Bit of waffling I’m afraid; I love dogs and have wanted one for ages and the other half is starting to come round to the idea, however we have never been able to agree on a breed. Most of the dogs l like are big and a bit neurotic (Viszlas, Dalmatians etc) which puts my other half especially as she is quite short.

After much debate, we have agreed on Cocker Spaniels as a breed that we both like however I don’t really have at experience of them because as a kid we had labs, collies and a Springer. I was just wondering what sort of experiences that owners on here have had.

I know it’s going to need walking and I’ll be picking poop up in the garden, but I’m more interested in how they seem to behave in general (i.e chilled out, pain in the bum etc) and what they are like around kids (which will hopefully happen at some point).

Cheers

All spaniels are nutty at heart but with plenty of excercise and training, mental stimulation etc they will be as calm as anything.

My Mother in law owns a golden cocker who tiptoes over damp grass to go for a pee lol, and has been great with my daughter since birth (she is now 6). We own a sprocker who is mad but lovable and is also great with kids and worries himself sick if he can’t she her when out for a walk with us. He runs ahead of me on the local trails and loves every minute.

Mental…

I would personally keep clear of show breed cockers (small heads and long ears). Working cockers are utterly fab. Great with kids, will love you until the end and will move your shoes as soon as you take them off.
They need exercise yet can be completely mellow and sleep all day…. very odd.
Brilliant trail dogs.

I’ve got a pretty good grasp on cocker spaniels and what they are like having lived at mums for 8 years with 3 cockers of varying age.

Oldest, golden cocker spaniel, 8 years old so getting on a bit but still full of energy and ‘go’ and will run and run every single walk she is taken on. She has a typical red head attitude and a bit grumpy and will growl when food is involved. Has bitten me once in 8 years.

Middle, a tri-colour cocker spaniel with ginger eye brows (she’s ugly as f really) and then just a mish-mash of black and white. She is docile as anything, has never bitten or growled in 6 years and is a little on the fat side as she just plain refuses to run unless there is wildlife involved. Loves the bath so much so she will get in with you…careful on this one, ha! Running jump across the landing, splosh!

Youngest, a black and white one with real show cocker trot and stance but is thick as 2 short planks and absolutely mental. 4? years old and is easily half the size of the other 2 fully grown, quite a funny little thing really. She has also never bitten or growled at anyone other than other dogs but given her size this is just comical. This one will also run for days but due to her dopeyness tends to run into things, vet trip one time for running into a barbed wire fence…

I also have an 11 month old daughter and have no hesitation in allowing her and the dogs to play together in the house. I absolutely hate the bad press cockers spaniels get because it’s ‘usually’ bad press from people who have never owned them and these 3 have been a part of my life for total 8 years now and only the eldest has bitten me once. Kind of gives you an idea doesn’t it? Or not, no cocker spaniel can be compared to the next because every single one has such a great personality. Do it!

Hope this helps and I would definitely recommend them as a family pet. At the end of the day, they are the best looking out of the cockers aswell, working cockers are so big headed!

Sharkbait – why would you avoid a show cocker?

Admittedly, I’m not too fussed about owning a dog that ticks all of the kennel clubs very strict guidelines on looks. I want a dog that comes from a good background with regards to personality traits etc.

I think pics are needed too!

Working cockers are utterly fab

+1

Couldn’t tell you about Show Cockers, but they look ‘fragile’ compared to the working breeds. We’ve a Cocker and Springer, both working stock.

The Springer is both a mellow hippy and nutter hunter, in the house and around the garden he just sleeps/wanders, but when out on a walk you never see him (we’re surrounded by empty countryside, so fine for us). The Cocker is the nutter, but a lovely nutter.

Cocker

Springer

Cheers BR; two lovely looking dogs there.

We had a Springer as a kid called Meg who was fab; totally nuts up very loveable. Whenever you came home, she’d get exited that she’d were all over the floor. She game from a working background but was petrified of guns and was more interested in chasing things herself. Unfortunately, after my mum passed away she had to go back to the breeders because she didn’t take to her new surroundings…she refused to stay in the garden and would constantly escape. It wasn’t her fault because life started out on a small farm in the middle of the Dalby forest, so she had loads of space to explore.

Even the other half is very pro dog now (she’s more of a cat person normally).

