[Closed] Please educate me on Spaneils

It's spelt 'Spaniel' hth.

I thought docking was illegal now, tbh.

We have a sprocker spaniel that came from a farmer who breeds a litter every 2 or 3 years. They are almost all taken for working farm/gun dogs and as such they are docked by a vet almost immediately after birth.

It's not typical for them to be docked any more and to be honest I would prefer that he weren't.

Dew claws are a bit different. Back ones are a bit pointless and tend to cause more problems than the front ones. Sprocket has his front dew claws but the rear ones were removed at the same time he was docked.

Gratuitous excuse for a photo:

Dew claws are now meant to be removed but our vet doesn't agree with it so she removes them - we're on our 4th working cocker and haven't had an issue.
Tail docking is another matter though - we've had our litters docked but this is legal for us as I shoot and am therefore licenced to have it done. I'd be very hesitant about getting an undocked dog but that just my opinion.
(Not only does it save damage to the tail but I also think they look better for having the tail docked by up to 40% max)

Gratuitous pic of our litter from last year 🙂
[IMG] [/IMG]

I had two, both brothers from the same litter (obvz) Banger was Bonkers, Mashie was dopey.

Both Gundog trained.

Banger ate everything in sight, Mashie stuck his head between the Aga and kitchen cupboards.. and would remain like that all day until his food arrived.

Awesome dogs.

Need constant/regular walks and excitement, also happy to crash for a few hours whilst asleep.

So did I but apparently it's still allowed on some breeds. I think the intention is that if the dog is a proper working dog then its allowed as there is a practical reason for doing it, but obviously for family pet there is no need, so i'd rather not have one with a docked tail but some breeders have already done it basically as the pup is newborn. But the Dew Claws seems something different in that there is some risk even with family pets that they can get snagged, injured, infections, ingrowing etc.

My brother has had a couple of them.

Absolutely bonkers dogs! Need lots of exercise. Very hairy. Need a lot of cleaning / grooming. Put the time in and they're great, by all accounts.

Appreciate the photo's and anecdotes. They're cuties. The majority do seem to be docked and dew claws removed so looks like I wont have much of a choice, so maybe I shouldn't be so worried/concerned about it.

A mate of mine used to have a cocker that had been docked and used to receive verbal abuse from other dog walkers from time to time - got into a few heated verbal altercations with them.

Sharkbait...when you say:

Dew claws are now meant to be removed but our vet doesn’t agree with it so she removes them – we’re on our 4th working cocker and haven’t had an issue.

Do you mean they are NOT meant to be removed but your vet doesn't agree so she removes them anyway? or they are NOW meant to be removed but your vet doesn't agree?

Thanks.

These days docking & dew claws are only done on working dogs I think. Not for family pets... our cocker is unmolested anyway, and I vaguely remember the breeder banging on about it.

They're lively, wilful little beggars, got to get the training and socialising nailed early doors (<6mths) otherwise there can be issues, e.g. ours is good as gold with the 4 of us but can get a bit nasty towards others, esp at home.

I have a sprocker, quite possibly the most awesome dog on the planet. Excitable outside, chilled inside, loyal, loving, always ready for adventure, she adores her family, well behaved and generally brilliant.

My dog works (search and rescue) and is not docked and she has her dew claws. Never had an issue with claws. She does occasionally nick the end of her tail in bushes etc. This becomes and issue when you come in from work and she goes nuts with excitement, wacks her tail against a wall/door frame / furniture) and the scab opens and she sprays blood everywhere.

Few things give me more pleasure than riding along behind my dog watching her tail flying side to side with sheer excitement. For an everyday family dog I don't think docking or removing dew claws is justified and is probably illegal.

Tail docking was banned in 2007 in England and Wales, except under certain exemptions catered for in the Animal Welfare Act.
Puppies have to be docked before they are five days old.
This is before the neonate nervous system is fully developed and when bones are still soft.
Discuss your docking requirements with your vet well before the whelping date to avoid last-minute panics.
The vet will ask you to sign a statement declaring the dog whose tail is to be docked will be used for one of the following: a) law enforcement; b) activities of HM Armed Forces; c) emergency rescue; d) lawful pest control; e) the lawful shooting of animals.
Once the five-day time frame is up, the puppies cannot be docked.

If a breeder is prepared to ignore the law then you should consider if it is a breeder you want to use.

