I am always intrigued to find out more information on English Springer Spaniels, field bred or show bred. It was to my delight that I stumbled upon the following website; www.birddogfoundation.com! The Bird Dog Foundation Inc, located in Grand Junction, Tennessee is the home to three facilities; the National Bird Dog Museum, the Field Trial Hall of Fame and the Wildlife Heritage Center. Due to the sporting heritage and geographical location, west Tennessee is known as the birthplace of America’s pointing dog field trials and home of the 100 year old National Field Trial Championship. Its proximity to the Mississippi River draws many waterfowl hunters, and is known to bird dog hunters all over the world.

The Bird Dog Foundation mission statement; “Dedicated to preserving the past and protecting the future for sporting dog fanciers the world over.”

The National Bird Dog Museum is home to the art and photos of more than 40 different breeds of bird dogs and memorabilia of the bird dogs and their breeders/ owners/ trainers. History’s most famous bird dogs are represented by notable works of artists and sculptors who have devoted their artistic abilities in the sporting dog world. The early history of the National Field Trials, which started at the Ames Plantation, as well as the history of Grand Junction are displayed. The National Field Trials continue to be held at the Ames Plantation every year just like the previous 100 years.

The Wildlife Heritage Center is an educational center for adults as well as children on upland game birds and waterfowl and the steps needs to protect them for the future.

The Field Trial Hall of Fame is a showcase for the bird dog superstars of the Field Trials and their human counterparts. In the 1930’s there was quite a bit of interest to honor the success of bird dogs and people who devoted their time and service to the sport. In 1953, rules were compiled by William F. Brown and on June 19, 1954 the Field Trial Hall of Fame nominations began. Nominations for outstanding bird dogs are based on their careers and for people dedicated to the field trials. This is where you can visit the website or the facility to see the outstanding Springers who have been selected for their distinguished abilities in the field!

Westminster Kennel Club will hold their 133rd annual dog show at Madison Square Garden Center in NY on February 5 through February 11, 2009. This is the Super Bowl for Dogs!! The dog show has been televised since 1948! USA Network will air part of the first night of the live show of judging of the hound, terrier, non-sporting and herding groups on Monday, February 9, 2009 from 8 to 9 pm Eastern Standard Time and then CNBC will finish airing the rest of the judging from 9 to 11 pm (EST). On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, USA Network will air the second night of judging of the sporting, working and toy groups from 8 to 11 pm (EST) ending with the Best in Show finale!

Every year Westminster invites the top dogs in each breed to compete in the show. The English Springer Spaniels that were invited this year are CH Amilyn Fanfare, Ch Cerise Jesse James (call name Jesse), CH Cerise Signature of Telltale CD RN (call name Dustin), CH Crossroad Crownroyal Miracle (call name Bloomie), and CH Tara’s Master of D” Game. You can see the majority of these amazing Springers in the Volume 10 number 2 issue of The Springer Showcase or at www.springershowcase.com. You can also see some of them at www.essonlinemagazine.com, volume 3 issue 3.

Overall, there are 27 English Springer Spaniels entered to compete for Best of Breed and the winner will later compete in the Sporting Group. Dogs for all over United States are entered to compete and also several dogs from foreign countries. California has the most entries with 265, followed by New York with 235 and Pennsylvania with 180 entries. Canada has the most entries for a foreign country of 74.

I will be faithfully watching and rooting for the English Springer Spaniel that wins Best of Breed to go all the way!!!!! “Go Springers!”

One hot summer day in August, I went to work just like any other day. At the time we did not have central air conditioning but units that you placed in the windows. The air conditioner units were quite old, but they still worked great except the accordion slides that were used to fill out the remainder of the window were no longer usable. So every summer, my husband would use a piece of plywood to keep the area around the air conditioners sealed closed.

When I returned from work, I was shocked to find my second Springer, Spencer, waiting inside the fence. He was very happy to see me! I know that when I left for work, I did not leave him outside. I looked around for my husband’s truck, but it was nowhere in sight. Then my neighbor approached me and said, “Your dog has been outside all day.” Now this was a mystery!

My husband was home soon after I had arrived and I explained the situation to him. He said that he did not leave Spencer out before he went to work, nor did he come home anytime during working hours. When I went inside the fenced yard, I noticed that Spencer had been sick sometime in the day with diarrhea. We all went inside and found that Spencer needed to be outside to use his yard, and worked to remove the plywood from the side of the air conditioner unit and crawl through the window. I do not know if we were lucky and Spencer just happened to use the window that took him to his fenced yard or if he realized that was the window he needed to use!

Every dog has his or her own distinct personality. They do things differently and like different things. My second Springer, Spencer, loved to lie in the dirt. He also loved to lie in my daughter’s sandbox. Spencer first started to dig an oval shaped hole inside his fence. My husband filled the hole several times, but Spencer could dig faster than my husband could fill up the hole and Spencer won this challenge.

Spencer dug the hole only large enough for him to lie down inside the hole. After it was large enough for him to completely hide himself, he stopped digging. If you were in the back yard, you could not see him unless he had his head above his dirt hole. He spent many spring, summer and fall days curled up in his oval shaped dirt hole, just taking in the sun. If he was not in his dirt hole, he was inside the sandbox just enjoying the feel of sand and sun. That dirt hole remained until he passed away and then my husband filled it up and planted grass seed. My third Springer, Eliot, never bothered to dig there or anywhere else inside the fence.

