MEET SEVEN OF THE SOUTH’S TOP SPORTING-DOG BREEDERS
STORY BY STEVE RUSSELL AND T. EDWARD NICKENS | PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN HAFNER
You might expect Mark Haglin, who’s been breeding English springer spaniels since 1976, to foremost tout the breed’s hunting acumen and intelligence. Instead, he says, “what I like most about them is their eyes, and that connection to the owner and the trainer.” Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more soulfully expressive gun-dog. Averaging about forty pounds and naturally inclined to stay within gun range while questing for birds, springers are especially suited to flushing upland pheasant and grouse. “A well-trained springer will smell a bird, pick up speed, and flush hard, then sit until it retrieves the fallen bird and presents it to you,” Haglin says. Pine Shadows keeps pups for a full ten weeks of socialization supervised by Mark’s wife, Sophie, fostering what the Haglins believe is an ideal blend of sporting and family dog. (Their son Morgan runs the training program for older springers and other breeds.) “They enjoy time off with the family,” Haglin says. “They look at you with a sense of ‘What can I do for you today?’”—Steve Russell