The Clumberstiff is a designer dog, and intentional crossbreed between the Bullmastiff, a guarding breed, and the Clumber Spaniel, a gun dog, adept at flushing and retrieving game. The Bullmastiff is the only guarding breed dog that was developed in England and was originally a crossbreed itself. A hybrid of the English Bulldog and the English Mastiff, these imposing dogs were developed to be guardians of the grounds and game on large English estates, protecting them from poachers and thieves. Mastiffs proved too large and too slow for the job, and the Bulldogs of the time didn’t have the restraint required to prevent mauling of the poachers. The combination of the two, the Bullmastiff, is a smaller, more agile breed than the Mastiff and a larger and more controlled animal than the Bulldog of the time. The Clumber Spaniel was also developed in England, but the history as to which breeds were used in conjunction with traditional Spaniel breeds is murky at best. It is believed that the Clumber Spaniel breed was developed towards the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, possibly employing dogs like Basset Hound, although the records of the breeds that were used to create the Clumber Spaniel are non-existent. The most likely scenario is that they were developed for function rather than form by the gamekeepers that worked with the dogs near that turn of the century. The Clumber was named in honor of Clumber Park, an estate of nearly four thousand acres that was owned by the Duke of Newcastle. The Clumber Spaniel dogs were a very popular hunting breed and were frequently depicted in artwork from this era as well as having the honor of being one of the first nine breeds of dog recognized by the American Kennel Club when it was formed in 1883.