We have a working cocker crossed with a King Charles - she's a great little thing for the most part but comes with the bonus that the KC in her means she doesn't demand 2hr + walks every day (working from home today and she is happily sat curled up in bed after a 3/4hr walk this morning in the pouring rain.

🙂

Yep, I think the idea that any dog needs hours of exercise is wrong. My dog will work in the hills for 8 hours quite happily, will come mountain biking for the day or will swim in a river for hours whilst kids throw sticks. Equally though, she had two 20min walks yesterday and was quite happy sleeping for the rest of the day.

If you exercise a dog for hours every day all you get is a super ft dog who expects and demands hours of exercise a day. Mix it up and get the dog used to sometimes just going out for a quick poo and run around. This will make your life much easier!

Spaniels are cracking dogs and one of the few 'pedigree' dogs I would consider. They always seem happy dogs and have a wonderful, infectious enthusiasm for life.

If a breeder is prepared to ignore the law then you should consider if it is a breeder you want to use.

I wholeheartedly agree with this ^^^^^

If a breeder is cutting body parts off a young dog before they know if it will be a working dog or not, then that breeder isnt the type of animal lover I would be supporting by buying cut dogs from. Others may view this differently.

They always seem happy dogs and have a wonderful, infectious enthusiasm for life

This. My dogs reacts to every day like it is the best and most exciting day of her life. It is wonderful to see.

We've had show cockers for 15 years. Awesome dogs that make great family pets. Our first was docked, second not. We don't show. Be aware that they are VERY food motivated, but train well. Our current bitch loves finding - hence search and rescue and drugs are common activities for the breed. Top fun come winter is to lob a small ball out into the garden and watch her come back with it in pitch black for her reward (kibble as part of dinner).

Be aware that they have capacious amounts of energy. Ours will hapilly walk a real-GPS 10 miles (plus her random deviations) and feel none the worse for wear. It's always nice when she's tired. We're training her for some longer distance walks. The old one used to run with the bike at Swinley, but they are not really bike-dogs, as hard running is not their forte. Swimming however... can't keep them out of the water. Ours fetches a float from halfway across the Thames.

Avoid "sable".

Used to see a fella with a Field Spaniel when I was out with my dog. What a beauty.
Useful site this too - gives you a lot of breed characteristic info
https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/field-spaniel#/slide/3

(just checked and they are spot on with the GSP info!)

Field spaniels are interesting as, if I understand correctly, they are basically 'base' spaniels from which other breeds are derived.

Every dog has weak spot. Mines is for chasing rabbits. When she is chasing a rabbit it is like she is on drugs. She would run through a brick wall if it meant continuing the chase.

My dogs reacts to every day like it is the best and most exciting day of her life. It is wonderful to see.

Yeah - my daft mutt can be like that. Come down on a morning and she jumps and gets all excited, bringing toys to play with etc. Go upstairs for a minute and come back down and she'll go through it all again like she hasn't seen me for hours 🙂

One of my dogs is part-spaniel, part-collie and she is the best dog in the world.

She is 13 now, and still making up new games for us. Brilliant.

We love spaniels, but (genuine question) something I've never understood about tail docking is why it seems to be a spaniel-specific thing? Other working dogs don't seem to get it done...

If a breeder is cutting body parts off a young dog before they know if it will be a working dog or not, then that breeder isnt the type of animal lover I would be supporting by buying cut dogs from. Others may view this differently.

Interesting. A dog doesn't have to work to want to go rummaging around in hedges/brambles/whatever - they love doing it and will do so whenever they get the chance.

My sister had an undocked cocker that damaged its tail from shooting off into the undergrowth on walks. The injury never healed and it eventually had to be docked which was very traumatic for all involved.

I certainly don't agree with full docking but in my opinion, and plenty of others, a partial dock is beneficial.... it still has plenty to wag!
All these dogs have been docked.... they look pretty happy:
(OK, mum is getting fed up with feeding by this point!)

Other working dogs don’t seem to get it done…

Other working dogs (i.e. Labs, retrievers, etc) don't spend as much time in the undergrowth - 80% of a spaniels job is to get in there and flush out the birds. Their 'small' yet powerful build makes them very good at this as they can get into places bigger dogs just can't get to.
But it does mean that they get more 'battered'.

We have a Springer - he's around 9 years old... he's ace!

He was about 4 when hp_source jnr #1 came along.... then a couple of years later he met #2... the three of them are great together, regularily find them all squashed into a corner of the sofa or playing somewhere.

