A New Beginning - Meet Jam and Evie

Two new faces have arrived at Kirkbourne. And they're already causing chaos.

Meet Jam and Evie - two English Springer Spaniels, both from working lines, both with field trial champion blood running through them, and both utterly convinced that the world was built specifically for their entertainment.

Evie came first. Born 10th June. Jam followed ten days later, 20th June, from a different litter entirely. Different breeding, different start in life - and from day one, completely different personalities.

The One Who Took Her Time

Evie's older. And for the first few days, you wouldn't have known it.

Jam hit the ground running. Bold, curious, already pushing into everything. Evie was... steadier. Quieter. Taking it all in from a slight distance before she committed to anything.

Now, if you've got a new pup at home right now and you're reading this thinking - mine's doing exactly that, is something wrong? - the answer is no. Absolutely not.

Some pups land in a new environment and they're off. Others sit back, assess, work out what's what first. That's not a problem. That's not a sign of a bad temperament or a dog that won't train. That's just a dog being sensible. And honestly? The sensible ones are often the ones who, once they do commit, are brilliant.

Evie committed. Give her a week or so with a new home and a playmate, and she found herself. She's confident now. Proper confident. And that switch - from cautious to fully switched on - happened naturally, without us doing anything clever. Just time, consistency, and letting her settle at her own pace.

Worth remembering that next time your pup seems unsure. You don't need to fix it. You need to let them find it.

What's in the Pedigree

Both Jam and Evie come from working backgrounds with FTCH - Field Trial Champion - blood in their lines. That matters, though maybe not in the way people expect.

It doesn't mean they'll automatically be brilliant. Pedigree isn't a guarantee of anything. What it does mean is that the raw material is there - the instinct, the drive, the nose, the desire to work. Whether that becomes something exceptional depends entirely on what happens next. The training. The consistency. The handler.

You know. The usual.

But when you're building dogs that are going to be used for demonstration work, for training videos, potentially for competition - you want to start with good foundations. And these two have them.

What They're For

Jam and Evie are joining the Kirkbourne pack as working dogs. They'll be part of demonstrations, they'll appear in training clips, and somewhere down the line - if they're anything like their breeding suggests they should be - competition.

That's the plan, anyway. Dogs have a habit of reminding you that plans are just suggestions.

What it also means is that you'll be seeing a lot of these two. Their progress, their training, the bits that go brilliantly and the bits that don't - all of it. Because that's how this works. You don't just get the finished article. You get the whole thing.

And if you've got a young spaniel at home right now, watching Jam and Evie come through their early months might be the most useful thing you see all year. Two pups, FTCH pedigree, trained from the ground up, documented properly. No mystery. No magic. Just consistency and repetition until the right behaviours are just what they do.

Welcome to the Club

So - Jam. Evie. Welcome.

You've no idea what you've walked into. But we do. And we're looking forward to every bit of it.

Keep an eye on our social channels and here on the blog for updates as these two get started. If you've got a young pup and want to follow along - or you're thinking about joining Kirkbourne and want to see exactly how we bring a dog through from the very beginning - this is your chance to watch it happen in real time.

And if your pup is currently sat in the corner looking at you like you've personally offended them? Don't worry. Evie did that too.

She's fine now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does pedigree matter when choosing a working spaniel puppy? Pedigree gives you an indication of what instincts and drives are likely to be present - particularly with field trial champion lines, which are bred for working ability. But it's not a guarantee. The training, consistency, and handler matter just as much, if not more. Good foundations help. They don't do the work for you.

My new puppy seems timid and unsure - should I be worried? Not usually, no. Many pups need time to settle into a new home before their true personality emerges. Evie is a good example - quieter and more cautious than her playmate Jam in the first week, then fully confident once she'd found her feet. Give them time, keep things calm and consistent, and let them come to you rather than pushing too hard too soon.

What is an FTCH and why does it matter in gundog breeding? FTCH stands for Field Trial Champion - the highest title a working gundog can achieve in competitive field trials. Having FTCH lines in a pup's pedigree suggests the breeding has been selected for working ability, drive, and trainability over generations. It's a useful indicator, particularly for anyone wanting a dog with genuine working potential.

Will I be able to follow Jam and Evie's training progress? Yes - we'll be documenting their progress through blog updates, social media posts, and training video clips as they develop. If you've got a young spaniel at home, following their journey from puppyhood through to working dog is a great way to see how the training process actually looks from day one.

When should I start training my English Springer Spaniel puppy? From the day they come home. Not formal sessions - just consistent habits. How you greet them, how you reward calm behaviour, how you manage mealtimes and recall. The foundations are laid long before any structured training begins. At Kirkbourne, we work with puppies from the earliest stages through our puppy classes and membership programme.