Boykin Spaniel History

A brown spaniel-type dog was found outside a church in Spartanburg after service by Mr. Alexander Lawrence White (1860-1942) sometime between 1905-1910. The dog was named "Dumpy", but showed some aptitude for hunting. Mr. White took the dog to his friend, Mr. Lemuel Whitaker "Whit" Boykin (1861-1932) for training.

Whit Boykin lived in the the Wateree River basin located in the midlands of South Carolina. The post-Civil War economy lead well-to-do Northerners to make the Camden area their winter home.  Whit Boykin provided dogs to the vacationers to hunt the Wateree swamp areas using "section boats". Dumpy filled a roll sought after; he was an excellent hunting dog in a size smaller than the current retrievers that were available at that time. Thus the Boykin Spaniel became known as the breed that wouldn't "rock the boat".

Whit Boykin bred Dumpy with a female dog described as a small curly, reddish-brown spaniel-type found in an unclaimed crate at the Camden railroad station. Whit named the female "Singo" and thus the Boykin Spaniel breed was created. Speculation on this female's breed has continued to this day; it is reasonable to believe she was a hunting breed since shipping dogs to this area of the country would be limited.

About 6 decades after Dumpy was first found in Spartanburg a breed registry was formed. Their mission was to document the breed in a registry to encourage breeding of purebred Boykins, and ultimately obtain national recognition in a recognized organization such as UKC and AKC.

The Boykin registry applied to the AKC for recognition in the early years of formation but were unsuccessful and on further attempts to become recognized they decided to abandon the project. In the late 1990's, a group of people who still desired AKC recognition formed the Boykin Spaniel Club & Breeders Assoc. of America.

In July 2005, the club was named the Official AKC Parent Club of the Boykin Spaniel. Although they remained an AKC FSS breed at that time, the AKC felt the club had made progress to the point of allowing them to begin participating in AKC events. In January 2006, the breed was allowed to participate and earn titled in AKC Spaniel Hunt Tests. In July 2006, they became eligible to compete in AKC agility, obedience, rally and tracking.

January 1, 2008 the Boykin Spaniel is eligible to compete in the Miscellaneous Classes at conformation shows. More information about the AKC Miscellaneous Group can be found here- www.akc.org/breeds/miscellaneous_class.cfm