of dogs. The Cockers favored by American breeders had a rounder head and shorter body than the English type.
The American Spaniel Club was formed in 1881 and is the AKC parent club for the Cocker Spaniel. Its Web site, at www.asc-cockerspaniel.org, includes pictures of early Cocker Spaniels that formed the foundation for the breed.
A Two-Time Westminster Winner
Until the 1940s, Cocker Spaniels were known as reliable gun dogs and were also early favorites as show dogs. Cacchio’s grandfather’s dog, CH My Own Brucie, changed the history of the breed. During the first half-century of American dog shows, European dogs dominated the American dog show scene. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show had for many years awarded Best American Bred in Show, as well as Best in Show, to encourage top-quality dog breeding on this side of the Atlantic.
In 1939, Brucie got the nod as Best American Bred in Show. In 1940 and 1941, the little black dog captured Best in Show — and the hearts of the American public. Breeder-owner-handler Herman Mellenthin was a giant of a man, making little Brucie seem all the more like the plucky little dog that he was. When Brucie won in 1940, writer William F. Stifel wrote in “The Dog Show: 125 Years of Westminster,” “[Best in Show judge] Dr. Samuel Milbank said, ‘He was in the most beautiful bloom. He showed magnificently every minute and moved more soundly than I ever had seen him move before. He’s a real champion.’ Asked to name his second choice, Dr. Milbank smiled and said, ‘You can’t have a second king.’”
Brucie’s second Westminster win was even more magnificent. “As the house lights dimmed and the ring spots came up, the team made their entrance [into the Best in Show ring],” writes Kerrin Winter-Churchill in “The Great Ones” in the February/ March 2003 issue of Dogs in Review. “In a masterful display of his stylish skill, Mellenthin had removed the show lead and the merry Cocker did the job on his own. Never missing a beat or a turn, the little dog held his head high, wagging his tail while gaiting effortlessly by his giant’s side.”
In the wake of Brucie’s spectacular wins, Cocker Spaniel popularity soared, catapulting the breed to the most popular dog in America. When Brucie died, The New York Times carried his obituary. Sixty years later, Cockers are perennially among the most popular dogs in the country.
A Versatile Breed
The changes in the breed over the years are easy to see in the three Cocker Spaniels that have won Best in Show at Westminster. The 1921 winner, CH Midkiff Seductive, was a utilitarian-looking little dog, with a much heavier body and shorter legs than today’s dogs.
Pictures of Brucie prove he was a gorgeous dog with a shimmering coat, although his hair was far shorter and much less profuse than today’s dogs. He had a longer muzzle and a less rounded head than a modern Cocker Spaniel.
When CH Carmor’s Rise and Shine took the honors in 1954, the transformation to the modern Cocker was basically complete. He was a pretty, buff-colored dog with a rounder head, longer ears and significantly more profuse coat than his predecessors.
Cocker Spaniels are shown in separate varieties by coat color: black, any solid color other than black (ASOB) and parti-color. Well-bred Cockers are healthy, hearty, adaptable examples of the breed with excellent temperaments. “They’re an excellent family pet,” says Speich, who chairs the standard committee for the American Spaniel Club. “First and foremost, they should be merry. They adapt to the individual owner. They like to curl up and sleep with you, but also like a nice walk every day and to play in a fenced-in yard. They love to play ball or Frisbee. They love stuffed toys. If you come home after being gone 10 minutes, they treat you like you’ve been gone for days.”
When CH My Own Brucie won Westminster, most Cocker enthusiasts forgot about the breed’s hunting background and concentrated on its abilities as a pet and a show dog. Ironically, Brucie’s breeder, Herman Mellenthin, was a hunting enthusiast. He bred the first Cocker dual champion (hunting and show), My Own High Time. Gun dog trainer Ray Cacchio, grandson of Herman Mellenthin, remembers hunting with a Brucie son when he was a boy.
Today, in all breeds, there is an increased interest in giving dogs a chance to do what they were bred to do. While the profuse show coat gets in the way of their work in the field, other attributes that show breeders have maintained stands the breed in good stead, including conformation that emphasizes good movement and stamina.
Cacchio, who has handled Springer Spaniels to national field champion titles twice, is finding it fun to introduce Cocker owners to the field with their merry little dogs. He and fellow field trainer Martin Deeley will be holding a seminar at the American Spaniel Club National Specialty this summer. “There’s a lot of heart to these dogs. They’re great,” Deeley says. “You can put your dog under your arm, set him down in a field of heavy cover, hunt with him as your partner, and then take him home and have a wonderful little companion. The ability of these little spaniels as hunting dogs is very underrated.”
Used with permission from the Purina Pro Club Cocker Spaniel Update, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.
