Clumber Spaniels

Steve7046

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Im interested to here people experiences with Clumbers. I'm relatively new to stalking and want to have a dog hat can come with me stalking, but also maybe beating and rough shoting. Love the look of Clumbers but wondered what SD members who have experience of hem think.
cheers
steve
 
From what i have seen, why ?
Just get a springer if you want a spaniel, if not get a lab.

Slooooowwww is the word, and thats from a good friend who's wife has one.
 
If you get the right line they will work but, as nick100 said get a Springer they do the job better and cost a third of the price of a Clumber.

Jimbo
 
I have seen them pick up the scent of a lost fallow and locate it in the thickest patch of bramble and Devon wood, just like bulldozers.
Cheers
​Richard
 
I hav seen them Beeing sent for shot birds and watch them run off and bury it... And that was on a field trial...!!!
yep greatest breed ever especially for the entertainment value... But apparently there are few good lines showing through
 
Sorry but i beg to differ with you all.

My clumber is 6 months old and is far from anything slow, everyone has commented on how energetic she is for a clumber, however in the house she has her mad moments but will just lie over my feet and go to sleep most of the time even when i move i tend not to wake her up, but when we go out and i show her her dummy she is a different dog.

She picks up everything extremly quickly, and does i ask everytime without fail and will do anything for me, anyone else has a cat in hells chance though.

For me, you can keep your labs/springers/sprockers/cockers/labs x springers etc, ill keep my clumber thanks.

With reference to bury things, yes she likes to dig but has not buried anything once and never runs off with her dummy or toys.

So if you are thinking about getting one, well its not for me to stay but i would.
 
I have no experience with clumbers so i wil not write them off, and fair play to u for taking 1 on, but u do say energetic for a clumber! I think i'm fit for a fat bloke doesnae actually make me fit thou;):D

But if it is ur first dog make ur life a bit easier and get a more common breed, lines will be better(less show more working), pups cheaper and far more people will have experience of them so can give u pointers and help with training.

If u still really want a clumber 6 years down the line go for it, u will find it far easier to train 1 once u have a bit off experience and have a few contacts to help u train if u hit a problem.

Rare working breeds are rare for a reason and that reason is they geneally aren't as good as other breeds. Bottom line. My mate has just trained a Irish water poodle sorry spaniel :D to quite a decent level, but if u seen the work and effort he put in to get the dog to that level, really take my hat off to him, but a decent lab or spaniel would have got to same level in half the time without all the :banghead: Why make ur life more difficult esp so if a first dog
The popular working breeds are popular for a very good reason
 
Why be mainstream and get a typical gundog? Why not do something out of the ordinary?

And yes she is she'll keep up with springers labs etc of her own age and gives a fully grown springer a run for her money for her age!

Back in the day a clumber was a very thought of gundog if you do a bit of research in to them.

She is my first gundog however I have experience in training dogs alongside my dad - sniffer dogs.

And why not step up to the challenge it will be far more rewarding.

And I'd put money on a clumber finding a bird a lab or a springer misses!
 
I hav seen them Beeing sent for shot birds and watch them run off and bury it... And that was on a field trial...!!!
yep greatest breed ever especially for the entertainment value... But apparently there are few good lines showing through

Hej Rich, They really do have their entertainment value. Not forgetting the slobber and dog hair everywhere. Not had a clumber in the house for over a year and I'm still hovering up bloody clumber hair.
 
Guys,

Thanks for replies , it's interesting to hear your thoughts. I have had a number of dogs in the past but only ever one working dog who was a springer. He used to work with me in the early 90's when my chosen sport was falconry.
i had read all the info regarding Clumbers and their speed, habit of burying things, the hair and slobber ( as a kid w had a Newfoundland) so I know what that's like. I've also read many accounts of them having excellent noses, and really that's what sparked my interest. Because of this nose and the apparent not as fast / keen as the other spaniels, would this not make them an ideal dog for the more recreational stalker who wanted something other than an out and out specialist deer dog.
Just my thoughts on them that's all, and thanks again for sharing your experiences.
Pezz69, I will watch how you get on with yours when you post on here, I think with the work they may be a good bet for a stalker who wants a dog for deer and the occasional rough shoot or picking up.
 
