The English Springer Spaniel is a medium-size, fun-loving dog adaptable to city or country life. He has the typical spaniel personality: smart, adoring, and eager to please. These dogs thrive on exercise and training. Springers learn quickly and remember well.

English Springer Spaniels are used for hunting and field trials (competitions of hunting skills), and are also show dogs or family companions. Springers are prized for their eagerness and ability to find and scare up a large variety of game birds as well as rabbits. In the field, they are light, lean, and fast. In the show ring, their coats are longer and their expression may be softer. He is every inch a sporting dog of combined beauty and utility.

Springer Spaniel colors are primarily liver and white or black and white; some have those colors with tan points on eyebrows, cheeks, inside of ears, and under the tail.

Excerpts from the Standard

General Appearance: A neat, compact body and docked tail. Moderately long, glossy coat with feathering on legs, ears, chest, and belly. Carriage is proud and upstanding.

Size, Proportion, and Substance: Height at withers—males, 20 inches; females, 19 inches. Weight—a 20-inch dog should weigh 49 to 55 pounds. Length about equal to height.

Fun Facts

The word Springer in this dog’s name comes from the job he does as a hunter. Originally considered just a spaniel, his larger size made him better able to “spring” game in thickets and underbrush. His shorter siblings hunted woodcocks, and thus Springer Spaniels and Cocker Spaniels began to be bred separately.

Excerpted from The Complete Dog Book For Kids © 1996, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.