JUDGING SPRINGER SPANIELS

patterns. They love those ‘cookie cutters’ in North America but sadly, it isn’t helping to make them better dogs, just, in my opinion, more generic. Don’t follow fashion, as colour pattern is always irrelevant to quality. Many Springers come with a lot of small dots on the body sometimes known as ‘ticking’, ‘flecking’ or ‘roaning’. Many are open colored. Julia Gasow, (Salilyn) and Fred Jackson, (Frejax) eliminated ticking from the English Springer in America but still the colour was either liver or black and white with tan markings so it fitted the standard of the country of origin just fine. Once a fellow colleague, a judge from overseas, told me that she hated the “American cowgirl look” - referring to the open marked exhibits of the North American lines. I asked her why there were so many Cowgirls and Cowboys winning so much around the world but not in the States. For decades, Americans were infatuated with breeding clones in terms of markings with many strongly believing that the only correct Springer was black and white, with a white neck and a perfect jacket. I do beg to differ as after judging the breed all over the world, I can safely conclude that I often find type better in livers than blacks and that colour pattern has nothing to do with quality. All variations of these colours are correct and should be rewarded equally. Often American dogs have a purer white colour without many spots and liver dogs have a lighter nose pigment, while in England dogs have more spots and better pigment. This, of course, is a generalization and not always the rule. I have seen a number of spotted Springers in America and when I was judging in England, a dog entered my ring that was painted like an American with no ticking at all.

My personal opinion, given all the many differences between the dogs throughout the world, is that the English Springer to remains one breed. I also believe that breeders should work more together to improve their stock, correct flaws and safeguard the many virtues of this wonderful breed.