Sorry pezz not wanting to slag u or ur dog or breed off, i'm sure it is a cracker

I love seeing different dogs work and hunt so not anti unusual dogs/breeds but just a realist, I have 4 dogs off 3 breeds so not blinkered in thinking 1 breed is far superior to others, all have there pro's and con's, it's just picking a breed which suits ur job best, when u start picking a dog because it looks nice and not for its working ability might as well turn round and p**s into the wind
Picking a dog is just like backing a horse u do ur homework and try to stack odds in ur favour but when u start picking dogs on looks u are potentially making ur life harder

But i do think u are living in cloud cockoo land if u think ur dog could genuinely keep up with a springer all day or that there is anything like the proven working lines available, i will also mention price althou i usually don't think it is an issue to get the 'right dog/breeding' but thoose pups go for silly money

If u go back pre duke of Buccluech/victorian type era, Flatties and Goldens where almost the only retrieving dogs used back in victorian times, introduced the lab (which strictly speaking is a fishermans dog not a gundog) seen it is a far more trainable and verastile dog, which quite simply was better at the job than the fletties/goldens, and hey presto now most common dog in uk pet and working.
Now very little geniune working blood and far too much show blood in the 2 once great breeds, althou i have been lucky enough to work my dogs alongside a few goldies that often qualify for the IGL champs and do fairly well against the labs, althou they are the exception for the breed. Also very small working gene pools so hard to keep dogs unrelated

U could probably say the same with the uk pointer/setter breeds which are now fairly uncommon even on grouse moors while the contential HPR's are more and more common and the best thing ever. Yet u go to much of europe/esp southern europe and they love the uk pointer/setter breeds which far outnumber there own native hpr breeds. There lines even retrieve while most uk won't. Hard to figure? And no doubt fashion, PR and hype does come into it

My advice would be to contact the working clumber society/breed club see some in action in the flesh, see if u like them, speak to a few breeders in person and get the craic, BUT u will be gettin a blinkered sugar coated view off them. So just take a step back and make ur own mind up
 
I like the look of the Clumber so can see the attraction.
My only experience of Clumbers was when I was on the path down to a range I used to use.
There was a wide ditch between the path and the garden of a large house where Clumbie lived.
He used to leap into the water and come out to say hello covered in mud and floating weed and then go back again.
I suppose any spaniel would do the same but Clumbers are that bit bigger.
 
And I'd put money on a clumber finding a bird a lab or a springer misses!


pezz69 you are living in cloud cuckoo land with your above statement i have been on shoots beating and picking up for 57 years and seen every working dog in action. The best all round dog by far is the Springer Spaniel this is fact. I have had Lab's. Retriever's but nowadays always use Springer's. Countryboy is 100% in his scrips. Fine you like Clumber's you may have an exceptional one but most of the ones i have seen are only good for pets, as for your statement that a Clumber is faster than a Springer tells me you have not been on a shoot where there has been a Springer to challenge your Clumber. Your statement that a Clumber would find birds that Labs missed maybe and it is a maybe but they would never eyewipe a Springer as all the Clumber's i have seen on shoot's not one would go into dense briar cover to retrieve runner's.

Jimbo
 
If you actually read what I have said as you all have missed what I have said. I haven't for a minute said she will keep up with a fully grown springer at all because she won't.

She keeps up with a springer for her own age, 6 months of age and gives a springer a run for her money in relationto size. Meaning that she doesn't keep up with her but isn't that much behind her.

Is it a fact though? They may be for you but I having my clumber for four months and having many sprinters with my dads job, I would have a clumber over any other dog.

I prefer them to any other of the working dogs.

No disrespect but I find it hard to believe as my 6 month old puppy just dives in to bramble bushes etc etc.

And if you actually read my above comments you'd probably realise due to her age she hasn't been on a shoot yet.

I would not have another breed of dog for me apart from a bully as a pet. And she my clumber is first and foremost a pet.

And as for price what do you expect they are a rare breed therefore you are going to pay more for a clumber than a lab. We didn't pay silly money and her site is a FTw. When I have her pedigree to hand I shall post his name.