He's not docked, but was never intended to be a working dog. Personally I prefer a full tail, being a Springer his tail and legs are nicely feathered when he's occassionally smart/dry!

I do concur with the above post about a mixed excercise regime, and the difference between 'regular' and 'regimented'. Weekdays we're out good and early for a decent walk, but weekends he waits until later and benefits from a longer walk. Evenings can be a 15-20 min walk or a longer run out.... he doesn't seem to mind or care.

I too have a Sprocker, which at the time of looking (pets4homes) seemed to be sold more by owners than breeders, and tended to not have the tails docked or dew claws removed. Everythign others have said about Sprockers is true. When the dog is rummaging through the undergrowth (heather especially) all day long then they may become prone to damage, the other thing is that they can often be such waggy dogs that the tail turns in to a propeller!

I expect its probably quite easy to get these removed if you are in a working background, or expect to sell most of your puppies for working purposes, I also suspect that vet's don't ask too many questions about whether the entire litter will be sold on for working purposes.

Our dog is 2 years old, she's energetic when she know's its walky time and loves coming for a run with me, however she's also settled in to a routine of 30 - 40 minutes round the woods in the morning, being left at home all morning in the week we do have a dog walker who comes round at lunchtime and takes her out for a couple of hours. In the summer we'll take her out round the woods again for 30 minutes but she can take that or leave it - we generally drop this walk in the winter but she always needs a poo walk of 5-10 minutes before bed.

She's great with people and kids, loves playing as well. We have got some work to do on training her though and probably didn't do enough when she was younger, the main issues are pulling on the lead, she has a strong chase instinct around squirrels, rabbits and small birds, and she'll eat anything that is in reach, including other dogs' poo's.

The grooming / brushing is an area that needs to be considered, we find dog hairs all over the house constantly, a decent brush may put paid to this but probably need to accept that there will always be some hairs round the house no matter what.

Other working dogs don’t seem to get it done…

[img] https://tinyurl.com/yynoz4ap [/img]

GSPs will most definitely go into undergrowth, but I think the docking was more about the point, when they used to dock them.

Had a lovely Springer til last year, really lovely natured dog that i was happy for daughter to be around from the minute she was born, could be as mad as a bag of frogs though, would spend hours chasing own tail/ reflections/ leaves in the wind etc, but very affectionate too.

Had her from my brother in law, he breeds gun dogs, but doesn't have them docked, he recently has a Clumber Spaniel, a breed i'd not heard of, it's paws are so big it could walk on water and real squared jaw to it:

https://www.clumberspanielclub.co.uk/

We've got two Sprockers ages 7 and 2. Different backgrounds and completely different builds. The older on is much stockier and malts much more. The younger one is much smaller and slimmer and loses a lot less hair.
Both of them are stupidly excitable, trying to stop them from waking the whole house up by banging their tails against everything when I come down on a morning to take them out in a challenge in itself. They're both awesome with the three children and have infinite patience with them.
Most weekdays are 30 min off the lead in the woods in the morning and a shorter run around a field with a ball in the afternoon/evening. Normally something a bit longer on a weekend. They would happily go all day if you let them which they do when we're away camping. I have heard that Spaniels have no self regulation on tiredness and would keep going until they die of exhaustion if givien the chance. I don't know how true this is, but with our two I could see it.

Photo of said dogs if I've sorted the privacy properly:
can't post it - here's a link

Tails and dew claws:

Probably depends how and where you walk the dog? My parents/family have always had springers (currently on rescue number 3), first was docked, 2nd had a short tail anyway, 3rd "lost his wag" within about a week, hopefully just sprained. But I've been working at a re-homing center for the past 8 weeks and quite a few of the "working" dogs* had tail injuries, including a lurcher that had ripped her tail almost clean off leaving lots of ligament damage, probably after getting stuck and hence found as a stray.

So if you can have them done, it can potentially save a lot of time, money and suffering later on.

Also, don't discount a rescue dog. I've been working up at Wood Green in Cambridgeshire and they do some amazing work re-homing the dogs. They don't let you just wander in and stress the dogs out with crowds of people, you sit down for an interview, explain your home, family, time availability etc and they find a dog that actually fits you (or tell you they'll be in touch, or tell you you're just not a suitable person). The advantage of a rescue dog is you already know it's personality, a lot of the dogs they have through are the result of it getting to adolescence and deciding it really doesn't like men/women/kids/cats/pigeons/strangers/dogs/old people/being left alone/bikes and the owners being unable to cope with that.

