It is not possible to have several spaniels seeking dead at one time unless they are all within sight; but there is no fear of tearing the game when the dogs can be seen, as they can be upon a moor, or in open cover, or in fields.
The difference of opinion between sportsmen as to which are the better dogs for retrieving probably arises because of mental reservations of those who express opinions. The advocates of spaniels are probably speaking of a team, and those who sing the praises of retrievers are thinking of one retriever against one spaniel. Except upon the line of a runner, a single retriever is usually much better than a single spaniel on any ground, and although the spaniel is quicker on the actual line of the runner, he usually takes much longer than the retriever to find the fall of the bird or the place to start from. Altogether, the retriever is preferable, unless a team of retrieving spaniels can be worked at the same time, and even then several retrievers will probably be as satisfactory, except that they take up more room in traps and motor cars.
The best spaniel for all-round purposes is the English springer; he is active, stays well, and can retrieve well. The clumber cannot be coupled with him, because he is not supposed to stay, and moreover he is as big as a retriever to get about country, and without being nearly as active. In the New Forest, where shooters are limited to a fixed number of dogs, nobody will look at a clumber; so that for heavy work a change of team, or dog, at lunch-time would probably be needed were clumbers relied upon. No such charge can be brought against either English or Welsh springers, but the cockers are only one remove better than toys, the field black spaniels, and the Sussex breeds.
Irish water spaniels have been mostly kept and altered for show, and the few that the author has seen at work of late years have been extremely moderate performers.
The Breaking of the Spaniel
The spaniel should be broken early. Eight months old is quite late enough to enter on game if good breaking is required, and all hand breaking should precede this entry, and should follow the lines proper both for retrievers and pointers as far as they apply to individual requirements.
If one has to allow dogs to “run in” and chase game, to get up their keenness for hunting, it is a misfortune, and the task of breaking will become all the harder. In a good breed this encouragement will not be required. It is always hard to create opposites simultaneously, and to make a dog both bold and obedient.
The principal requirement in the hunting spaniel is nose, quickness, never going out of gun-shot, instant obedience, and bustling up game in a hurry without chasing it when it is up, dropping to shot, and retrieving dead and wounded game when told. It is a large order, and yet dogs that can do it all often make no more than £15 at auction, and sometimes less.
It is obvious that a well-bred spaniel will start hunting as soon as he is introduced to the smell of game, then his range must be taught either by using a line or by voice and whistle. In thick covert the former is not possible. The principal difficulty is to stop the puppy as soon as he has moved his game. Again, either voice or cord can be made to do the business, but probably a little of both will bring about the required education sooner than either by itself. The system should be to prevent the chase, not to punish for that which is instinctive in the pupil. Consequently, the quick obedience to voice spoken of as necessary for setters and pointers, becomes doubly so for spaniels, and they really ought to tumble over to voice or gun as if the latter had done it. But this instinctive obedience cannot be taught during entry upon game, and consequently until it is perfected the puppy is not fit to enter.
It is much more of a strain on the instinct of the spaniel to stop him when he is bustling up game than it is to stop the setter when game rises or runs away from his point. In one case restraint follows upon restraint, in the other it follows excitement let loose.