Book Review

The Working Springer Spaniel (Keith Erlandson)

There are any number of training books out there, and probably many of them are literate too, but Erlandson’s is exceptionally so. The book is not a how-to, although it is organized in that way, beginning with picking a puppy and so on. The book reads as though you were lucky enough to spend some time with an experienced and insightful trainer, breeder, and handler who provided you with his thoughts on the working springer.

For the Welsh lover, the book starts off on a high note, with a page 1 musing about the origins of the springer, where the WSS figures prominently:

“There are records of spaniels in Wales in the year AD 900, but I do not believe these dogs figure in the ancestry of the English Springer. They were red and white, and from this source I believe the Welsh springer spaniel derives, as the Welsh springer breeds true to this colouration and no other. The triangular, vine-shaped ears of the Welsh springer bear no resemblance to the wider-bottomed ears of the English springer, but there is a close resemblance to the vine-shaped appendages of the Brittany spaniel, which should also breed true to the red and white, or orange and white colour. [ . . .] I believe some cocker spaniels probably strain back to these early Welsh spaniels, but not the English Springer."

Erlandson’s discussion abut hip and elbow scoring:

“It was put to me many years ago by a doctor, who is himself a springer breeder, that the springer doesn’t have its own scoring system, but is scored exactly the same as other breeds. He felt that here there was a lack of logic, because of the unique movement of a stylish springer. When hunting, the hips swing like a pendulum, putting great strain on the lumbar vertebrae, although slipped discs are most uncommon. At the same time, the dog drives forward from the hocks, so theoretically, a two-way strain is put on the hip joint. My doctor friend said it was only logical that more laxity of the hip joint should be tolerated in the springer than in any other breeds. I have discovered that a score of 2/3 subluxation in the most stylish specimens is commonplace, and carries them into old age. Neither is there any problem with their progeny.”

There are many other interesting observations of this sort throughout regarding these lively little dogs and their training.