Looking at getting a cocker (probably working strain). As a family pet. Any advice from owners. We are a working family with 2 kids who adore animals. We both work full time, however that’s not as bad as it sounds as neither of hours are ridiculously long, my wife is out 8:15 am -4pm, and I am out 8:30-5pm but work round the corner and am home for a full hour every lunch.
We are all pretty active and outdoorsy, so would love some real world cocker advice from owners whether it’s been a good experience or bad. Have Also been considering a border terrier and some other active terriers but the breed type suggests it may not be fair on such an action packed breed to not have stimulation 24 / 7

We have one, and when we got him not much different situation to yourselves. Training is useful 😉

We got him a decent sized outside run/kennel, went in all year.

Good bike dog too, strong and eager.

We have 3 cockers. Love them to bits. Our’s a just cocker spaniels or show cockers if you will. They LOVE a good walk/run but we have a massive garden and chickens so they get their exercise at home too. Get one get one get one.

They are so clever too. Our youngest cocker once got some garden string caught around her neck, before me and mum could react with the scissors, our eldest cocker had ran down the garden and bit through the string, impressive…

Ours is now 9 months old (show type) been a bit of a bumpy ride with upset stomachs, kennel cough and what’s looking like an undescended testicle but he’s a star. Wouldn’t be without now.

Would deffo recommend crate training it’s been v good.

socialising with other dogs SOOO important as well as recall training (which has been interesting)

Expect this:

BR, he’s a cracker!

Wockers (as in working cockers) are a handful, but wonderful if you put the work in. Keep them interested, and active, of course. I know several people with chocolate wockers around the Test Valley (There are a few really good breeders there) and they are all utterly lovely dogs. Mad as a sackful of rabid frogs, but lovely with it!

All I can really suggest is….Keep them busy. Keep them interested in something.

He’s 5 now, and still known as (and answers to) ‘puppy’ – which kinda gives you an idea of his approach to ‘life’.

Love springers, cockers and field spaniels. All bonkers and just lovely dogs.

But get it trained properly and make sure it’s entertained. I prefer the working type of springer and cocker personally and I take mine out with dummies and she loves it.

Bur definitely get it trained properly – even if it means paying for some help. It will be worth it if you are going on long days out, especially as a whistle is much nicer than shouting!

i have two cocker bitches, both from the same litter, bought from a KC registered breeder,
They are three now, just absolutely amazing dogs too. we leave ours for periods as we both work full time too, this breed shows low distress when left alone. my advice would be to get a cage for them if your keeping them indoors, once toilet trained ours never once messed in the cage (the denning instinct i think its called)better for them and better for you. Mine arent particulary nutty like springer spaniels seem to be, the only real issue ive found with cockers is that they are absolute buggers for nicking your socks and burying them in the garden.

Tigger at 2 years and 14 weeks. Working cocker, fantastic temprement, clever beyond belief and hugely rewarding to have around. Lost Poppy the lab 2 months ago at 9 to lung cancer (heart breaking)

Grew up with two Cockers. Great, but smelly, dogs.

My sister has one. Mental. Get a lurcher. Not smelly, mostly not bonkers. (‘cept ours, who stinks like a heap of smoudering cow pat at the moment. Because that’s what he rolled in…And is bonkers)

my wife is intent on getting a dog in the nearish future. I’m fighting back but not because I don’t want one (I do really), it’s just my way of displaying some kind of authority in my house.

Wife wants a cocker-poodle cross. Can’t bring myself to call it a cockapoo. Supposed to be temperamentally pretty similar to cockers but lower hair shedding which is a factor with daughter who has some allergy issues.

Here’s mine, hes half working half show. Great with all the kids in the street and other dogs. Hes very clever and needs mental as well as physical exercise.


Cockers are great dogs!

Not a cockerpoo, it’s a crossbreed. Or the less pc term (can you be politely correct with dogs??) mongrel.

/mini-rant

lot to be said for crossbreeds.

Cocker Spaniels – any advice ?

Judging by the MIL cockers used to be – earplugs. Yap yap yap. Did my head in

Mother has two working cockers, I’ve got a working springer.

Cockers are not mini springers that’s for sure. Very clever very intense dogs. She spends quite a bit of ££ a week going to special gundog lessons to keep them stimulated and that working mentality.

They aren’t really just a family pet as they can be so intense. My springer on the other hand is still hardwork but a bit dopier and a bit more prone to a good sleep during the day as long as he gets a good run around a few times a day.

My mother spends about 2 – 3 hrs a day with her two to keep them entertained. Based on what you’ve said and our experiences I would avoid a working cocker on your work patterns.

From my experience of meeting quite a few Cockers when out walking my Lurcher oh and at puppy training is blimey they look like hard work. Then again so is my bloody dog. Cockapoos are lovely, seem a lot calmer, more attractive dogs imo.

We’ve got a working sprocker called Max, and he’s 9 years old – still full of beans though. He’s been ill on and off since April, but we couldn’t work out why. The vet called for an ultrasound two weeks ago, because an X-ray hadn’t shown any problems.

I give you the problem:

It had pierced his skin under the armpit (he’d effectively impaled himself on it at high speed, no evidence of an entry wound), travelled through past the outside of his ribcage, and festered in his abdomen for six months.

He has E-Coli, and we need to wait and see as to whether there are long-term implications. The vet was astonished that he’d survived and not complained.

