Many of us have a ‘favored breed’, and I’ve had a long and much adored string of English Springer Spaniels. I’ve always tended to have show spaniels rather than workers. They’re bigger dogs, chunkier and taller, and as they’re bred for the show ring rather than working they tend to have calmer temperaments.
Our old dog Monty, though, never got the memo that he was supposed to be less energetic, always playing with the best puppy toys right through to his senior years. He was as lively as any working spaniel, had a huge amount of joie de vivre and loved nothing better than a long walk, preferably with plenty to sniff at and jump in and over.
Around the age of eight, he was diagnosed with a rare form of squamous cell carcinoma cancer which our vet warned us would probably prove fatal. We were very fortunate in that Monty, with the support of lots of treatment and a great veterinary team, proved to be one of the 10 percent who completely recovered from the disease.
