Talk to me about cocker spaniels as a first family dog

[NarniaBanarnia]

DH in fairness grew up with dogs (Labs) so he knows his way round a dog but this would be our first as a family.

There are 3 of us, me, DH and DD aged 7 (dog mad BUT not a big fan of the outdoors/exercise; part of the plan in getting a dog WHEN THIS COVID HELL IS OVER) is to encourage her to walk a bit more!!

I am home all day every day, not just thanks to Covid but I work from home.

Access to big commons etc and we have a garden but it is small.

Terraced house so we cannot have much barking.

Prepared to train indeed NEED to train as we have family who dislike dogs and won’t visit if we have a jumping-up dog (hmm, might be an advantage...!!)

I realistically couldn’t commit to walking more than 1 hour in the morning, Maybe 45 mins in the afternoon. Is 1h45 average per day enough for a cocker or would they be going crazy/destroying the house!?

We all adore spaniels in general. They are DH’s ‘compromise’ dog because he really wants a Lab but I feel we don’t have the space or lifestyle/time to walk a larger dog.

Do they shed A LOT??!

Good with kids? DD is very good, adores dogs and desperately wants one (only child) but isn’t ever going to be that child tirelessly throwing a ball for hours for DDog in the garden (DH will be doing that instead) DD likes idea of sitting and reading with snuggled-up dog!!

We love Cavvies but fear health issues.

Cockerpoos seem a bit crazy? But are Cockers too?

Any Cocker opinions welcomed!

moveandmove, have you come across the FB page Gundog Training for Novices? It's very helpful and if you posted there about lead walking issues I'm sure you'd get some good advice.

I don't know if these would count as designer dogs and therefore I may be shouted down but....
We have come across a couple of dogs that look like a mini lab - they are apparently lab x spaniels. Owners were very positive about them but I don't know any more than that. Might be worth researching a bit more. They were super cute!

I have a 9 month old lab and she barely barks parents were gun dogs though. Not really jumpy but she needs a good run morning and afternoon. A tired dog is a good dog and all that. Quite content to sit and snuggle provided she's been walked. I wouldn't discount labs

We have a lab springer known as a Springador. We have three kids and the dog is 3. He is a great family pet - looks very like a small lab really and if he s walked for atleast 1.5 hour a day he is really chilled. If he isn’t walked he d get bored and high energy. He is a great family pet - plays rough and tumble with the kids that want and plays gentle with the youngest who isn’t keen on rough. He is also brilliant with the kids friends. He s a bit of a bugger on the lead but that is our fault as we mainly walk him off lead and he is very keen to please.

Feel WCS are getting a bad rap. Ours is the sweetest biddable thing. No chewing, very intelligent, no barking madness. She is 4 and would get another in a heartbeat

Golden retriever! Easy to train, not massive (ours isn't anyway), soft as anything, great with kids, fairly bombproof if it's been bred properly (ours chose to sit out in the garden watching the fireworks...), gentle, love being close to humans. Like any puppy ours was jumpy and nippy and a bit of a pain but that's fairly normal and now she's 2 she's fab. Yes she sheds but then most dogs do...

We had a golden retriever when the DC were small. She was wonderful with them, gentle and biddable. She was a bit aloof though.. We followed her with a miniature schnauzer who was a fantastic all round family dog. Smart, no moulting and wanted to be involved in everything we did.

If I was choosing now though I’d go with a whippet.

I have a show cocker - he's a complete teddy bear with our family, but not keen on most other people or particularly (other) kids, we keep him away. He's only 2, developed the dislike for kids since his first birthday. Never bitten anyone... just wants people to stay away.

I have a cockapoo. She is a good girl mostly. Very easy to train but does have a mad ten mins each day. They are a good compromise as they are normally cuddly dogs. They are also easier to maintain as you can opt to have a short coat. Ours goes to groomers every 8 weeks and we have her done really short so we don't have to brush her etc. She can live on a 5 min walk around the block but can also go on an all day walk.