Spaniels with tails – still wrong looking

she refused to stay in the garden and would constantly escape

Yes, the Springer is a rehome and the first time I left them I put them in our courtyard. I came home to the Cocker barking (at the Springer), and the Springer sat outside the courtyard.

The courtyard walls are 8 foot high…

The garden that she was ‘confined’ to wasn’t exactly small…in fact it was massive. Most of the houses down our old road have built another house on half the garden, and still have a good sized garden left.

Sharkbait – why would you avoid a show cocker?

Temperemental and potentially snappy – ask a vet. Small head = small brain.
Working cockers are bigger so they can run through walls 😉

Temperemental and potentially snappy – ask a vet. Small head = small brain.

if there was a link between small brains and being snappy lurchers and greyhounds wouldbe on the banned dogs list!

I take issue with Dalmatians being neurotic, stupid yes, dumb yes but never had a neurotic one. They like human company but will tolerate minimal exercise for short periods. They’ll also run for miles with a bike if you let them, the current dog has managed 20 miles in one hit but very slowly and in winter only.

Sandwich; sounds like I read some dud information about Dalmations. I really like them, but I think they’re probably a bit big…and the other half really likes Cockers (so do I).

To be honest, I like the look of both the working and show Cockers. I guess it’s quite important to check up on the parents to check up medical history and temperament. Having looked at puppets for sale, I’ve been amazed at the variance in price.

Spaniels with tails looking wrong? Mad maybe but not wrong

Sorry, another Springer here. 9 months old now and is turning into an absolute gem. Chilled in the house and a fun teraway out of it. He is great around our 2 children (6 and 3) even though they think he is a WWF wrestler!!

Had a lot of dogs in my life, but the working cocker we got 6 months ago is by far the nicest we’ve ever had. It’s our first of the breed, but we’re now firmly converted.

If you go for the working breed over the show breed, you have to go into the deal with the commitment to exercise the dog enough. A quick walk around the nearby park before and after work is just not enough. Long walks off the lead in the countryside every second day, and taking him/her with you cycling are non-negotiable, less is just cruel. I’m lucky enough to work as a forestry surveyor, and am a cyclist, so out guy gets home at night pretty bushed.

But the sacrifice of time and effort is worth it by a long way. Intelligent, friendly, playful, un-aggressive, you name it they’ve got it. Small enough for a flat, but not a ‘small dog.’

similar thread the other day, take a poke around ( i also posted on that one ).

I’ll give you the size thing, Huxley is small at 25kg, so about lab size but much slimmer. The bitches were all around 21kg so smaller again but there are some monsters out there. One we homed for a week was about 42kg with not an ounce of spare on him! I always get secondhand from dalmatian welfare who will move dogs around the country to bring them to you. (Huxley had a 10 hour relay up from Devon to come to us!)

Leo just getting ready for a ride 😉

Best dogs in the world. I’m on my 2nd and can’t imagine ever not having one.

Unless your are going to show your cocker I wouldn’t get a pup from show lines. The main reason for this (ignoring others such as intelligence, train-ability etc) is rage syndrome which is much more prevalent in cocker spaniels bred for showing.

We have one of each. “My” dog is a springer and is awesome. He works, will chase a tennis ball all day and enjoys the outdoors as much as me. My wife’s got the cocker and he’s useless at retrieving, is not that keen on running, but loves being picked up and cuddled. Both are working lines, so where things went wrong with Ralph I do not know.

As you can see, they both like getting filthy.

Working Cockers here X2. One is a mellow fellow (for a working Cocker). the other is a certifiable lunatic. Although very intelligent and obedient 95% of time. That 5 % makes her challenging at times.
The difference? One is a middle of the road fellow from decent lines and the other is from lines of all field trial champions.

Both get minimum 3 hours a day out and about and get to “play” at flushing and retrieving.
Could just be the natural difference between individuals but I suspect not. One is just too turbocharged for her own good.

Thinking about a dog, but we both work full time, whatare you guys doing with your dogs during the day?

Not wanting to judge but not something I would do. SWMBO is full time housewife. Dogs not left alone.
Plenty are though. I would rather not have the dogs than leave them all day.

Sandwich – that’s interesting about getting your dogs from a rehoming service. One of the things that I read (whether it is true or not I don’t know) was that a lot of people struggle with them and get them rehomed within a year or so.

