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The modern history of Cocker Spaniels<br />
It all started in 1879, when the dog Obo was born at James<br />
Farrow’s kennels in Britain. Its quality was such that it won all the<br />
British shows it entered in 1880.<br />
A Cocker category was added to shows in 1883, but the Cocker<br />
Spaniel was not officially recognised in the English Kennel Club’s<br />
Stud Book until 1893. The Spaniel Club was founded in England<br />
in 1898.<br />
The first cocking spaniels arrived in the US in the first half of the<br />
nineteenth century. Founded in 1881, the American Spaniel Club<br />
(ASC) set itself the task of establishing the distinction between<br />
springing spaniels and cocking spaniels. The two standards were<br />
published a few months after the club’s founding. The only difference<br />
was the Cocker had to weigh 8-12.5 kg and the Springer<br />
12.5-20 kg.<br />
The American Kennel Club (AKC) started to register Cocker Spaniels and other Spaniels separately in 1907. The breed<br />
was very well received and the population spread across the country very fast in the 1930s. It was actually the most popular<br />
dog for many years. This was a time that saw an evolution in the dog’s morphology. <strong>Breed</strong>ers selected smaller subjects<br />
with long flowing coats and a shorter septum, converging with respect to the cranial line. This was the genesis<br />
of an American Cocker Spaniel, as distinct from the English Cocker.<br />
It led to the founding of the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America in 1935 to promote the original breed<br />
and discourage crossings between the two varieties. In 1945 the AKC finally recognised the American<br />
Cocker and the English Cocker as two separate breeds, as opposed to two varieties. Two years later the<br />
American Cocker alone accounted for 30% of the canine population in the United States.<br />
The non-qualified term Cocker Spaniel is used for the American breed in the US, but in the wider world<br />
when people speak of a Cocker Spaniel they generally mean the English breed.<br />
5<br />
Obo & Miss Obo: M. James Farrow, Ipswich (extract from Les<br />
Races de Chiens, Comte H. de Buylandt (1897), from Journal<br />
Chasse et Pêche)<br />
English Cocker Spaniel - © J.-M. Labat
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