Field Spaniel

Sensitive and affectionate; playful outdoors.
A Field Spaniel
Photo: Peter
Adult weight
18–25 kg
40–55 lb
Lifespan
13.1 yrs
Class · Companion
also Field

What it's like

The Field Spaniel is affectionate, docile and sensitive, and does not respond well to harsh handling. It is energetic and playful outdoors, tends to bond closely with its household and is often reserved with strangers at first. It remains uncommon, even in its home country.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Needs steady training
With people
Affection
A lap or leaning dog
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Needs a calm, predictable home
Voice
Quiet
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It has a long coat. It sheds through the year rather than in big seasonal moults. Plan on daily brushing. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Field Spaniel is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever.

Today it is a sturdy, noble-looking spaniel, somewhat longer than it is tall, with a long head, a gentle expression and long, low-set ears. The single coat is glossy and flat or slightly wavy, with feathering on the chest, belly, legs and ears. Solid black or liver is usual, sometimes with tan markings, and roans occur.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Field Spaniel puppy is already as heavy as a grown Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
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Age
Male
Female
2 months
3.9–5.4 kg 8.6–11.9 lb
4.3–6.0 kg 9.5–13.2 lb
3 months
5.8–8.0 kg 12.8–17.6 lb
6.1–8.5 kg 13.4–18.7 lb
4 months
8.4–11.6 kg 18.5–25.6 lb
8.8–12.2 kg 19.4–26.9 lb
5 months
10.8–14.9 kg 23.8–32.8 lb
11.1–15.4 kg 24.5–34.0 lb
6 months
12.9–17.8 kg 28.4–39.2 lb
13.0–18.1 kg 28.7–39.9 lb
7 months
14.4–20.0 kg 31.7–44.1 lb
14.4–20.0 kg 31.7–44.1 lb
8 months
15.5–21.6 kg 34.2–47.6 lb
15.4–21.4 kg 34.0–47.2 lb
9 months
16.3–22.7 kg 35.9–50.0 lb
16.1–22.4 kg 35.5–49.4 lb
10 months
16.8–23.4 kg 37.0–51.6 lb
16.6–23.1 kg 36.6–50.9 lb
11 months
17.2–23.9 kg 37.9–52.7 lb
17.0–23.6 kg 37.5–52.0 lb
12 months
17.4–24.2 kg 38.4–53.4 lb
17.2–23.9 kg 37.9–52.7 lb
15 months
17.9–24.8 kg 39.5–54.7 lb
17.8–24.7 kg 39.2–54.5 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Field Spaniel lived to about 13 years, about average for a medium breed. The group was small, so treat the figure as rough.

Where it comes from

The Field Spaniel is a British flushing spaniel from the late 19th century, when the larger, solid-coloured land spaniels were given the name. Show fashion nearly ruined it in the early 1900s, and by the 1950s so few were bred that it lost its Kennel Club championship status. Outcrosses to the English Springer rebuilt it, and the status returned in 19694,9.

The Field Spaniel developed alongside the Cocker Spaniel, and for a time the two were separated largely by weight, with the heavier dogs shown as Field Spaniels. In the late nineteenth century, breeders including Phineas Bullock crossed in Sussex Spaniel blood and selected for an ever longer, lower body. Critics mocked the resulting dogs as exaggerated and unfit for work. Breeders later worked back towards a balanced, practical build, and after the breed nearly disappeared in the mid-twentieth century it was revived. It was developed to hunt close to the gun, flushing game from thick cover and retrieving on land and from water.

Breed standard

The Field Spaniel is judged against standard no. 123, in group 8, Retrievers, Flushing Dogs and Water Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Field Spaniel figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

English Cocker Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
English Springer Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Sussex Spaniel
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Deutscher Wachtelhund
Retrievers & water dogs · Medium
Or compare the Field Spaniel with any breed you choose
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Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·