Boykin Spaniel Grooming

About the Boykin Spaniel

A South Carolina water spaniel bred to be small enough to sit in a section boat on the Wateree River, and it is a genuinely light grooming proposition for a spaniel.

The coat is medium length, flat to slightly wavy, with a water resistant outer layer and a modest undercoat, and the feathering is light: on the ears, the chest, the belly, the backs of the legs and lightly on the tail. Nothing like a show bred English Springer.

A weekly brush and a comb through the feathering keeps it, and there is no real haircut, only a tidy.

What is not light is the ears. This is a dog that spends its working life in water, with long feathered drop ears, and ear disease is the defining health problem of the breed as it is in every spaniel here.

The ears, on a dog that lives in water

The ears are long, set at eye level and feathered, lying flat over the canal, on a dog that is in and out of water constantly.

That combination is the worst there is for ear health, and Boykins get a lot of ear disease.

Dry the ears after every swim, every bath and every wet outing. That single habit prevents most of the trouble and it is the most useful thing on this page.

Lift the flap weekly, look and smell. Healthy smells of nothing; yeast is sweet, musty and unmistakable.

Ask a groomer to keep the hair on the underside of the flap and around the opening trimmed short at every appointment.

Head shaking, scratching at an ear, a head tilt, redness, dark discharge or a smell means a veterinarian rather than an ear cleaner. Cleaning an infected ear without treating it does not work.

The ear feathering mats where it meets the head, which pulls on the ear and traps moisture, so it is a grooming and a health problem at once.

Rinse with fresh water after swimming in salt, chlorinated or stagnant water.

The coat, and drying it

Brush weekly with a slicker and comb the feathering through. On a working dog in cover, comb the feathering more often, since burrs and grass seeds turn into mats within days.

The coat carries a water resistant quality, so bathe every ten weeks or so rather than frequently, and use a plain shampoo. Frequent washing strips the property the coat exists for, the same point the Toller page makes.

Drying matters more than washing. A wavy coat with an undercoat left damp at the skin grows hot spots, and this dog is wet most days in season.

Some Boykins carry a noticeably curlier coat, which mats a little more readily and wants the same comb.

Trimming is a tidy: the hair around the ear openings, the feet neatened, pads cleared, hocks tidied and the sanitary area trimmed. The breed is shown in a natural coat.

Clipping the body is possible on a working dog kept short and carries the usual trade with an undercoat present.

A hard working dog, and the checks

Boykins are compact, energetic and genuinely used, and they cover rough ground and water.

Check the feet after work in cover, since a feathered foot collects grass seeds that burrow between the toes and abscess.

Check the skin over the whole dog for thorn scratches, cuts and ticks.

Keep the hair between the pads cleared, both for seeds and for grip.

Nails every three to four weeks.

Hip dysplasia is common enough in the breed to be worth asking a breeder about, along with an eye condition and a heart defect.

Exercise induced collapse is documented in Boykins: a dog that becomes weak or wobbly after intense exercise needs a veterinary assessment and a genetic test exists.

Weight is worth watching, since feathering hides condition and a spaniel not working gains easily.

Where it sits among the spaniels

The spaniels differ mostly in how much coat they carry, which is worth setting out in one place.

American Cocker: the most coat, with a heavy skirt, and the highest maintenance of them.

English Cocker: flatter, no skirt, considerably lighter.

English Springer: heavier feathering on a bigger frame, show bred dogs much more than working ones.

Welsh Springer: moderate feathering, lighter again, always red and white.

Clumber: the heaviest dog with the most drool and the deepest set eyes.

Boykin: the lightest coat of the lot, and the most water.

What every single one of them shares is the ear. Long, feathered, low set, lying flat over a canal that does not drain, on a dog that puts its head into wet undergrowth. If you learn one thing about spaniels, learn the ear.

What to tell your groomer

Ask for the hair under the ear flaps and around the openings kept short at every visit, and the ears dried and checked.

Say the coat is water resistant and should not be bathed more than about every ten weeks.

Ask for a natural tidy rather than a scissored outline: feet, pads, hocks and sanitary area.

Ask them to check between the toes for grass seeds after a working outing.

Say the dog is wet most days in season, so drying to the skin matters.

Mention any ear history, since it is the breed group's defining problem.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Boykin Spaniel