Maggie's Farm

Cocker Spaniels

Apparently not everyone is aware that Cockers were bred as Woodcock hunters, thus "cocker". It was not until the turn of the century that they became known as a separate breed from Springers; smaller, but with similar spaniel talents and deficiencies: bouncy and energetic, but not overly-endowed with brains and with a tendency to pee on rugs when excited.

Wonderful small flushing dogs and retrievers, they are great cheerful family dogs which cannot reach the kitchen counter, and that can, with the difficulty of any spaniel, be trained to do a fine job in the field.

And a dog that cannot do work to find food in the field is a decadent waste of dog food, is it not? The English cocker is considered a better hunter than the American, but I am not certain that that is a fact. Plus I have never hunted over a Cocker.

At some point, we will do a piece on Woodcock hunting, which is fine 20 ga. sport because they are tiny targets which twist and turn in seemingly-random directions. A relevant detail is that the European Woodcock is a larger bird that the American, with more meat on it.