Recently, a friend of mine from California said that if he could be reincarnated, he would want to come back as a dog. “Not just any old dog, but a dog just like yours or mine.” He said. (He and his wife have two champion Newfoundland dogs.) His dogs as well as Eliot are pampered and have every one of their needs attended to! Eliot lays in the air conditioning (usually on the sofa with the tv on for noise) while it is hot and I go out in the heat to make a living and bring him home the bacon!

Just today, Eliot went to visit the groomer and had a bath and haircut! I am the one that drove him there, paid for the fuel and vehicle to get there and then paid the bill. I do not know who said “It’s a dog’s life.” But for my dog and I am sure there are many others, truly it’s a dog’s life! And if I could be reincarnated, I would want to come back as a dog, just like mine!

I think that all Springers, when they are young, are crazy!  They all have crazy things that they love to do, and sometimes it drives their owners crazy too!

The crazy thing that Spencer loved was to run around the living room and use the back of the sofa as a spring board!  I still do not know how he managed not to break anything, thank goodness!  After flying around the living room in circles for several laps, then he would race up and down the hallway!   As he was making the turns in the hallway, he would slip and slide all over the hardwood floor, struggling to get traction and keep up the extreme fast pace!  It always made my daughter and company laugh and this was great encouragement for him!

The crazy thing that Eliot loved was to play with empty milk jugs while he was outside.  He would borrow them out of the recycle bin and while he held the milk jug in his mouth, he would run up and down the sidewalk, scrapping the milk jug on the walkway!    It was like scrapping your fingernails on a chalkboard!  But Eliot thought this was great fun, and at least this crazy activity was outside!   When he was finished the milk jug had all kinds of holes and was flat as a pancake! 

What crazy activities does your Springer engage in?  I am amazed at a Springer’s thoughts for such crazy adventures! 

For the last 70 years Springers have been bred for either the field or the show ring.  A litter of Springers will only produce one specific type of dog, either dogs for show or dogs for the field.  That does not mean that a show dog can not accompany you hunting.  It means that his true identity in the Springer world was for show.  Just like everyone can sing, but not everyone can be a singer! 

To find out your Springer’s true identity, you need to look no further than his AKC registration.  If his parents and grandparents are registered with the title Ch preceding their name, that means they are a Show Champion.  Therefore, your Springer was bred for show! 

If you find the title of AFC, FC, NAFC, NFC preceding his parents and grandparents’ name, then you have a field Springer.  All of these titles are for Field Champions!  Four titles are awarded by the AKC Field Trials.  AFC means Amateur Field Champion.  This title is awarded to a dog whose owner trains and runs his own dog and is not in the business of training field dogs for a living.  FC means Field Champion.  While an amateur can run his own dog for this title, he will be competing with professional trainers.

NAFC and NFC are titles from the National Event that is held once each year.  NAFC means National Amateur Field Champion and NFC means National Field Champion.  To compete in the nationals you must have won a field trial within the last year.  The Nationals only award one Springer the coveted title each year!  

Other titles you may find are CFC (Canadian Field Champion) or NCFC (National Canadian Field Champion) or FTCH (which is the UK’s field champion title).

These working titles follow the dog’s name, CD, CDX, UD, TX, TDX (all of these are obedience titles) and JH (Junior Hunter), SH (Senior Hunter), MH (Master Hunter). 

The last dual champion Springer was a Show Champion and a Field Champion in 1947, as the standards for show Springers and field Springers are constantly spreading in different directions.

I think I created a fresh water connoisseur. I personally, do not like to drink water that has been sitting out for hours. So because of that, I have always given Eliot fresh drinking water in his bowl. Normally, I would give him fresh water in the morning, noon and evening and any time his water bowl is empty.

Just this morning, I got up late and had a million things to do and I forgot to pour out yesterday’s water and give him fresh water. So when Eliot and I came inside from pulling weeds, he looked in his water bowl and then sniffed yesterday’s water and walked away. That was my hint “Hey Mom, fresh water please!” As soon as I replaced the water he ran back to his bowl and proceeded to drink all the water! “Thanks Mom, you read my mind for I was very thirsty!”

I just can’t figure out why the toilet bowl water is so appealing!

My Springer, Eliot was raised with a television left on at all times for his companionship. I hoped that while everyone was away he would hear the voices on television and think someone was around. However, Eliot is very intelligent and he knows the voices of all the family members as well as friends that come to visit. I guess as a dog owner I found comfort in this theory, even though a puppy only needs several days to learn all the voices in the household.

But one day I was quite shocked when a commercial for Meow Mix came on the television and Eliot went racing to sit in front of the television and began singing along with the commercial. It was if while he was alone with the television, he made friends with the Meow Mix’s cats. Eliot continued this sing-a-long for quite some time until the advertisers changed the commercial.

When friends and family members found out about this, they would sing the Meow Mix song to encourage Eliot to sing along. It would not take him long to join in the sing-a-long with them. Of course, this made everyone laugh and being a clown, Eliot would keep singing until he needed a drink! It is so true that dogs aim to please, even for a good laugh!

All Springer owners know the breed is very intelligent. But when Eliot and I play fetch I wonder what he is thinking! First let me tell you that Eliot has a fenced in area that covers our side yard from the front of our house to the back. So it has two gates, and also contains two window wells.

Eliot was trained to fetch the ball and return it to me. While he was young, we played fetch that way for several years. But as he grew older, he invented a new game. A game of fetch where not only does he get exercise, but I get exercise too!

When I throw the ball, he chases the ball and then puts his paw on the ball. He purposely pushes it out one of the gates, and barks as the ball rolls out of his reach. This is where I get my exercise fetching the ball. He also likes to drop the ball in one of the window wells and then barks for me to fetch the ball. Eliot thinks this is great fun and loves if I play fetch too! The old way is just too boring!