They also offer a lot of training and support. One of the tips I got for spanniel #3 which my parents just adopted and has some quirks (he's petrified of bridges for one) was to get one of the giant oversized feeding kongs (not the rubber toy ones) rather than bowl feed him. The trouble with bowl feeding is it's too easy for dogs. So when it comes to rewards of distracting them with food they don't have the same response to it. The analogy was a contractor Vs staff worker. The staff guy gets his paycheck last friday of the month and can coast through to retirement, the contractor is more likely to take any overtime they can get as the reward is more directly related to the work. So the dogs need training to not think "food (potentially mehhhh I'll get a whole bowl full in a couple of hours)", instead "food, must do some work for it". It also distracts them from being emotional (fear of bridges is obviously an emotional response), if he's being given food and being analytical about it he's not got time to be emotional about the bridge he's approaching.

*if you count hare coursing as working.

Cockers are ace. Ours will run for hours when we go hill walking or be equally happy chilling for the day with just a couple of quick walks.

We've taken him on bikes a couple of times but just along the beach or biking in to walk the hills. He keeps up but we take it easy as he's only got little legs and is flat out. I wouldn't take him properly as a trail dog.

He's got his tail, tbh I thought that was just how it is these days unless they're working dogs.

Favourite things are sticks, balls, food, sleeping and swimming.

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We have two cockers. One's a Black & Tan now getting on for 10 years old, the other's a Sable (so I can't support the 'Avoid a Sable' comment above) and is a bit over 1 year old. I'd completely trust them around children and people generally, but the older one has always had a tendency to 'grumble' under his breath around other people's dogs, which the other dog then sometimes interprets as latent aggression, and it could develop into fisticuffs if we don't separate them.
Both have been very easy to train, apart from being rather vocal; they get excited very easily when the leads & collars etc appear, and it does get a bit noisy in the house sometimes. And when I open the tailgate of the car. But I'd rather have that enthusiasm, than them just being willing to go out for a trudge. The younger one was prone to eating poos (his own, and other dogs') but seems to have grown out of that.
Neither has been docked nor de-clawed, and as others have said, docking is very much the exception these days. Both will now happily walk all day, and if taken to the beach, there's no keeping them out of the water. The older one is a natural swimmer, the younger one's not quite got the hang of it yet, but he will in time. He'll paddle around, but not swim yet. No problems with car sickness or anything like that, and generally pretty chilled in any situation.
Favourite things for our two are sticks, balls, beaches, carrots and anything made with eggs. Carrot omelette might just cause them to burst with joy.

Carrot omelette might just cause them to burst with joy.

Ours gets a carrot for lunch every day, he'd LOVE a carrot omelette 🤣

Every dog has weak spot. Mines is for chasing rabbits. When she is chasing a rabbit it is like she is on drugs. She would run through a brick wall if it meant continuing the chase.

I can beat that, we had a springer years ago that chased a rabbit to her death off the top of a quarry face. Dunno what happened to the rabbit.

If the OP gets a spaniel, can he please promise to post photos of the carnage that WILL ensue?

Thanks all for the advice and replies. I'm not afraid of the exercise regime..I'd walk it a couple of hours a day easy most days, as well as longer outings at the weekend. Had enough friends and family who've had Cockers so know how energetic they are, a mates Cocker poo, though a small thing, will come out on big 10 - 15 mile hikes in the Lake District with us and still be pulling on the lead like a crazy thing at the end of it. I fell in love with Springers from a neighbour who had two so that's my current pick right now.

Well see, won't be doing anything till September so will keep looking at the local breeders and not avers to a rescue dog or an older dog that someone needs to offload. Will see when it gets closer to the time. I was just surprised to see so many breeders out there offering pups already docked given I'd thought it had been banned too. To be fair, most of them are people who have working dogs as the breeding pair so Male they specialise more in suppling dogs for work. Just got no idea how to tell a good breeder from a dodgy one. Feels wrong to simply google and choose one at random.

We have a working cocker - she is awesome. To see her in the woods is to see an expression of pure unadulterated joy.
Our dog has a 1/4 docked tail. sharkbait nailed it above - Cockers by nature want to be in the undergrowth flushing thing so the docked tail doesn't bother me.
She is never clean at the end of walk - the capacity she has for finding muddy swamps never fails to surprise me. She also sheds a LOT too.

