English Springer Spaniel — temperament, health, history

The English Springer Spaniel is a British gundog: merry, biddable and tireless in the field. This page covers where the breed comes from, what it is like to live with, a few stories worth knowing — and what a springer really needs. Every fact is sourced at the bottom of the page.

Origin

Great Britain

FCI classification

Group 8, Section 2

Height at withers

approx. 51 cm

Life expectancy

around 12 years

History

Why “springer”?

To spring game means to flush it. Springers were the spaniels that found game and flushed it into nets, or for falcons and greyhounds. Today they do the same for the gun — and retrieve it as well.

Around 1800 in Shropshire, puppies from the same litter were sorted by size: the smaller “cockers” went after woodcock, the larger “springers” flushed other game. The Boughey family of Aqualate began the earliest known springer stud book in the early 1810s. From the same period comes the aquatint “Springing Spaniels” (1806), now in the Royal Collection.

The breed in dates

1806

“Springing Spaniels”, aquatint after Philip Reinagle

1810s

The Boughey family stud book at Aqualate

1902

Recognised by The Kennel Club (UK)

1910

First registered with the American Kennel Club

1924

First US springer field trial, Fishers Island

1954

Definitively recognised by the FCI (29 December)

Temperament

Merry, friendly, biddable

The FCI breed standard describes a dog that is “symmetrically built, compact, strong, merry, active” — the highest on the leg and the raciest in build of all British land spaniels.

Temperament: friendly, happy and biddable; timidity or aggression are unacceptable. Temperament is heritable, which is why character comes first when we plan a mating.

Friendly

Happy

Biddable

Hardy

One instinct, many jobs

A springer works by quartering — covering ground in a zigzag close to its handler. The same pattern works in the shooting field, on rubble and at a border crossing.

Military service

Buster and Theo

The only two spaniels ever awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal — the “animals’ Victoria Cross” — were springers. Buster found a weapons cache hidden in a wall in Iraq (2003); Theo found 14 bombs and arms caches in five months in Afghanistan.

Border detection

Detector dogs

UK Border Force lists English Springer Spaniels among its detector dogs, searching for drugs, cash, tobacco and firearms. Handlers value their drive to search and how well they cope with heat.

Search and rescue

Diesel

A springer with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Diesel searched rubble after the Christchurch (2011) and Nepal (2015) earthquakes, and was named IFAW Animal of the Year in 2019.

Did you know?

Guinness record

Millie

“Millie’s Book”, the memoir of President George H.W. Bush’s springer, is the best-selling book by a canine author: 400,000 copies and 29 weeks on the bestseller list.

The White House

Spot

Millie’s daughter Spot was born in the White House on 17 March 1989 — and later returned there as President George W. Bush’s dog.

Westminster

James

A springer called James won Best in Show at Westminster in 2007 (an AKC show) and worked as a therapy dog for people living with Alzheimer’s.

A nose for anything

Maple

Maple, an American springer, worked on searches for missing people and, in “retirement”, detects a disease in honeybees. She received an AKC award in 2025.

Two types

Show and field

Show and working springers are one registered breed but have been bred separately for decades. Working-line dogs are lighter, with a shorter coat.

Popularity

UK top 4

In the UK the springer is the 4th most registered gundog breed. In the US it ranked 27th of 202 breeds (AKC, 2025).

Is a springer right for you?

This is a dog for active people. The Kennel Club is clear about it:

More than 2 hours of exercise a day

Long walks, free running, water. A dog built for fieldwork will not settle after a quick walk round the block.

A job to do

Retrieving, scent work, learning new tasks. A bored gundog will find its own job — not necessarily one you will like.

Grooming more than once a week

The feathered coat on the ears, legs and body needs regular brushing. It is worth checking the ears regularly, especially after a swim.

Colours

The FCI standard accepts four colour variants:

Liver and white

Black and white

Liver and white with tan

Black and white with tan

Any other colour is unacceptable. The coat is close, straight, weather-resistant and never coarse.

Health — and our kennel

UK veterinary data put the springer’s life expectancy at around 12 years, above the average for all dogs (about 11.2 years).

Before breeding, our dogs have hip and elbow X-rays, a heart ultrasound with echocardiography and an eye examination. Ask us for the parents’ results for any planned litter. You can read more about how we plan our litters on the About page.

For us, show ring and working ability go together: our dogs have won titles at the World Dog Show, and Rocky holds a first-class tracking diploma.

Thinking about a springer? Tell us about yourself — we will help you decide whether this is the right breed for you.

Ask about a puppy

About the breed