Purina

Other names/Nicknames:

• None

Country/Date of origin:

• Great Britain
• 1800’s

Height:

• Females:  15 to 16 inches
• Males:  16 to 17 inches

Weight:

• Females:  26 to 32 pounds
• Males:  28 to 34 pounds

Personality:

• The Cocker Spaniel is described as merry.
• Loyal and affectionate.
• Intelligent with a desire to please, which makes training easy.

History:

The English Cocker Spaniel, or Cocker Spaniel as it is known in the rest of the world, is a bird dog designed to work before the gun, springing or flushing game out of cover.  In litters of spaniels, the smallest ones were used to work woodcock, a bird that hides in dense thickets.  The breed gets its name from the game bird it hunted.  Eventually, the different types of spaniels were separated into various breeds.  The most popular being the little Cockers.  Cockers not only flush birds and hares, they retrieve them as well.  In the United States, a distinct variation began to emerge in the early part of the 2oth century.  By 1946, the two types of Cocker were sufficiently different to be split into two breeds.  The American Kennel Club (AKC) granted the name Cocker to the new American variation, and distinguished the original by calling it the English Cocker Spaniel.

Body Type:

• A larger, lighter-coated spaniel than the American Cocker.
• The tail is set low and is carried even with the back.  It is always moderately docked.
• The long, hanging ears are set low and are not altered.

Coat:

• The long coat is silky.  It may be flat or slightly wavy.
• Permissible colors are white, black, black and tan, or roan pattern in blue, liver, red, orange, or lemon.
• Moderate grooming required, with occasional professional trimming.

Health and Wellness:

• Congenital deafness.
• Cardiomyopathy.
• Otitis externa.
• Chronic hepatitis.
• Atopy.
• Food allergy.
• Lip-fold pyoderma.
• Primary seborrhea.
• Sebaceous adenomas.
• Hyperplasia.

What you should know:

• This dog loves to play.
• A happy little dog.
• Needs a great deal of exercise.
• Should not be difficult to find but not as available as the American Cocker Spaniel.