Living with a spaniel

[Volluto]

We've always had dogs but now have our first cocker spaniel. All other dogs have been wire types.

He is 7 months. A great calm dog in many ways apart from usual puppy 'zoomies'

But

The mess, the dirt. Constant wet ears. Fur soaked after a 2 min trip outside. Smelly. Needs bathing after every walk. But he is then sooo wet and his fur seems to soak up every drop of water and hold on to it for hours! Muddy hairy paws. Did I mention the wet ears!

Any tips for spaniel ownership would be VERY MUCH appreciated.

@Squirrel26
Change my home a bit ... I have white tiled floors!!!!!! I'm an idiot! I'd love to change my home

Love idea of dog dry shampoo!

Volluto-dog is black show type so a total fluff ball atm

I think after a certain time you just come to accept that there will always be paw prints around the house .

Springer owner here. I feel your pain, mine is in every muddy puddle, swamp, you name it. I’ve invested in a proper dog hairdryer & an equafleece drying coat. I also had a hot tap installed outside so I can shower him in the garden.

I don't think my Cocker smells particularly doggy (my partners Great Dane does).
But he is a muddy messy wet ball of fur in the winter.
I hoze him down outside after walks, rub him with a towel then let him dry off in the utility room. Shower him every month or when aforementioned Great Dane has slobbered all over him!
He isn't clipped although I did his legs a bit with trimmers.
He is on kibble so don't really have a problem with his ears getting crusty, but am loving the mental image of tying them back in a scrunchie.
He is without doubt the furriest cocker I've ever had, my last one was sleek and beautiful, he seems like he's been crossed with a shagpile rug!

Dog hairdryer you say .... what is this?
Will a human hairdryer suffice?
(Previous wire dax did not need drying)

Ruff and tuff drying coats and drying mitts!

I have white tiled hall and kitchen too! (Not done by me, although the previous owners also had a dog - what were they thinking!!) I dream of being able to afford to replace it with a nice dark grey!

Weird. Mine is really clean. I keep his feet clipped and just bung him in a crate to dry off after walks - his fur doesnt cling to dirt and smell like the collie's at all!

OP wait until your spaniel finds a deep muddy puddle and wallows in it like a hyppo just before you are about to get in the car. That was the worst muddiest dog I have ever seen as he actually fully laid down in it and I swear I could see him laughing at me

We have two springers, live rurally in a very muddy (heavy clay) area. The last two years I have had ours clipped very short in the winter, especially ears and feathers, just to try and reduce the mud. We also spray down outside if very muddy, and as others have said, lots of towels. When I had the downstairs bathroom redone I incorporated a walk in shower with hand held spray to make it easier to shower spaniels. When the kitchen was redone, the wooden floor was replaced with ceramic tiles to make it easier to mop, and underfloor heating which helps the dogs dry off quickly.

I have purchased a robot hoover to keep on top of the dog hair, fleece beds with removable washable covers, and a towelling drying coat.

I think we are keeping on top of the smell...

I have a show cocker and live rurally with no pavements only dirt tracks so it’s a constant battle keeping his coat free of mats and tangles and pulling twigs out every day.

The best thing I have found is to use a blaster to dry him after every walk and have a good supply of hotter dog/equafleece coats so he doesn’t get too dirty running around in the mud. My top tip for using the blaster is to hold a towel behind the bit you are drying and it blasts the water and mud into the towel rather than your floor or back into another part of the dogs coat.

The only downside of the dog fleeces is that they seem to encourage mats under the armpits that I can’t get rid of.

The final thing is to get used to not having a clean house!

I’m living with 2 cockers, both orange roan but predominantly white. Their backs are clipped and their feet are kept very short but they have feathering and little skirts. They go to the groomers every 4 weeks so I think that keeps the smell down a bit. I hoover a few times a day, relatively easy as I have the Gtech pet so no cables to tackle. Sometimes they wear an equafleece if it’s heavy rain, once we catch them! After every walk I wipe them down thoroughly and hairdryer them, and brush their ears daily. It’s daily hard work but consequently they are never a mess as such. They love a puddle and a mound of fox poo, whereas my previous cocker would jump over a puddle ha.
I also have my garden sectioned off so when they go out for a quick wee, there is no involvement with soil and mud, that is left for their 2 walks everyday.
Roll on spring.

Two spaniel household here.

Ruff & Tumble drying coats will save your sanity... and your walls from mud spatters. Keep paws well clipped out especially underneath.... I just use scissors and mine are very used to it. I wash after each walk with a little fox poo shampoo in the water (Animology).... it's uber gentle on their skin, conditioning and removes general odours. For some reason spaniel feet stink!! We've got a Mars Coat King for using once a month to get the undercoat under control and that stops a lot of shedding. And keep their ears well cut underneath... stops ear infections, my eldest has got a hummer of one at the moment and is feeling very sorry for himself. Open an account at your vets, you will use it. A lot.

Best dogs in the world.... even if I do moan most days that our dogs can't seem to just run round a field, they're too busy ripping themselves to shreds in a hedge and finding pheasants

It’s similar to this, but I didn’t pay £80.

Wow so much love for spaniels! This is my first and I feel I have so much to learn!

Interesting to read comments about trimming the feet. He has so much fur under his feet and I think this is why always so muddy. So can i just trim the fur under his feet with scissors?
Struggling to find a decent groomer at the moment - all with good recommendations are operating waiting lists around here! Have a rec for a mobile one though which I haven't tried yet.
What age should he start grooming?
I also hadn't realised it would be so frequent as some of you mention 4 weeks

I took my cocker to the groomers from around the age of 4-5 months. Most have a puppy session where they get them used to the sounds and sensations first.

I do battendog's (springer) under paws with clippers. It took a little while to get him used to it, slowly, but he brings in a lot less mud when they've just been done.

I also repainted walls with washable paint...

If you use scissors just be super careful about the membranes between the pads.

I trim under the paws with scissors and round the paws too. Their feet should be like cat feet so don’t trim between the toes on top or they will go like a starfish.

Offredismysister that is the blaster I have, it is great. We towel dry first with a towelling coat and then the blaster. Totally life changing!

I use the mats coat king and also a spaniel comb to remove the undercoat on the body but the groomer hand strips his head.i don’t have the patience to do that.

We've had a few spaniels over the years and one certainly had more body odour. They have a double coat so can suffer more with heat and retaining water. We had them bathed monthly and kept closely trimmed. I'd worry about daily washing,if you're using shampoo, but a rinse off would be fine. We keep towels by the doors, brushes for tails and ears, I vacuum twice a week, and gave up on having a properly clean home!

Agree with all the above advice
We eventually replaced all the grass in the back garden with astro turf which helped a wee bit when the weather was bad. Less mud and he could "clean" his paws before he went into the garden.

sorry mean house

My Belle