History Clumber Spaniel Breed Hunter Dog

The Clumber Spaniel purpose of this Illustrated Standard is to help breeders, judges and fanciers understand and interpret the written standard for the ideal Clumber Spaniel. The standard is a written guideline to describe those characteristics of type that distinguish Clumber Spaniels from other spaniels. Many years of study, observation and experience are required to properly evaluate type and soundness in the show ring, in the field, in the whelping box, and in the home environment.It is the responsibility of the judge and breeder to interpret the standard as objectively as possible, realizing that the individual relies on his personal experiences and preferences.

This illustrated standard is intended to assist the enthusiast in formulating his opinion and proper mental picture
as it applies to the ideal dog by offering this objective explanation of the Clumber Spaniel.

Clumber Spaniel

History Clumber Spaniel Breed

The history of the Clumber Spaniel breed has been marked with colorful tales of Dukes, escapes across the English Channel from the French Revolution and fanciful crossbreeding. However, there is no factual basis for the previously most prevalent story and only speculation about the true origin of the breed.We do hope that in the near future DNA analysis will determine from what canine combinations this wonderful breed has evolved.

It is the current thinking that the gamekeepers who actually cared for, dealt with and hunted with the dogs in the latter part of the 18th and first half of the 19th century combined dogs whose functions fit their needs and demands. It is a most interesting and mentally rewarding exercise for fanciers to think about which characteristics of what breeds would have produced a Clumber, such as Basset Hounds and some form of
Alpine Spaniel.

Clumber Spaniel Hunter Dog

It is true that the name Clumber derives from the Duke of Newcastle's 3,800 acre estate Clumber Park in
Nottinghamshire, England. (The name Clumber itself probably derives from the ancient name,Clun,of a local river.) It is known that a number of titled families and landed gentry living in that area, known as The Dukeries, hunted with these sporting spaniels. Certainly, there are records of Clumber breedings
among the dogs on these neighboring estates. It has been theorized that the Duke of Newcastle's long time gamekeeper, William Mansell,was himself responsible for the development of this unique breed. It is known that he and his descendants worked in that area for a long time with a significant number of hunting spaniels.

Many examples of vintage paintings depict Clumbers in hunting situations. It is especially interesting to note that many of these dogs closely resemble today's dogs, with sometimes a little less bone and smaller heads. The colors evident in almost all old pictorial records are white and orange, even though early standards and actual written descriptions mention a preference for the color lemon.

Clumber Spaniels

Clumbers are thought to have arrived in North America in 1848, first in Canada, but there were enough in the United States by 1883 to be one of the first nine breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. Clumber Spaniels were shown and hunted over quite often in the latter part of the 19th century in England, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that a significant number were shown here. In recent years the breed’s popularity is the highest it has ever been both in the show ring, in the field and at home and rightly so.

The Clumber Spaniel Breeders developed prior to the French Revolution (1789) on the estate of a French nobleman, the Duc de Noialles . During the Revolution these dogs were taken to the Clumber Park Estate of the English Duke of Newcastle, who was a fancier of the breed and a friend of the Duc de Noialles . It was from the kennels on the English estate that the breed became popular. The breed bears its present name to
honor their English Clumber Park home.

This is the largest of the spaniels and their size is a definite nutritional factor when compared to other breeds. Most of their body weight is due to muscle fiber, which is heavier than fat on a square inch basis. Due to this feature they can store more protein for energy use than many retrievers that need high carbohydrate diets to fuel quick energy bursts for use during a hunt.

Clumber Spaniel Recommend foodsFor the Clumber Spaniel I recommend foods with a blend of poultry, lamb, potato, wheat, and yellow corn. However, I feel you should avoid feeding a food containing white rice, fish, beef, or horse meat byproducts
to this breed. Native food supplies for this breed would have been poultry of the game variety (chukker, quail etc.) and meats such as venison and mutton. The vegetables of their native environment would have been potatoes and cabbage and the grains would have been flax, wheat and corn.

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