Cocker spaniel breeder

[Clayplay]

From next spring, we will be finally in a position to welcome a dog to our family. We are not eligible for adopting a rescue and certainly will avoid dodgy breeders. This is why I would like to get in touch with potential breeders in the next couple of months.

How on earth ill I find a reputable breeder though? Where do I look? We are in the SE but willing to travel. Any tips?

[Clayplay]

*will

[Wolfiefan]

I went through the breed club to meet breeders. Is there a reason you can’t rescue? There is likely to be a breed specific rescue. Good luck.

[DizzIzz]

Hi, I’m in the north and the owner of 2 gorgeous cockers and travelled over 3 hours to Leicester for them a couple of years apart. The breeder works closely with another cocker breeder based in Cambridge, for stud purposes.

I’ve had cockers before but would always go back to this lady wherever possible. Not sure if I can name the breeders, but if you message me I can.

Also, don’t know if you have used cockersonline but you will receive help on that site and see some lovely pics if you register.

[Clayplay]

Wolf breed club is a good recommendation, thank you. Do I need to contact the breed club secretary of the area I live in?

DizzIzz, I have sent you a pm (hope it worked).

[Wolfiefan]

I went through the national club for the breed I wanted. Please don’t search online. What about a breed specific rescue? You also may struggle to get a dog very quickly. Bitches don’t come into season very often and good breeders don’t breed often.

[LittleBLUEsmurfHouse]

Breed clubs are usually the safest and easiest option. Although if you want a working type cocker then you'd probably need to go through gun dog clubs.

With cocker's there are loads of area clubs, and 3 national clubs - the cocker club, the solids club and the parti-coloured club. If you contact the national ones, your area and neighbouring area clubs, you should find a couple of good breeders planning pups for next spring (cocker's are a very common breed, so there are a lot more good breeders out there and thus a lot more quality bitches being responsibly bred from)

[LittleBLUEsmurfHouse]

Also the breed club pages normally have contact details of someone who keeps the list of puppies/ up coming puppies but if not it'll just be the club secretary.

[Clayplay]

Thank you!

[Wolfiefan]

Good luck!

[FiddleFigs]

I started by contacting the cocker spaniel breed clubs across the South East. But I finally found the breeder from champdogs (which I know is frowned upon) - she was happy for me to come and meet her and her dogs to decide whether I wanted to go on the waiting list for one of her pups. I can highly recommend her - feel free to DM for details.

Good luck with your search!

[Clayplay]

FiddleFigs I don't know anything about champdogs ignorant. Why are they frowned upon? A quick google suggests 'Champdogs ® - Promoting Responsible Dog Breeding' is it not ethical?

[Wolfiefan]

I’m not sure but I think it’s just another website breeders can pay to list a litter. Happy to be told that’s rubbish though!

[tabulahrasa]

Champdogs is slightly better than other websites in that, they check KC registration, health test results and don’t allow commercial breeders.

I genuinely have no clue if they’re successful at actually weeding people out by that, but that’s what they try to do.

[longtompot]

I looked at Kennel Club and Champdogs to find the breeder of mine. There are several spaniel rescues about though, so you could look there as well.
I wanted a rescue when we got our first dog, but we have cats and had chickens, plus had young kids visiting our home so we weren't eligible. Now I have owned my first dog, I would feel more confident having a rescue, though I would love a puppy.

[LittleBLUEsmurfHouse]

Champdogs is just a dog focused selling site, so you still get a lot of dodgy and unethical breeders on there. Champdogs do try to make themselves better than the likes of Preloved and gumtree by clearly showing genetic testing status of the parent dogs but I don't know how good they actually are at getting that right.

Which has reminded me - if you are buying a KC puppy, sign up for a free "MyKC" account on the Kennel club website and you can check the test results for any parent dogs (and grandparents, previous litters of the bitch, etc) your are looking at buying a puppy from. It also shows you the inbreeding coefficient.

[TwitterQueen1]

Kennel Club list of cocker spaniel breeders in the SE is here

[Owllwo]

Why are you ineligible for a rescue dog?

[Clayplay]

Owl I have young children.

[Thefrenchconnection1]

Look on Facebook for Spaniel Assist rescue. You can apply to foster a dog. They will foster to families bit someone needs to be home part time at least. Dogs fostered in families will have a history of being ok with kids.