Clumber Spaniel breed guide

Clumber Spaniels are sweet and easygoing at home, but these outdoorsy fellows may be relentless on scent. Smart and eager to please, they respond well to training.

AKC calls them steady, reliable, thorough and tenacious, traits that make them a challenge to train because they stop and think things through first.

Clumber Spaniels live 10 to 12 years. AKC lists hypothyroidism with skin and ear side effects, entropion or ectropion, hip dysplasia and, because of the long body, a predisposition to intervertebral disc problems.

Like many large breeds, a young Clumber that grows too fast may get eosinophilic panosteitis, something it usually outgrows.

Heavy, low-set ears make routine cleaning a must to avoid ear infections. The heavy folds on the head need regular once-overs with a damp cloth, since wrinkles kept damp can set up a smelly yeast infection.

Despite a lumbering appearance the Clumber Spaniel may be very active. Long walks with occasional breaks to sniff around suit it. It loves to retrieve, so a backyard and a tennis ball provide ample exercise.

One researcher writes that early Clumber history is lost in a tangled web of folklore and misinformation, but a reliable trail picks up in the late 1700s in Nottinghamshire, where the Duke of Newcastle and his gamekeeper perfected a burly spaniel named for the duke's estate, Clumber Park.

Clumber Spaniels became favorites of gamebird hunters among the titled families of the area. British royals including Edward VII and George V, an important Clumber breeder in his day, have kept them popular.