Cocker spaniel clip

[quickcheekyone]

Does anyone know what sort of clip a cocker spaniel would have please? She's a show CS and is having first clip soon. We don't want skirts or anything fancy just a tidy up. The breeder told us that you're not meant to clip the hair on the top of the back on a CS it will ruin the coat. I can't find anything online. Does anyone know if this is true? Thanks

Yes its an issue for all spaniels - clipping 'ruins' the coat, as does neutering - so if you're going to neuter it won't matter anyway. It makes the coat tangle easier after.

You can trim with scissors but it's a time consuming and fairly difficult task to get a smooth outline.

I tried just trimming mine but in the heatwave earlier this year I couldn't get the fur short enough that way (he was really struggling), so I relented and clipped him super short (he still found the heat hard, poor thing).

Tbh if you're not going to show, just clip all over for ease.

No idea what a spaniel cut should actually be but mine is neutered and clipped short all over but we clipped him from the start as I preferred practicality over anything else. People do ask if he is a puppy though which I think is down to his short cut he isn't as he is almost 2 years old

OP, worth knowing there is a difference between a clip and a trim. Clipping tends to be done with electric clippers whereas a trim is done by hand, with scissors. I think it's said that clipping changes the coat but trimming does not.

Battendog is a show springer and basically I ask his (very excellent and most lovely) groomer to give him a hygiene trim and good rake out of dead fur. This involves trimming his ears plus thinning out the mass of fur that grows just behind them and gets knotted. She also clips around his nethers and trims around his bottom to keep the fur there short which prevents pee etc getting trapped.

For the rest of him she trims down his leg feathers to keep them an inch or two long and looking neat. She trims his chest feathers into a smooth (long) u-shape to follow the contour of his chest.

She also trims his feet to give him tiny, tidy paws.

His coat hasn't been changed at all by this and he looks very smart when he gets back and I love it - but I still have slight envy for those who have gone straight for a short clip that is easy to look after. He needs a daily brush and the other day I spent and hour picking out over 1000 of those tiny sticky ball/seeds!

One of these days I'll give in and have him shaved

We had to have our working cocker neutered and his coat was never the same afterwards. It was beautifully soft and shiny before but afterwards it grew quite thick and rough so we had him regularly clipped. A short clipped coat is not the same as long soft fur.

A show cocker is hand stripped and not touched with clippers at all.

You can clipper them and mimic the shape of a show style coat if you aren’t showing.

Personally after 3 years of keeping my cockers coat beautifully hand stripped and trimmed I bought some clippers myself and now she is clipped very short all over by me. Saved a fortune in 7 years and there is far less dirt and mud!

And if you haven’t already join the forum called Cockers Online. You will find detailed pictures of what to ask a groomer for.

My show cocker is clipped short all over. He's also neutered, and I haven't noticed a change in his coat - but it's only been about 5 months since he had the chop, so it might yet change.

His first clip, I asked that he keep the feathers on his leg, chest and tummy, and it really looked lovely. But he loves to swim and is always deep in brambles and bracken, so we went for a full clip - so much easier to take care of and it makes him look like a puppy.

Back in the olden days a cocker spaniel would have been hand stripped but this is time consuming, expensive to have done by a groomer as it takes far longer than using clippers, and not all dogs will tolerate it. A traditional CS cut has a skirt, feathering on the legs and chest, the top two thirds of the ears shaved at the bottoms trimmed, and a flag tail, though a lot of pets owners might just have the body and legs clipped short and the tail and ears trimmed.

Unless you're planning to actually show your Cocker, I wouldn't bother with handstripping. A traditional cut looks lovely, but needs regular upkeep.