Spaniels are probably the hardest, toughest dogs out there. Dopey buggers.

We had rescue spaniel.
She was awesome. Took a long time for her to settle though but once she was in she was lovely.
Very alert. Very loveable. And didn’t trash the place when we were at work all day.
My brother brought a Rottweiler pup home and even when he was fully grown she still ran the roost!

Wife wants a cocker-poodle cross. Can’t bring myself to call it a cockapoo. Supposed to be temperamentally pretty similar to cockers but lower hair shedding which is a factor with daughter who has some allergy issues.

Ours (above) is a liver roam, and doesn’t shed hair – something to do with his colour, but consequently needs a ‘shave’ ever couple of months.

And keep them away from the socks!

We have had our dog for about 8 months and she is a working cocker x poodle……
TBH I wasn’t too keen on the idea of one but we looked after one for a couple of weeks and fell in love with her.
So we decided to go for it and she has been great, we crate trained her from day one and she was house trained in about a week (setting the alarm at 3am was hard but worth it in the end.
She is always eager to please and is dead easy to train she doesn’t shed hair but we have to trim her as things stick to her like velcro when in the fields.
Eva

I would say she is more Cocker than poodle and I would recomend them to anyone, in fact since we have got ours three people who had met her ended up getting pups of their own.

Had two, the bitch had to be put to sleep in May this year at the age of 11 due to multiple organ failure after a number of years of failing health (started with dry eye syndrome), she was an adorable child loving tri-colour, and I miss her terribly. She was very trainable and always eager to please her only real bad vice was eating-anything and everything dead, alive or moving with maggots.
The remaining blue roan dog genetically has been hard as nails but he is special- as in special needs- after all the attempts to train him he still can only grasp basic commands and figure out easy food games-as for balls he is completely lost as the bitch used to dominate any ball given to either of them. He loves his soft toys and carrying stuff for you. He is now 10 and loves humans but is scared witless of other dogs again despite all training methods he chooses to cross the road to avoid other dogs. He now howls daily since the death of the other dog as we both work- similar hours to the OP. Thankfully my daughter has moved back home and will be here daily to keep him company from now on.
My only real dislike of the breed is genetic problems and coat maintenance (buy some Oster professional clippers and a few blades and teach yourself to clip them- it will save hundreds of pounds and ensures that when they have soaked up gallons of water when you are out in the rain (the bitch loved being out in bad weather, dog hates it) your hall will not become a swimming pool. I also invested in a dog door for them so they had the run of the kitchen and the converted wendy house/kennel and the garden.

Had 4 total when growing up. Great dogs, colour does seem to have different personalities. the best was our Golden cocker really switched on dog, had 2 black and white ones both completely nuts.
Avoid solid colours can have a tendancey to be aggressive, have seen this first hand.

Ours were left when out to work (4- 5 hrs) never had any problems with damage, they where always happy as long as they got a good walk / run in each day.

Training is a must from a young age.

Fenton!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU[/video]

One of ours is a working cocker and a bit mental. Loves cuddles from my wife though and is happy curling up on you if he is allowed. He’ll also run by the bike all day as long as he is allowed some time to sniff things, wee on things, roll in [dead] things, etc during the ride.

Nice dog, good nature.

Still cost us over a grand when he was a puppy after th flipflop eating episode though.

I’m currently sat in a kitchen surrounded by 4 Working Cockers (only 1 is mine, the other 3 are his, mum, dad and sister).

Awesome dogs. We work 08:00 – 17:00 each day and are out the house for that time. We get an hour at lunch to come home and let ours out, he’s always just waking up stretching when we get home at lunch. He’s crated during the day when we’re not there and on a night and its helped his toilet training no end.

He is only 10 months and too young to run with the bikes yet, but still needs a lot of off lead walking/sniffing/interaction with other dogs everyday. He gets about 45 mins in a morning before work and about 2 hours after work. But the important thing is these walks are at his pace, so we don’t overexert him or force him to do more than he wants.

Don’t smell (well except when rolling in things) and have yet to meet an aggressive one (in fact yet to meet an aggressive Spaniel full stop).

Hard work but so rewarding. There is nothing like the sight of a Spaniel coming to greet you tail going ten to dozen!!

We’ve got 2. One is a normal cocker – show type, the other is part show / part working. Both are lovely, but the half an half is great. Very energetic, bright, loving

We’ve got a working cocker. From ‘proper’ working stock: parents were working dogs and a fair few field trial champions in her pedigree [willy wave off].

Our first dog and she’s been great. Loves to fetch sticks and balls, and doesn’t settle when we’re out as she always wants to be chasing stuff. In the house she’s really chilled, gets left half the week 8.30 till 3.30 and she doesn’t seem to mind at all: just sleeps in her cage as far as I know. Very good with the kids too, though ours is very focussed on me and my wife as the ‘masters’.

Does need a lot of stimulation, exercise, and loves training. Gets out for 2 decent walks a day. From our experience I’d say you have to think about what they’ve been bred top do (flush out game, retrieve game, and listen to commands). If you can spend a fair bit of time playing similar games our’s is very happy and content.

20120822-P8220623 by dave_woods, on Flickr

Deew that PIC sums them up for me

They are either swimming or are thinking of swimming

Clean or stagnant doent matter swimming machines