I would vote for a staffie as a good natured dog who doesn't need to much exercise, is trainable, easy to care for hair wise and would be a great companion for a child, and is the right size for a small garden.

Yours looks adorable @duletty!

I have a 6 month old working type lab and he’s pretty chilled out by puppy standards but I wouldn’t say they are suitable dogs for small homes and gardens. I have a pretty averagely sized suburban garden (about 30 metres long by 9m wide) and I wouldn’t want it to be any smaller for him, tbh.

We have a Lab/Pointer mix - he sheds, and he is taller than a lab usually is (long legged!). He is from working line but we don’t/won’t work him. He’s just turned 1 and is suddenly much more easy going and calmer, I can finally see there might be some joy in this! He is much calmer than our friends Cocker who is a neurotic ball of anxiety age 7, maybe that’s just him though, I haven’t known many spaniels well.

We adopted an 8-year-old show cocker last year. He's our first cocker - always had springers - and he is such a character. Playful and loves a walk, but equally happy to chill out at home or play ball/hide and seek in the garden. Never wants to go out in the rain. An hour or so's exercise is plenty for him now he's 9 but a younger cocker would probably need a bit more.

He's forever being compared to a human toddler because there's nothing he won't do to get at food or a ball that's been put out of his reach. He 'talks' a lot but is also very, very barky in the house, telling us about every little noise in the street. His coat is a bit of a nightmare - we have him clipped regularly but it grows back like a Yeti, mats incredibly easily around his harness area and his 'knickers', and sheds in big black woolly tufts. He loves wallowing in water and soaks it up like a duvet. He is gorgeous though, very cuddly when he wants to be and he makes us laugh every day. He has a huge collection of teddies that he carries round ever so gently and shows people - we're often seen walking down the street with a polar bear that's nearly the same size as him. Our 13-year-old adores him and has set him up with his own Instagram account

Look at his face @spiderlight

My lab is very, very quiet. We’ve had him since he was 8wks old (27wks now) and we’ve heard him bark 4 times. Once at the cat, twice at the lawnmower and once at the leaf blower.

Sorry, what I meant to say before I went off on a great long ramble was that it might be worth looking at slightly older dogs in rescue, as our boy has been so easy that it's felt like cheating!

Spiderlight your boy is adorable - and certain traits you mention sound like ours... he talks a lot. Especially to tell us he wants to go for a walk (and when 'speaking' he seems to move his mouth like he's trying to make proper noises like us). He loves his cuddly toys. They are all called 'bunny' but he knows 'ball' is different and he loves them too. He's a much cherished beast.

@duletty
She is beautiful.

We have a cocker/springer cross. We love her dearly. She is super chilled but loves to work. She is very family orientated.
She is in heaven now we are at home 24/7!
She is 7- the same age as my DD. We had them together. And they are inseparable.

I belong to a dog behaviour and training group and cocker spaniels feature in large numbers in the problem dogs. They tend to be excitable and neurotic, hard to train and needy.
Cockers used not to be like this but they’re not a breed for first time owners.

We have a cocker, not our first dog.
He's crazy, very loving, but very needy and he's always looking for mischief if he's not being kept entertained.
He loves people and stealing things. As a puppy he ate the odd shoe but nothing else. Never destroyed any furniture.
Even now at age 5, he will eat anything plastic or any pens/pencils that he finds.
He sheds constantly, needs brushing at least twice a week and regular haircuts at the groomers.
He's walked for approx 2 hours a day.
Health wise they are prone to ear infections.
Let's just say that it's a good job that he's cute

We have a working cocker and we adore her. Friendly and loving and has never chewed anything, never barks (they're generally quiet as a breed), however, as others have said, they do need a lot of stimulation (they're working dogs, as the name implies) and you might be better off with a show cocker. Also, if, like us, you live in a pheasant-shooting area, definitely don't get a working cocker. Ours has always chased them and is completely out of control when she does (and she's 7 now!!). Otherwise, she's fabulous! Good luck! (goes without saying, get one from a reputable breeder).

Can't go wrong with a lurcher 💗