Description of the Clumber Spaniel
Once a Clumber owner always a Clumber owner! Few breeds return the same amount of loyalty a Clumber gives an affectionate master. His jingle bell personality and perceptive intelligence make him a much loved member of the family.
The Clumber thrives on attention. Most Clumbers love to fetch so they are not really difficult to exercise or keep amused. They also like to carry things in their mouths, often picking something off the floor to greet you with. Many Clumbers will wag their whole back ends while bending their long bodies so that the head almost touches the rear - all the while dancing a little jig. It is quite unique and captivating.
He is an excellent dog with children. Ball playing and children just naturally go together. He is usually very protective of the children in the family and especially likes babies. Clumber females are usually devoted mothers to their own puppies.
The Clumber Spaniel does not respond to harsh or insincere treatment. He simply refuses to budge, causing some people to think he is dumb. On the contrary, he is intelligent enough to let you know he will not tolerate abuse. He needs a kind, but firm hand.
Some Clumbers run to meet everyone who comes into the house, but many are aloof with strangers, not shy, but reserved and dignified. They are good watch dogs when danger is present, but generally do not bark at everything.
Much information in the all-breed books depicts the Clumber as a slow moving dog. C. Bede Maxwell, in her book, "The Truth About Sporting Dogs", devotes much of her chapter on Clumbers to denouncing this notion. Certainly Clumbers are in no way slow, lazy, or awkward!
The Clumber's personality can be summed up in this quote from "That's a Good Dog" by Brian Ghent published in London in 1953. "A Clumber Spaniel puppy looks like a happy little bear and a full grown Clumber is a great bustling creature that reminds me of an Irish washerwoman with the same tenderness of heart and loyalty of spirit. Mr. Ghent concludes, "The chief charm of a Clumber is that he looks and goes about his job as though nature had intended him for it, a solid and sturdy worker who simply loves a day in the fields. He will carry things around as soon as he is old enough for his pudgy little legs to stagger him about and goes on doing it until the evening of his days, duck, fur, feather, anything that comes."
People continue to be intrigued with this "big-little" dog with the aristocratic air.
Reprinted with permission from The Clumber Spaniel Club of America
The History of the Clumber Spaniel
Of all the modern breeds of land spaniels, there is none possessing such complete individuality or showing such a distinct type as the Clumber. While the Sussex, Cocker, and Field Spaniels have so many points of resemblance that the most superficial observer cannot help coming to the conclusion that they have, at no very remote date, all evolved from one common parent stock, the Clumber is as distinct from the other spaniels as is possible for a dog of a somewhat similar build and proportions to be.
Though his distinctive appearance and trueness to type are undeniable evidence of the antiquity of the breed in a pure form, its authentic origin is apparently hopeless to trace, and must remain shrouded in mystery. The aristocratic and high-bred air of the Clumber Spaniel, surpassed by that of no other breed of dog and only equaled perhaps by that of the Bloodhound, proves sufficiently his ancient and noble descent from a strain long established and carefully kept pure from any outside taint of plebeian blood for many generations. Yet the parent stock from which he has sprung seems to have utterly vanished as completely as if it had never existed, and the historian of the breed can go no further back than the last half of the 18th century.
The most accepted theory of the origin of the Clumber is that in about 1768 some spaniels were presented by the Duc de Noailles, who presumably brought them from his estate in France, to the Second Duke of Newcastle. The Duke evidently held these spaniels in high esteem and established a kennel of them at his estate at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire, and from this place the name of the breed is derived. Whether these dogs were the private strain of the Duc du Noailles is impossible to say, but it seems probable in view of the subsequent history of the Clumber. As all of the known specimens of the present dog have apparently derived their descent from those few dogs which came into the possession of the Lord of Clumber, and there is no independent and coexistent strain of them to be found in France or elsewhere on the continent, it almost looks as if the Duc du Noailles had given his whole kennel to his friend in England.
Another likely theory is that the Clumber is essentially a British breed, made in England. Some historians feel that the Clumber resulted in a cross between the Alpine Spaniel and the Basset, or perhaps the Saint Bernard. Still another theory is the belief that the Clumber was bred from the old Blenheim Spaniel, which was a very different dog from the present Blenheim. Mr. James Farrow, the well known Clumber expert, is also of this opinion, and in his book, The Clumber Spaniel, published in 1912, made the following observation: We are able to avail ourselves of the help of several French spaniel experts, no trace of their origin could be discovered in that country (meaning France) where, indeed the Clumber seems to be generally looked upon as a purely English breed. The British Museum's carefully written paper by "Farrett" on the breed says, How the Clumber came into being I have failed to discover. At any rate, the way in which the characteristics of the breed have been preserved for over two centuries is very remarkable and points to their having been bred with the very greatest care, and thoroughly established for many generations.
In the hall at Clumber Park hangs a picture painted in 1788 by Francis Wheatly entitled, "The Return from Shooting", in which are portrayed the Duke of Newcastle seated on his shooting pony and four Clumber Spaniels. The spaniels in this picture vary little from the present day type which proves to a very great extent the purity of blood and persistency of type of our present day Clumber Spaniels.
For many years the breed was confined to the kennels of a few noblemen residing in the neighborhood of Clumber. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that Clumbers got into outside hands. The popularity of the Clumbers around the beginning of the twentieth century was due in a very large measure to the excellent record of the breed at field trials. During World War I breeding operations were virtually halted, as with most breeds, and as a result numbers declined to a very low level. It was up to the breeders of that period to rebuild the breed from existing stock which remained.
In 1925 the late King George V reestablished the Sandringham Clumbers which were of inestimable value to the breed. The Royal Kennel produced a wonderful team of working dogs of excellent type and quality which also distinguished themselves in the show ring. The King rated his working dogs very highly and they were used as a team for beating in the vast rhododendrons which abound on the Sandringham Estate.
Again with World War II came a virtual cessation of breeding. After the war many of the most prominent kennels in England came into existence; prefixes such as Snowholme, Cuerden, Mason, Anchorfield and a little later Fatpastures, Oldholbans, Alansmere, Sefton and Raycroft. Firm evidence indicates that the Clumber was brought to this continent as early as 1844 by a Lt. Venables of a British regiment, who was stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and who introduced them to his fellow officers. Clumbers flourished in the Ottawa district of Canada. The Clumber Spaniel is one of the oldest breeds in America, and even though it was one of the first ten breeds recognized by the AKC when the organization was formed in 1884, the Clumber has only started to come into its own during the past decade.
The early America history of the Clumber was somewhat erratic. Their appearance at shows was sporadic until 1903 when two new exhibitors to the breed created a revival of interest, but competition was still somewhat scattered. From 1876 to 1931, nineteen Clumbers attained the title of champion. 1935 to 1942 saw 26 more finish with the Squirrel Run kennel name on most of them. In the next 25 years, only four Clumbers got a Ch. in front of their name, but 1968 began a great revival of interest in the Clumber Spaniel at dogs shows. By 1995 there are over 1,500 Clumbers registered with the AKC and well over 500 of them have either a Championship title before their name or Obedience, Tracking, and Hunting titles after their name. Clumbers are no longer the laughing stock of the Sporting Group. True, they are the clowns of the group with their temperament and antics. Much of this upsurge in popularity is due to the attitude of the judges. They are seeing sounder, showier, cleaner, and better groomed dogs that are able to compete with the other dogs in the group. The nicknames, Clumsy, Clunker, and Cucumber Spaniel no longer fit this breed.
Reprinted with permission of the Clumber Spaniel Club of America