Russian Spaniel Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Russian Spaniel is the youngest breed among Russian gun dogs. It is a part of the larger group of spaniel breeds and originates from the English Cocker Spaniels and the English Springer Spaniels. The history of the Russian Spaniel goes back to the end of the 19^th century when a black English Cocker Spaniel was taken to Russia for the Great Knyaz Nikolaevich and was shown at the first dog show of the “Lovers of Purebred Dogs Organization” in 1888 in St. Petersburg. Later, more spaniels of this and other kinds were imported into St. Petersburg and Moscow. Even though some of them were used for hunting, these smaller dogs had smaller use in Russian bird hunting conditions.

However, at the beginning of the 20^th century, people who loved the spaniels started selecting more long-legged and active dogs for the breeding and they were also importing Springer spaniels to mix their blood with that of the existing breed. By the end of the 1930s, there were a huge number of spaniels in Russia but the people could not find the perfect match from any of the known spaniel breeds. These were no longer Cocker Spaniels or Springers but were not yet Russian Spaniels either. Spaniels were getting more and more famous in Russia, as today, they were especially preferred because of their small size, allowing people to keep them in the city and easily transport them to hunt sites, as well as their inborn willingness to retrieve game. However, additionally, the hunting conditions in Russia created new requirements for a gun dog and these factors resulted in the creation of the new spaniel breed, the Russian Spaniel, differing from its ancestors by having a stronger build, stamina, and less decorativeness. Stories have been told about how hard people worked on saving their spaniels during the Second World War, sending them out of the Leningrad blockade across Ladoga lake along with their own children.

The formation of the new Russian Spaniel did not stop after the end of the war, many different types of spaniels were brought into the Soviet Union from abroad again. According to researchers, even Pointers were brought in to improve the spaniels’ speed. At first, the Russian Spaniel stock was different from the present one, as it was mostly a mix of Cocker, Sussex, and Springer Spaniels. Although slowly, with a careful selection of individual dogs with qualities necessary for domestic hunting, the dogs began to look like today’s Russian Spaniel. In the mid-20^th century the first standard of Russian Spaniel, meeting the requirements of the Soviet hunters, was developed and established. The standard of the breed was accepted in 1966 and from 1972 the breed was no longer crossed with other spaniel breeds. Since then, large cynological centers have been working on improving the breed even more, with the selection of specimens and pairing based on the results of the annual shows and field trials considering all positive and negative qualities. As a result of this purposeful breeding, Russian Spaniel is a dog well equipped for the hunt in a marsh, field, woodland, arid-land for bird and waterfowl in conditions of the Russian territories and neighboring countries. The goal of the 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.

Furthermore with all the amazing qualities and with considerably little training led to the increasing of the breed’s popularity. For example, in the Moscow dog shows of the last 20 years, they include around 120-130 Russian Spaniels annually and they usually share the first place. In addition to this even more new cynological centers were created in different parts of Russia. Also, owners of Russian Spaniels were just as loyal to their dogs as they were loyal to them so when some of them immigrated to the United States, their canine friends came along. The AKC and UKC do not recognize the breed and most books don’t even mention it. However, in 2002, a couple of Russian Spaniel owners got together and established the first registration website for the breed in the USA and Canada as well. As more and more people learn about them, more puppies will be imported from Russia and the breed will take its rightful place among the popular breeds.