GENERAL APPEARANCE - Well balanced, noble, upstanding sporting Spaniel built for activity and endurance.
CHARACTERISTICS - Ideal for rough shooting or companion for the country dweller. Not suitable for city.
TEMPERAMENT - Unusually docile, active, sensitive, independent.
HEAD AND SKULL - Conveys the impression of high breeding, character and nobility. Well chiselled, occiput well defined, lean beneath eyes. A thickness here gives coarseness to whole head. Slightly raised eyebrows. Moderate stop. Nose well developed with good open nostrils. Muzzle long and lean neither snipey nor squarely cut. In profile curving gradually from nose to throat.
EYES - Wide open but almond shaped with tight lids showing no haw. Grave and gentle in expression. Dark hazel in colour.
EARS - Moderately long and wide, set low and well feathered.
MOUTH - Jaws strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. Upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.
NECK - Long, strong and muscular enabling dog to retrieve his game without undue fatigue.
FOREQUARTERS - Shoulders long and sloping and well laid back. Legs of moderate length. Straight, flat bone.
BODY - Chest deep and well developed. Ribs moderately well sprung. Length of rib cage is two thirds of the body length. Back and loin strong, level and muscular.
HINDQUARTERS - Strong, muscular; stifles moderately bent. Hocks well let down.
FEET - Tight, round with strong pads and not too small.
TAIL - Set on low and never carried above the level of the back. Nicely feathered, with lively action. Preferably docked by one third.
GAIT/MOVEMENT - Long, unhurried stride with great drive from the rear. Short, stumping action undesirable.
COAT - Long, flat, glossy and silky in texture. Never curly, short or wiry. Dense and weatherproof. Abundant feathering on chest, under body and behind legs, but clean from hock to ground.
COLOUR - Black, liver or roan. Any one of these with tan markings. In self-coloured dogs white or roan on chest permissible. Clear black/white or liver/white unacceptable.
SIZE -
Height: approx. 45.7 cms (18 ins) at the shoulders
Weight: 18-25 kg (40-55 lbs)
FAULTS - Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.
NOTE - Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.