​Nathan
 
Jim's got a few years experience on me working dogs, but i do get out and about a far bit with mine working them on shoots, i have seen all sorts of breeds and half breeds on shoots some good some not so good.
My dogs have found birds missed by FTCH of various breeds numerous times as they have done the same to my dogs many times and i've seen some truely s//t dogs (in my opinion) find game that mine and other dogs have missed. There is a fair bit of luck involved dependng on scenting conditions as well as various other things, but some dogs are luckier than most. I once seen a yapppy litle terrier literally break free from its lead to retrieve (well sort off) a well maked grouse behind the butts, there must off been 20+ dogs off all breeds over the area trying to find that grouse inc a few with ftw/or red letters. Was almost perfect until it bagan to shake it as only a terrier can :) :doh: that doesn't make the terrier a better dog or breed. Work ur dogs long enough on shoots u will lose birds get 'eyewiped' and 'eyewipe' others, just got to hope u and ur dogs do more off the wiping in the long term


I will say ur choice dog breed is a very personal thing and its good that everyone has different opinions, be very boring if all the same breeds out in the field, and quite often the opinions are very strong

My biggest critism would be just be honest the op is asking advice that is going to influence possibly the next 10+years of his life.
U have a 6 month old pup which is ur first gundog, things are going great but far far too early to really say how it will turn out, how can u prefer 1 breed of working dog to another when u have only worked 1 breed (and in actual fact haven't even worked that breed yet), u have no idea wot other breeds can do or even wot ur own breed can actually do or wot it's limitations actually are.

For the op i'd contact the working or breed societies possibly even get along to training days or Field trails to see them in action and make ur own mind up if it's wot u want.
All i'll say is there rare for a reason. If u compared it to buying a car, a springer or lab would be like buying a ford or toyota yes may be boring and common but do the job very very well with no drama's, for a first (or any) gundog that is exactly wot u want
Try phoneing and asking a few off ur local pro gundog trainers about lessons, many won't take in 'novelty' breeds for training or 1-1 lessons


Just to make things interesting i actually disagree with jim above;) i think the lab (althou only proper old fashioned lines that actually hunt and hit cover) is a far more rounded versatile shooting dog in my opinion but that is my preference as labs tend to handle water and cold better purely due to there coat, but i have swept ground for birds when my springer has missed them and a lab has found and vice versa, i actually think a mix of each is the ideal as they seem to scent in slightly different ways. And quite often keepers or serious pickers up will have a mix of breeds, even a few serious FT boys still have a mix in there 'working' dogs
But i also know folk who would argue till the cows came home an HPR is the best, but there just being really silly :D :stir: (and i do have an hpr before the hpr boys string me up) His first retrieve was a teal missed by my other 3, actyally quite a hard find, he's 30ish month now and the juries still out on him and the breed as far as i'm concerned, so i think u may be slightly premature to judge a breed at 6 month
 
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I'll reply when I get home mate as im currently at work on the mobile phone.

You do however make some good points.
 
The major thing that puts me off rare breeds is the cost and lack of working lines.
I have owned two NSDTR's, one was bought as a pup for £450, the other was a rehome. Yes they were great dogs, awesome noses and would do pretty much anything I asked, but...... they had no up-to-date working lines, were quite unusual in the fact that they worked and would now cost you nearly £1000 each :eek: which means I will probably never own one again :(
That's the price of a nice Lab and a nice Cocker (I prefer Cockers to Springers, but everyones different!!), which would cover all your bases!!

If you want a Clumber, have done your research, spoken to the Working breed club, checked out all the health issues and still want one, then get one and enjoy it. Its your dog for the next 10+years, so you must be happy with your choice.
 
Thanks again all, for the input. One thing is clear and that's everyone is passionate about the breeds they keep which is a great thing, and I suspect that what works best for one persons circumstance may not produce the best for the next person. I think it probably is a matter of matching the right (suitable breed) to the individual and circumstance under which the dog will be worked, ie type of work and frequency of each type of work.
 
They were described to me as an old mans shooting dog! Tis about right! They are fun to own, mine contributes to our walk/stand shoot as do the dogs of other guns and pickers up do.
I've had 3, all great characters, fun to own, but educationally they are special needs, not great picking up dogs but do work the ground methodically.
 
Did they not introduce Springer blood quite recently to the Clumber to give the working line a bit more get up and go? It would be great if one of the rarer breeds started to make a come back, gets a bit boring seeing just labs and the two popular spaniels breeds in the field.
 
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