There is an excellent working cocker facebook group if you are looking for advice on breeders etc -

We've got a sprocker (Jarvis sprocker)
He's mad, clever, stupid, funny, hilarious and everything everyone's said. He has different modes, with Mrs JTL he's a loving lazy lad, with me he's a busy body. He's just the best, my best pal and an absolute idiot.
And not docked either and as mentioned earlier his tail is like a propeller!

I fell in love with Springers from a neighbour who had two so that’s my current pick right now.

I always wanted a Springer as my dad had a fantastic one when I was very young. His next one was nuts and was dead by the time she was 2 having run under a truck - so there's no guarantee.
TBH you get 90% of the working capability (if that's a requirement) from a modern working cocker without the potential unpredictabilty if a Springer.
With a Springer you could get a great one or you could get one that's nuts (a friend's parents had one that jumped off a cliff chasing something)!
If it's a pure pet I'd suggest that a working cocker should be more predictable and 'stable'.

We have a Lab springer x . Just a lovely natured daftie of a dog . Comes out with me on the bike or is quite happy to spend a day on her cushion by the radiator.

only real advice I have is to get a decent insurance policy . She has had to go to the emergency 24hr vets 3 times due to really bad cuts from charging into undergrowth and spearing herself on branches , without the insurance it would of cost us thousands.

We had a show cocker. She was a lovely dog, friendly, energetic (e.g. climbed Caingorm with us), mostly obedient, great recall (unless she was on a disgusting scent). We could take her anywhere, and she was everyone's friend. She had been docked, but badly, so had intermittent shooting pain from her stump ( our vet was very cross when he saw the mess on X-ray).
Working cockers need less grooming, but a gamekeeper bred dog could be a nightmare. Our friends have one that is so hyper it's almost uncontrollable. They had another that had such severe psychological problems, it had to be put down aged 3.
We now have a Welsh Springer that we adopted at 4 years old - she's a very different dog and much more of a handful. She's an old lady now (nearly 11) but still runs like a young dog. She's also lovely in her own special way.

P.S. docking came in for working dogs because of the dog tax (repealed 1796). Working dogs avoided the tax by being docked as they were taxed per tail. After that tradition set in. Read more here link

Cracking dogs. Love ours, she's my shadow, goes everywhere with me (other than biking). IME (as above) actually quite flexible with exercise, but sounds like you have that covered anyway. We go on all day walks, but also have rainy days where we don't get out much. Keeping them stimulated with stuff to experience/do seems more important. We have a few (working cockers) in the family, one is walked long distances by my folks religiously 3 times a day and they struggle to keep weight on her.

Insurance a good shout, as they do tend to get into scrapes when out. All that rushing about. Undocked, but TBH wish she was as the end of her tail is frequently bleeding and always scabbed.

Springer vs. Cocker? I def find a working cocker has a bit more common sense. Previous Springers has jumped through first-floor windows, seem to suffer more with separation anxiety etc. Cockers seem a bit more grounded.

One thing is she's very prey driven (birds). We've just about got her behaving around the chickens and ducks, but always after birds in the hedges/gardens.

Our chimney sweep has a Spaniel called Daniel.

Superb name for a lovably mental little doggo.

We adopted an older Sprocker last year. I work from home 80% of the time and as I type, she is laying on the floor right next to me as she always is. She is my shadow and I sometimes suspect she is made of velcro...

That said she is ok being left alone for reasonable periods. longest time yet was 6 hours at Christmas when we went out for dinner and the ballet. Every couple of weeks she'll be left for ~4a couple of mornings when I have meetings to attend.

Kiera will be 10 in a few weeks but still got loads of energy. She relishes going for a run with me / my wife for up to 45 mins ish. Once my wife took her out for a run in the afternoon, then I took her out for a run at tea time for an hour, unknowing that she had just been out. She ran quite contentedly for half an hour then made it clear she was not running anymore and only walking back to the car. She then slept for the next 16 hours straight!

Brilliant temperament & really, really friendly to all humans she meets. Oddly however she is nonplussed about food. She loves the last corner of your bit of toast or some scrapings and gravy from the Sunday lunch, but her normal food she eats one mouthful at a time.

One thing, bit of vigilance needed as working dogs (and 'designer' breeds) are attractive to thieves. I try and keep tabs on ours at all times. Some good friends had their working cocker taken from their garden. Police not that helpful, he worked out where he was on the grapevine, confronted the family and got him back - was in a cage in the back garden.

I have a springer.

