Cocker Spaniels

[bigredfeather]

I have the opportunity to get my choice from 6 registered Cocker Spaniels for free. They are around 4 months old. I have never heard anything good, bad, or otherwise about this breed. We have young children and it will be a house dog. Anybody out there have any thoughts as if this is a good breed for family dog. Are they easy to house break?

Thanks.

 

[Appytaz]

I have had 2 - one female and one male. I have to say the female was much easier on the house training! The male piddled everytime he got excited. Which for a cocker is quite often I had the female for 16 yrs and she was just a dream child! Our male cocker is now 8 and he has a totally different personality. He still piddles occasionally. Overall they are a very fun breed. I personally would go for a female over a male - just from my experience with the 2 I have had.

 

[scbatz33]

Cocker Spaniels can either be really sweet or really nasty. Temperment is very very important. Have you or can you intereact with the parents - both parents? I had one as a teen and she was super sweet. But I have worked with plenty that were nasty biters.

You also have to remember, they will need grooming. They also can suffer from severe ear infections. They can have thyroid problems, eye problems from cherry eye to cataracts, they can have severe skin allergies as well.

It's very important to know the history of the parent - all of these things are hereditary. It's an awful shame to have to put down a 5 year old dog because of bad breeding. Been there, done that.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Both parents where in the pen with them. We were only there for a short time, but the parents where friendly to my daughter. They were trying to lick her face and seemed eager to play with her. My DD loves dogs, so she was eating it up. If it weren't for her, I probally wouldn't even be asking about it here.

 

[Crazyland]

I grew up with cock-a-poos and we had a run on what their temperaments were like.
My sister thought she would get a purebred cocker. She now regrets it. She got a little girl. She still is not house broken even though they try everything. She will not stay home. I think part of the problem is that she is not trained.
When I visit with my dogs gracie picks up on their behavior and is good but as soon as we leave she reverts back.
Out of all the 5 dogs, only one was good with little kids.
I know there are great cockers out there, but you have to be careful.

 

[brownlikewoah]

Quote:
I agree with this 100% this breed is very prone to allergies, as well as skin and ear infections. You have to know the history in the parents and know what you are getting into. I don't think they're terribly hard to potty train, but nearly all of them are submissive piddlers. I will say that about 98% of them that come into our grooming shop poop or pee at some point in their visit, so they are not my fav breed!

 

[dntd]

I have trained one and she was the easiest dog to train she loved food, not food agression but it mad he train with ionn a week she knew her name, come,shake paw,down,sit,roll over,leave it. So lazy though not really a long walk type of dog though she does love her sqeak toy. My parents have had so many dogs all were rotten my dad had a heart attack and they were looking for a dog for him to walk, I decided to give my dog to my parents, almost made me cry but they love her and have never had such a well behaved dog, although she needs to be on a leash due to the retriever trait. In the three years she has had 2 ear infections but not bad ones, black one don't get that rage and turn like the other colors do fyi.

 

[Haviris]

Honestly I've heard alot of bad things. My mom bred them for awhile and ours where the sweetest dogs! Very kid friendly (my first dog was a blond cocker named Lady, I was 9 when she was born, she'd have done anything for me!), easy to housebreak, just all around wonderful dogs, I thought they were all like that. But our groomer and vet were always commenting on what wonderful temperments ours had compared to others! Vet said she had a new client bring there dog in, after a few minutes she knew it'd came from us, and they confirmed it! I've met a few really nice ones since then to, I honestly haven't met any of the nasty ones, but I've met alot of obese ones that hardly resemble their breed, I was in an obedience class w/ one that reminded me so much of Lady, in looks and temperment! I'd own another one in a heart beat if it was like the ones we had!

Almost had another one, when I was volenteering at the shelter someone dumped a young cocker puppy w/ a leg deformity (could have been fixed if it was done when the puppy was born, but at that point only option was to amputate it), unfortunately they apparently didn't get the puppy any care at all and he was so infested w/ worms he was vomitting them up, and died on his way to the vet. Also almost adopted an elderly one that came in, possibly not pure, mostly blind, possibly deaf. But very sweet! I just couldn't stand to see such an old, sweet dog end her life there. Thankfully the owners finally showed up, took them longer then I was comfortable w/, but atleast she went home!

 

[lockedhearts]

We just lost our 13 year old Male in December. We got him at 9 months and he had a bad start. It took me a while to get him housebroken and I never got him over knocking over the trash can. But he was a great dog. He was not around kids much but was pretty tolerant and he also tolerated all of our Jack Russell litters. As he got older he got Grumpy and I had to make changes in the way I did things like feeding, he got very food aggressive (this may have been due to his cancer) but other than that, he was a great dog and I still miss him.

 

[Hennyhandler]

We had a cocker spaniel. I grew up with because he was gotten a little before I was born. He was the BEST dog ever. He wouldn't pee or anything if or when we were away all day. He was sweet and would do anything for you. We could sit a plate of food in the floor and he would never touch it. If he ever did accidentally got out of the house he would go around to the front door and wait to be let back in as we were in the backyard yelling and searching for him.

He was the perfect dog. He was 13 when he passed away. I miss him greatly.

Later, we got another one and she was a girl. There was two in the litter. One was soooo small so we decided to take the other one. Later, we found out she had a heart murmur and probably some other stuff as well. She was a sickly little girl but had a wonderful personality. She died when she was about two, way to early. I miss her.

In the end, the heart murmur was from a bad breeder and either way every breed is going to be known for certain ailments. I believe you can't go wrong with a cocker spaniel.

I don't have one now but I have two other dogs and would love to get another. Please take this opportunity and RUN with it. You will not regret it.