History

The breeds of the AKC Sporting Group were all developed to assist hunters of feathered game. These “sporting dogs” (also referred to as gundogs or bird dogs) are subdivided by function—that is, how they hunt. They are spaniels, pointers, setters, retrievers, and the European utility breeds. Of these, spaniels are generally considered the oldest.

The spaniel breeds of England were developed centuries ago from dogs of Spanish stock (the word “spaniel” deriving from “Spanish”). This was long before the invention of reliable hunting rifles, when bird hunters used dogs in tandem with nets, bows, and sometimes falcons.

Early authorities divided the spaniels not by breed but by type: either water spaniels or land spaniels. The land spaniels came to be subdivided by size. The larger types were the “springing spaniel” and the “field spaniel,” and the smaller, which specialized on flushing woodcock, was known as a “cocking spaniel.”

In the 19th century, the rise of dog shows, coupled with Victorian England’s mania for classification, led to designating the various spaniel types as official breeds. Thus, the English Springer Spaniel, Field Spaniel, English Cocker Spaniel, and on through all of today’s British spaniel breeds.

American dog fanciers of the early-20th century developed a companion-bred Cocker. It was smaller, with a more profuse coat, a shorter head, and a more domed skull, than its English cousin. Those who favored the old English hunting dog formed the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America in 1935. And in 1946, the AKC officially recognized the Cocker Spaniel (the U.S. type) and English Cocker Spaniel as separate breeds.