The Russian Spaniel is the youngest breed among Russian
gun dogs. It is a part of the larger group of spaniel breeds, and originated
mostly from English cocker spaniels and English Springer spaniels.
The history of spaniels in Russia begins at the end of the nineteenth
century, when a black English cocker spaniel, named Dash, was brought
to Russia for the great knyaz Nikolai Nikolaevich, and was shown at
the 1st Dog Show of the Neva Huntclub in 1885, and at the 1st Show
of the "Lovers of Purebred Dogs Organization" in 1888 in St. Petersburg.
Later, more spaniels of this and other breeds were imported into St.
Petersburg and Moscow. Even though some of them were used for hunting,
these rather small stocky dogs had very little use in Russian bird
hunting conditions. At the beginning of the 20th century, lovers of
spaniels started selecting more long-legged and active dogs for breeding.
They were also importing Springer spaniels to mix their blood with
that of the existing "mixed spaniel" breed.
By the end of the 1930s, there existed a large number of spaniels
in Russia not fitting the description of any known spaniel breed, but
with a set of common characteristics. They were mostly located in
Leningrad, Moscow, and some in Sverdlovsk. These were no longer cocker
spaniels or springers, but were not yet Russian spaniels either. Spaniels
were getting more and more popular in Russia. Then, as today, their
popularity was mainly due to their small size, allowing people to
keep them in the city and easily transport to hunt sites, as well
as the ease of training, and their inborn willingness to retrieve game.
However, using an existing breed was very difficult because of a limited
number of dogs of each breed present in the country. Additionally,
the hunting conditions in Russia created new requirements for a gun
dog. These factors resulted in the creation of the new spaniel breed,
the Russian Spaniel, differing from its parent breeds by having a
stronger build, stamina, and less decorativeness. Stories have been told
about how hard people worked on saving their spaniels during
the Great Patriotic War (WWII), sending them out of the Leningrad
blockade across the Ladoga lake along with their own children. The
formation of the new Russian Spaniel continued after the end of the
war, when many different types of spaniels were brought into the Soviet
Union from abroad. It is possible that pointers were also brought in
to improve speed, although this is questionable. Purposeful breeding
work using the saved during the war stock and the imported specimens,
resulted in the breed type that would come to be known as the Russian
Spaniel. The difficulty of work on the new breed began with high variety
of the existing stock. For example, only 14 cocker spaniels, 5 Sussex
spaniels, 4 Field spaniels, and 2 Springer spaniels were displayed
on the Moscow dog show of 1945. At first the Russian Spaniel
stock varied externally and was mostly a mix of cocker, Sussex and
Springer spaniels. Slowly, resulting from careful selection of individual
dogs with qualities necessary for domestic hunting, the dogs began
to look like today's Russian Spaniel. At the 1949 Dog Show, dog expert
V. Dmitrievsky stated, “Most dogs no longer look like the small
pre-war spaniels, and are good specimens for the difficult conditions of
the Russian hunt. They are a separate type of the Russian spaniel different
from the small English cocker spaniel.”
In 1951, the first Standard of Russian Spaniel, meeting the
requirements and inquiries of hunters of the Soviet Union, was developed
and established.
After institution of the “overall show grade” for Russian
Spaniels in 1951, a selection of individual dogs with the best external
and
field qualities began to improve the breed stock. Somewhat modified,
the standard of the breed was accepted into use in 1966. Starting in
1972, the Russian Spaniels were no longer crossbred with other spaniel
breeds. Large kynological centers have been working on improving the
breed. Ever since, the selection of specimens and pairing is done
based on the results of the annual shows and field trials, considering all
positive and negative qualities. Use of only those dogs with proven
hunting abilities allows to avoid the division of the breeding stock
into show and working dogs. As the result, the dogs are both beautiful
and with the hunting instincts. Today, special attention is paid to
stabilizing the height and hair coat heredity, selecting pairs based
on the pedigree, hunting and exterior qualities.
As a result of this purposeful breeding, Russian Spaniel of today
is a dog well equipped for the hunt in a marsh, field, woodland, aridland
for bird and waterfowl in conditions of the Russian territories and
neighboring countries. The goal of a Russian Spaniel during the hunt
is to seek out the bird, flush it up into the air, and after the shot
and on command to retrieve the game. Field trials on blood trails also
proved their usefulness in search of rabbits, some types of hoofed
game, etc. The Russian Spaniel has all the field qualities necessary
for a gun dog: stamina, great sense of smell, energy during the search,
persistence, and inborn willingness to retrieve. These dogs start to
work early in life and do not require a lot of training.
All of the above qualities resulted in the popularity raise of Russian
Spaniels, and consequently, the increase of their numbers. Moscow dog
shows of the last 20 years annually include 120 to 131 Russian Spaniels,
in numbers shown sharing the first place only with the Irish Setters.
In addition to the traditional centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg,
new kynological centers were created in Kirov, Saratov, Tambov, Ryazan,
Cherepovets, demonstrating an even more increasing popularity of the
Russian Spaniels all across Russia.
Owners of Russian Spaniels are as loyal to their dogs as dogs
are loyal to them. So when some of them immigrated to the United States
or Canada, their canine friends came along. Some immigrants, remembering
these wonderful dogs, purchased puppies from Russia and had them flown
in. Many times a Russian Spaniel owners had to answer curious passerby’s
questions about the beautiful dog, walking along at the park or on
the street, since the breed is completely unfamiliar to most Americans
and Canadians. The AKC and UKC do not recognize the breed, and most
books
do not even mention it. Unfortunately, it is unknown how many Russian
Spaniels crossed the ocean, and all of them are scattered throughout
the enormous territories of the United States and Canada.
In 2002, a couple of Russian Spaniel owners got together and
established the first registration website for Russian Spaniels in
the USA and
Canada. As more and more people learn about this wonderful breed,
puppies are being imported from Russia. Owners of older dogs are learning
about and joining the Russian Spaniel Club. Very soon Russian Spaniels
will take their rightful place among popular breeds on the North
American continent.
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