anyone with cocker spaniels?

[sununu]

we have decided we're ready for a puppy, and I must admit I have my heart set on a cocker, I've always loved them though the closest I've ever come to having one is a springer/collie x. I've done a lot of research and found a good breeder, but there are a couple of things still worrying me -
grooming - is this going to be a real hassle and expense?
exercise -we live in London, with a good sized enclosed garden and near a park. I work from home, but walks will have to fit in around 3 kids getting to and from school and activities. will a couple of short outings a day, some ball throwing in the park and being let out in the garden be enough? will every weekend need to include a 'proper' long walk?
I'm just wondering whether we really ought to think about a small, short haired terrier type..
I'd love to get the real low-down from a cocker owner
thanks!

I've got a working cocker who has a bit of springer in her, so she does need a lot of walking. The non-working cockers would probably be fine with your walking schedule. We used to live in London and we still used to be able to do a 40 min walk somewhere in woods/park each day to add to the small round the block walks morning and evening.

They are lovely - what colour does the breeder have?

Or you could think about a cockapoo which are so cute....

My cocker is really not mad at all, although I know the breed does have a reputation for being loopy.

We let our breeder guide us to which puppy would be best for us, as she had had them in her house for 6 weeks by the time we chose..she picked right!

I have a cocker. I clip her myself to keep costs down. Their ears need careful attention as they can get very matted if you are not careful.
They do love walking -twice a day is ideal. They have a reputation for being pullers. Mine is perfect off the lead but a pain on the lead.

Mine is very affectionate, loyal and manipulative.

thanks very much everyone. the breeder has show type blue roan dogs (mostly with lots of black).
I've thought about cockapoos or cavapoos but I'm concerned that they are trendy and therefore perhaps more home breeders in it for the money?
and with cavaliers they do seem to have such terrible health problems, though I suppose a really good breeder would give you some security about that
I suppose the other question with cockers is rage - is it real and something else to worry about?

I am sure I have read somewhere that Cocker rage is less likely with dogs with two tone coats rather than a solid block of one colour.(I can't back up that info though, it is from the back of my mind when I was reading up on the breed )

Cockers are a working breed (even if show bred) so it depends what you mean by 'a couple of short outings'. They need lots of exercise and stimulation, they tend to take to train very well so you could condsider obedience/agility/gun dog training. What do you mean by 'will every weekend need to include a proper walk?'

Terriers generally need a huge amount of exercise and mental stimulation.

CKCS have many heath problems, heart disease being the biggest worry, half of all CKCS will show symtoms by the age of 5 and nearly all by the age of 10.

Even if you work from home the puppy will need a lot of supervision in the early months, puppies of all breeds can be very destructive.

I think I'm prepared for the puppy stages. By a proper walk I suppose I mean figuring on driving to the heath or the woods and really wearing the dog out. That could happen most weekends but not every. Daily I could imagine walking to school, walking to park, throwing a ball - 20-30mins 2x a day as a minimum. Perhaps that's not good enough. I take your point about terriers, also know some who have been hard to train and not good at recall which would worry me.

I think that you would probably be fine with that amount of exercise, because if you add in walking to school and back, and walking to the park and back with 30 minutes in the park, then you should be at over an hour's exercise per day.

If you drive to the park, throw a ball for 20 minutes, then drive home, then it would not be enough.

I have a Blue Roan show type cocker and she is lovely, very loyal and loving.
I walk her half hour in the morning and half hour at night however my dad does pop round and take her out most days a lunch times. She does go for very long walks at weekends, we have a medium size garden and 3 children that keep her entertained. I think what you are suggesting would be fine. I clip her myself which took a bit of practice but looks fine now. I did read about cocker rage but as mention mostly occured in the solid cockers and if you are buying from a good breeder you probably wont have a problem

Our cockers need at least an hours exercise a day. The majority of that needs to be off lead as they then cover about 10x as much ground!!
If you were to lead walk them everywhere they wopuld prob need more

We clip our ourselves as they would cost £32 each in our area South West.

Someone told me that cocker rage is more common in 'red' coloured dogs.

They are such lovely dogs though & put up with a lot of torture love from small children, always happy to see people & don't bark much.

I am Going to see a cocker puppy on Saturday at a breeders house. So good choice

I think I am most worried about the puppy nipping the kids, as
My friend had a puppy who was terrible for this and the kids hated it!!

But we had puppies as a child and they had never been like that.

if you get the puppy, do post and let me know how you get on! how did you find the breeder?
I am really swayed by their friendly and gentle reputation and I think I can cope with the rest. good luck with yours!

I have a nearly 2 year old chocolate and white "show" cocker, Dill. He is completely gorgeous and utterly nuts :)

He is also like Houdini and has had to be to retrieved from an assortment of neighbours gardens on more occasions than I care to remember. I love him to bits but also find him a struggle on occasions.

GRooming wise, I trim him myself otherwise he comes back from a walk with half the forest attached to his feathering. I do mean to get him done properly but haven't got round to it yet.

He is hard work and doesn't get as much exercise as he needs because I can't let him off the lead (very poor recall to the point I can hear him running away when called and a tendency to jump up at people in an overly friendly manner). Don't forget to factor in training lessons when planning your time.

he is gorgeous, isn't he. sounds a bit daunting though.. and there is a lot of hair to deal with isn't there!

I have been really fixated on a cocker but since I've been lurking here reading so many knowlegeable and impassioned posts about rescue dogs I have started feeling very guilty about buying a puppy, and wondering if I should try and rescue even though it is not easy with 3 kids under 8.
I guess I still have a lot of thinking to do.