They are filthy infuriating stupid intelligent nutjobs. Never had a dog that injured itself so much. currently in the cone of shame for a split claw on back foot. In the past she has gashed legs on barbed wire twice (needed stitches) cut herself on broken glass, (trip to out of hours vet on holiday) and pierced a foot on blackthorn causing a very swollen toe.
She has no fear and you wouldn't know she was injured as nothing skews slows her down.

But she is so loving and affectionate and great with the kids. I adore her. Would definitely have another.

In terms of exercise this has been said before. They don't need loads of physical exercise. Do that and they just get fitter. But they do need mental stimulation. Give them a job to do, don't let them go self employed.

Nell is chief ball finder.

https://flic.kr/p/KF7dEY

I have two, one each of Spring and Cocker. Both are docked and the Cocker has had dew claws removed. Both were working lines and sold to me because I used to shoot a lot. Ted (springer) was the main worker and, even now at 12, loves fetching and retrieving. Just not for as long as he used to.

Ralph (cocker) just never took to working. He's a lovely dog and loves fuss, but only really fetches when he feels like it. He loves running though. He's 10.

I love them both but, truth be told, I would probably go for something more Ralph-sized for my next dog. Field Spaniels are something that I have always liked the look of, but I have seen some really lovely looking working cockers too.

Keep us posted on what you do please.

Thanks all. these are really firing up my excitement, September seems so far away now we're pretty much decided. Not too fussed about springer or cockers. I know cockers well from friends and families dogs so probably the safer bet but have seen a lot of springers around recently and they've all been full of beans and as well natured as the Cockers I've known. Stories of daft energetic dogs are great...i love a bit of spirit and silliness, though could do without them injuring themselves. Just need to work on the wife now as she's not 100% convinced, but I think she'll come round. Got a lot of friends with dogs...mostly Cockerpoo's, so will have plenty of other dogs for it to get to know and socialise with.

Best dogs ever, would never be without one now. This one is 4.

Cocker spaniels are great little dogs. Easy to train, recall is generally excellent as well.

Very good temperament in general and few major health issues.

There's a number of documented cases on cockers suffering from an uncontrollable rage syndrome, unlikely but worth being aware of.

Best dogs ever

Nope, that's a beagle.

Growing up we had springer spaniels. Parents now have 3 working cockers. One is the best gundog you could wish for, one is lazy and is wants to be an extra limb to you and the third is somewhere in between.
Boredom is the worst thing for a spaniel. Expect disruptive/destructive behaviour if they are bored.
I would have one in a heartbeat, but unfortunately work doesn’t give me the time they need.

Rolo needs a home! Get him now!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1419660568173892&id=513960265410598

He's a looker, even with a full tail 😉
(OP, chocolate Cockers are where it's at currently 🤘)

Rolo is a bonny dog!

Our cocker looks remarkably similar to your springer supersessions! People generally assume she is a small springer (which in fairness is pretty much what a working cocker is 🙂 )

We looked at getting a working cocker/springer/sprocker 3 years ago.
We rejected that idea because of the perceived super high energy levels.

We found (via Gumtree, that well known place for buying quality pets) a Lab X GWP. Mum and dad are both working dogs - we got a small pup that turned into a bit of a beast. Several hundred pounds cheaper than a purebred spaniel it's an awesome cross. So awesome that this year we bought her little brother.

GWP x Lab is mental energy levels in the field, dozes all day, eats anything it can find, kills bunnies (try dealing with that at 630am with your 8yr old daughter), but a star.

The pup is now 13 weeks old, he's beautiful....

Neither are docked, never had a dog with dew claws removed (even staffies, and they use them..), there are other options as well 😉

We're in Scotland, will be down in Yorks in a few weeks if you want to see them....

Spaniels are the best. Marmite (our 9 year old Cocker) and I spend virtually all day everyday together. He is fantastic and has lost none of his zest for life. He lives most of his life with a smile on his face and rarely fails to put one on mine too at some point of the day. I dread the day he is no longer around.

More here.

I have a field spaniel cross Welsh Springer. She's 12.5 now, a little old lady, so sleeps more than she did and doesn't quite have the same spring, but the character is all there. She's seen me through relationship break up, redundency, and a few other events and I owe her so much. I lucked out, not knowing much when I got her it turns out that field spaniels are generally a bit more chilled. I have a young lab now, too, who is a lovely chap, but likely the next dog will be another spaniel of some sort.