About
Every website has a story, and this one is no different. The idea for setting up the site started with some niggling worries about the vulnerability of this section of this most popular of breeds. The English Springer Spaniel that we all know and love is certainly a favourite breed for many families in the UK and has been for as long as we can all remember.
English Springer Spaniels were recognised as a pure bred dog in 1902 by the UK Kennel Club but by the 1930s it became apparent there were two distinct strains of English Springers being bred. The working fraternity wanted a lighter-boned, smaller and quicker spaniel. The show breeders stuck more rigidly to the Kennel Club breed standard and their interpretation of the appearance and conformation it described.
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English Springers have featured on the UK Kennel Club's list of the top ten most popular dog breeds for many years, probably due to their ongoing desirability as a versatile, active and appealing family dog. See below the table showing the top ten most popular breeds, in terms of Kennel Club puppy registrations, in the UK in 2024.
Unfortunately, all is not as positive as it might seem. Currently, only around 2% of the total English Springer Spaniel puppy registrations are of show type with the vast majority being made up of working and mixed pet-bred dogs. The figures also suggest a definite downward trend with only two show-bred litters registered in the first quarter of 2025.
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The following table shows the puppy registrations of English Springer puppies in the five year period from 2020 to 2024. The total number of puppies is 37,923 of which just 797 are of show type, making just 2.1% of the overall number.
There is little doubt that if the show-bred English Springer was a separate breed, it would find itself in the Kennel Club's vulnerable native breeds category, considered to be at risk due to declining registration numbers. As a comparison, the following table details the registrations of show-bred English Springers alongside three other vulnerable Gundog breeds, namely English Setters, Welsh Springer Spaniels and Clumber Spaniels.
These figures look bleak to say the least although the overall number of puppies continuing to be registered suggests that the appeal of the breed hasn't diminished but rather that the public either do not fully appreciate the pros and cons of the two different types within the breed or alternatively are simply unable to locate a show-bred puppy. Puppy selling sites in the UK are totally dominated by working and pet litters and there is very limited information anywhere that clearly details the differences between the two types for the benefit of puppy buyers.
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So what can we do about it? How can we change the fortunes of this seemingly vulnerable section of the breed before it is too late? We hope this website will help to not only raise the profile of the show-bred English Springer by celebrating its beauty and versatility but will also provide an educational resource for those looking for a puppy to join their family. It is, of course, our intention to find other solutions along the way to help turn things around and we will be writing about these in due course.