Fellow dog lovers, what can you tell me about the Cocker Spaniel as a breed.

I had one for fourteen years. He was a doll – not very bright, but placid and lovable. You could even take his food away while he was eating and he wouldn’t snap or growl. The person who had him for the first 10 months of his life had trained him and housebroken him. He never learned much else but he had those skills down pat.

I have heard though that from overbreading in the 50s and 60s – the Lady and the Tramp days – that some Cockers were excitable and could be jumpy and incontinent. I think you have to look carefully at the breed line.

Cavalier King Charles spaniels are small cocker spaniels. You might want to research them also. And they are adorable too.

@chyna My cousin has one of them and he is adorable. With them, you again have to research the breeder because some are prone to seizures.

I never had one. But this is my go-to reference for dog breeds:

Cocker Spaniel

English Cocker Spaniel

Scroll down for informative article.

@janbb is correct. From the standpoint of someone who has been in veterinary medicine for 30 years, when a breed becomes popular they are ruined. Back yard breeders and puppy mills immediately try to cash in on the popularity and pump out poor quality animals with health and behavioral issues.

When I started out, every damn cocker I met would either bite me or pee on me (my very first serious bite was from a cocker). I once counseled a family with a viciously psychotic 8 week old puppy to return it to the breeder and they stared at me as if I’d grown a second head.

But I’m happy to report that over the last decade or so, I’ve seen a definite improvement in the breed. A good cocker is a very sweet, very attractive animal. But be prepared for chronic ear issues.

@chyna Good luck finding a cavalier without heart disease. The North Carolina State School of Veterinary Medicine cardiology department attempted to conduct a medical study and needed 5 year old cavaliers without heart murmurs to participate, but they had to cancel it because there essentially were none. My mom’s rescue cavalier is a sweet dog with a 6/6 heart murmur.

You definitely want to check out the parents carefully. A colleague returned four cocker spaniels to breeders because of aggression/biting problems. He and his wife are very experienced dog owners and simply couldn’t manage the cocker spaniels.

If you can’t meet the dog’‘s parents (if they’re local) you should wonder why.

I’m generally a proponent of Adopt, Don’t Shop when it comes to pets, so I’d look into breed rescue if you have a particular breed in mind. Or perhaps look at retired breeding dogs. They’re usually pretty sound, health-wise. A good friend of mine just got two retired breeding Basenjis (1 5-year old and 1 2-year old) and a non-breeding puppy from the same kennel. Terrific dogs.

Yes, the breed line and the parents temperaments are vital. Always try to meet, at least the mother dog and observe her behaviors. The couple of Cockers I have known over the years were night and day. One blonde male that was lovable and goofy and a black female that was skittish, nippy and offstanding.

Not to be trusted around children.
Personally I love the King Charles Spaniels, every one I have ever known was a real sweetheart. I think that might be a better choice.

Great dogs! Great temperament. Not too smart, not too stupid, but just right.
And great dust mops. Whatever they walk in and/or through will come back into the house with them.
According to my dog book, they are indoor dogs, not good in the cold or to be left out in the cold like, say, overnight.
Good with children, although this doesn’t always apply, naturally.
Basically (bred as) a hunting dog, it is now mainly a companion dog.
With that beautiful coat, obviously lots of upkeep. I would opt for a dog with shorter hair, like the hair on a German Shepherd.

You just reminded me of the little Cocker my favorite aunt and uncle had been I was a lad eons ago—Paddy, they called him. I can still see that sweet little dog in my mind greeting me when I went to visit.

Cokers were all the rage in the ‘50s. My family and relatives always had Cockers. Such a gentle and loving breed (the dogs, not so much all of my family.) ;-)

@Pachy I think “Cokers” were all the rage in the 70’s. lol :-)

@Coloma, I’m sure you’re right, but I grew up in the ‘50s and I remember Cokers were very popular. Certainly in my large extended family.

@Coloma Do you think the “cokers” need their own “hash“tags?

My family had a cocker spaniel back in the 1970s. He was a sweet and loving little dog, but he was in-bred, line-bred, and completely uncontrollable. Every time the doorbell rang or someone knocked on the door, he’d run around frantically and lose control of his bladder. We couldn’t take him anywhere; new places had too much sensory input, and he’d become distraught and over-excited.

@janbb‘s right about cocker spaniel breeding during the mid-20th century. This poor creature lacked the temperment for training or socializing.

My adult self would never have a pure-bred dog. Actually, I’d never have any bred animal, pure or otherwise. Every day, countless animals die homeless or get euthanized in shelters because supply far outweighs demand. We don’t need industries creating them or consumers paying money for them. My own little Sadie is a loveable, rescued mutt who couldn’t be any nicer, friendlier, or healthier.

My in-laws have had three cocker spaniels in the time that I knew them. Holly was a nice dog, though when I met her she was older and mellowed out. She died of complications of pancreatitis.

Bailey I knew from a puppy. He was a major barker. If anyone even thought about walking by their house, he barked incessantly. He wasn’t the brightest dog, but he wasn’t especially dumb. I just remembered, he was scared of suitcases! He died of complications from pancreatitis. (He did have a special enzyme that they put in his food, but it only helped for a while. He was 15. It was sad how weak he became.

Jazzy is the dumbest, wimpiest dog I have ever met. She’s now about 90% blind due to cataracts, which is sad. According to dogguide.net, American Cocker Spaniels do have a predisposition to cataracts.

Would you consider a spaniel mix-breed from a shelter?

Oh yes, a shelter dog! My present one is a shelter dog. I am also concerned about if she would take to another dog.

I’ve known one cocker spaniel, in the 70’s, who was, as others said, very sweet and adorable, playful in a non-aggressive way, and with lovely flopsy ears. (Even despite living in a family that had issues.)

Oops, shame on me, I made the first cocker typo. but nice wordplay, @janbb !!!

@Pachy Haha, with a trunk as big as yours you could snort a lot of cockers. lol

@Coloma: The King Charles is also known as the Cavalier King Charles and are known for heart ailments (it’s a guarantee, pretty much that they’ll have heart ailments). They are cute but it seems like heartache for the owner combined with vet bills. I only know this because a friend has one and I’d googled it. Someone mentions it above too.

@jca Yes, I didn’t know that, too bad, they are darling little dogs.

I can tell you my dad always wanted one but never got one. We had several dogs over the years but never the breed he wanted.

I don’t know why.