With regards to what will happen to it in the day, the other half works shorter hours now and is very close to home so can pop back easily. It’ll only have minimal time on it’s todd. I’m also working from home lots these days too since work introduced hot desking this year; the team I work in has to share 3 desks between 6 of us and as I have the longest commute, I tend to opt to work from home and save some cash on fuel.

It’s not a done deal yet, but I love dogs so want to make sure that it fits with our life before taking the plunge. The exercise thing doesn’t bother me nor the poop, its making sure that the dog won’t be on its own for too long.

i have two bitches from the same litter, both working class pedigree. other than constantly stealing my bloody socks and hiding them in the garden, they are just friggin awesome and i love em to bits.

‘George’ is a lot bigger now! This was his first night in his cage.
We both work full time, he is caged during the day, gets let out for a walk every lunch time, and is walked morning and evening. He’s very steady when he wants to be, but when he knows its time to play/walk he lets loose. Never stops running but has great recall, great retrieve, is fine with the cats and best of mates with my teenage son.

Cant believe we waited this long to get one, would have another in a second…. 😀

We really thought long and hard about having a dog and working full time, maybe we’re lucky, maybe we’re doing all the things we should be but he has been fine with it. He feels safe and secure in his cage, and will go in without being asked when the time is right..

whatare you guys doing with your dogs during the day

He sleeps all day. I walk him about 6am for an hour. The wife will take him out again at 9am before she leaves for work, then she’s back about 4pm and she’ll walk him for an hour.

Any days we’re in the house he sleeps all day.

Thinking about a dog, but we both work full time, whatare you guys doing with your dogs during the day?

We have a Lakeland Terrier, walked in the morning and in the evening. Wife works 4 days and I often work from home one day a week (different days)
When I do she lies in bed all day!!!
I think as long as the time alone is not excessive, they have plenty of space then they get used to it.

Mines from working stock.need plenty walking ,great with kids,workers not as nippy as the show type.just be careful if thinking about taking them biking they will keep going all day sometimes to there detriment ,mines slipped a disc as a result ,wouldn’t risk it again,glad to say she is pretty much back to normal but I was beside myself as I blame myself for pushing her too much

Working Cocker here, he’s quite chilled for a Spaniel from what everyone says. But, he’s our first dog so we’ve no idea whether that’s true or not.

No real bother provide he gets his walks and stimulation. Usually has a mad half hour after his tea, but he snoozes after his walk before he gets fed.

Don’t think there is anyway to tell whether they will turn out chilled or not, we still see his litter mates and its about a 50:50 split as to which are nuts and which are chilled. So parentage and genetics are probably not a good indicator as to how they will turn out, his parents are your typical mad Spaniels.

show class cocker here , might be bias but a lot better looking than working class harvey is six now and he,s never even dreamed about nipping anyone, kids were 6 and 4 when we got him and they love him to bits, would highly recommend one.

Rehoming a dog can be as labour intensive as taking on a puppy. A reputable welfare organisation will give you help with expenses for things that need professional help (we were offered socialisation classes for our yobbo) and will fund treatment for existing ongoing conditions (friend has a doberman with hock dysplasia which has been operated on for them at no cost).
Huxley took a year to get into the groove of Chez Sandwich and our relaxed way of getting things done. He doesn’t try to kill all small dogs any more or bowl over labradors and I can fuss him without him trying to bite me (that got stopped Cesar Milan style when he tried, the only bit of Cesar I used in his rehab). He’s a girls dog as Mrs Sandwich gets all the excitement on her return to the house!

He comes to work and mops up the fruit that comes his way and empties the bins of tissues! He also has a run on a much shortened commute at least twice a week. The boss was a little wary to start with but now I get asked when he’s next coming in. An eventful 3 years but it’s come good and he’s filled the hole in the household left by the youths departure!

Blatant picture whoring time…

My bestest mate.
From this:

To this:

In a little over a year.

He’s lovely.

We’re both really sold on the idea, we just need to make sure that we can make some minor adjustments to our lives to make it more dog friendly. We’re both committed to it, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

I’ll get on my mums mac today and give you some pictures of our 3 show cockers. Trainability and intelligence? Come off it guys. All our show cockers are trained very well, heel when asked, return when called. Intelligence is another myth, our youngest cocker once got tangled in some gardening string, the green stuff, and so our eldest chewed through the string before we even had a chance to react!

Get a show cocker definitely but do also be very strict with what you will accept. Full kennel klub registration and a well behaved bitch when viewing pup etc…