About Boykins
The Boykin Spaniel is medium in size, sturdy, and a typical spaniel. They are first and foremost a hunting dog with proven retrieving and flushing abilities characterized by boundless intelligence. Boykin Spaniels show great desire to please. They are a strong swimmer, taking to the water easily and are valuable for water retrieving as well as field retrieving. The Boykin Spaniel is peaceful, obedient and loyal. They are known for being good with children, and are a friendly family pet. They are generally good-natured and affectionate, wagging their stub of a tail to move their whole bodies. Their hunting aptitudes are excellent and they have served hunting families since the early 1900s. They are usually chocolate brown with an enthusiastic expression. Boykin Spaniels have great endurance, and make excellent pets for the country home.
Size: 14-18 inches tall and 25 to 40 pounds
Colors: Solid, rich, liver (reddish brown or dark chocolate). They range from solid liver to dark brown, allowing a small white spot on chest.
Coat: The coat can be flat, wavy, or very curly. The coat is waterproof as well, and they have a light feathering all over. The coat is medium length. Their ears are exceptionally curly.
Temperment: Boykins are friendly with an admirable disposition. They have no hostility toward other dogs or people in normal situations. Excessive timidity or hyperactivity is not seen with the Boykin character. They retain excellent hunting and retrieving skills as well as a sweet, docile temperment, and want to please and be obedient. They swim well and have great endurance.
With Children: Great with children, like their cousins the Cocker.
With Pets: Usually get along well with everyone.
History
The ancestry of the Boykin Spaniel involved Springer Spaniels, American Water Spaniels, Pointers, Cocker Spaniels, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and a stray, unidentified male spaniel. In the year of 1911, a man named Alexander White was coming home from church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and found a stray brown spaniel. He decided to take it home and use it as the family pet. The dog, apparently, had very good hunting abilities and was sent to White's hunting partner, L. Whitaker Boykin. With Boykin's training, the dog was developed into an excellent waterfowl and turkey retriever. Boykin bred the stray with other female cockers that had similar aptitudes, eventually breeding those dogs with the aforementioned breeds and thus producing the Boykin Spaniel. The Boykin Spaniel was apparently "just right" size to hop into boats used on the Wateree River Swamp, and did well to keep quiet hunting in the brush on ground. The place in which Boykin resided was ideal for a northerner's vacation, therefore puppies were sold there and the breed spread from that point. The Boykin Spaniel is now the South Carolina state dog and fans of the breed have created the Boykin Spaniel Society. The Boykin Spaniel is still used today to retrieve a hunt all along the Atlantic coastline.
About Brittany Spaniels
Appearance: A Brittany is typically quite athletic, compact, and solidly built without being heavy. Other characteristics include long legs, and their expressions are usually of intelligence, vigour, and alertness. Their gait is elastic, long, and free.
Some Brittanys are born with naturally short tails and others with long tails. If born with a long tail it is normally docked to a length of 3 to 10 centimetres (1 to 4 inches).
Size: Brittanys are almost always between 17.5-20.5 in tall They weigh 25-30 lbs. The dog is squareish when viewed from the side, with shoulder height equaling body length.
Types: Many breeders differentiate between "American" Brittanys and "French" style Brittanys. Although generally recognized as sub-sets of the same breed there are recognizable differences between the two. The American Brittany is taller and faster. It has been bred to cover more ground in order to hunt wide open spaces common in the United States. The French Brittany appears more "spaniel-like" in that it is smaller and the French Brittany generally works more closely to the guns. However, many breeders consider these "differences" to be unsound generalizations and that North-American standards should be updated to reflect the breed's standard in its country of origin, i.e. France, where black has become an acceptable coat color since 1956 while it is still considered a fault in North-America. Originally known as the Brittany Spaniel, the word "spaniel" was dropped in the USA some years ago, as fanciers thought the Brittany was "the only pointing spaniel" and therefore they wanted to avoid confusion with English spaniels (Cockers, Springers, etc.), which are flushing and not pointing dogs. But this was probably in total ignorance of the existence of many other pointing spaniels well known in Europe (French Spaniel, Épagneul Picard, Munsterlander, etc.).
The breed is noted for being easy to train, sensitive, and sweet-natured. Many enthusiasts agree that it takes little more than a stern look or cross word to chastise a Brittany. As a consequence, care must be taken during training so as not to break the dog’s spirit. Brittanys are excellent with children but they are an exuberant breed and if not well supervised may accidentally harm a small child. Many of these loveable dogs will, if allowed, even climb upon your lap and rest their head on your shoulder. Brittanys get along well with other dogs and enjoy working with other dogs as a team. Many Brittany enthusiasts encourage new Brittany owners to be a two dog family. The dogs are active and require frequent exercise and room to run. As pets Brittanys are first-rate companion dogs but they do need plenty of exercise. Their outgoing nature makes them poor candidates for protectors.
Temperment: The Brittany makes a good house pet as long as it receives daily mental and physical exercise.