Oh my goodness, how do I choose which puppy?

[m0therofdragons]

We are hoping to bring a cocker into our family end of August and they were born this weekend. We have first choice - black, chocolate or golden. We will be considering temperament but they’ll be so little it’ll be hard to really get a full idea other than not the most dominant or timid. Which colour would you go for? (So excited)

[m0therofdragons]

We’re after a boy.

It’s not ideal timing covid wise and I’m sure it would be cheaper from someone else but I’d trust them less. In January the ones we saw varied from £1500 to £1800 so it doesn’t feel that much more. Overall, the timing works for us as a family. We can meet them in a few weeks and decide then. I’m so excited.

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

@Frlrlrubert mine hides in my blind spot so I turn all round looking for him and panic and then realise he’s right beside me! Yes to being hard to photograph too!

[SlothMama]

£2k for a cocker?? That's a lot of money! I've paid almost half of that this month for a much rarer gundog breed.

Anyway, to answer your question have you got a sex in mind? And has the breeder said when you can make your choice by

[Frlrlrubert]

My black girl is beautiful, so shiny. No one knows it though because she photographs like a black hole! She is darkness incarnate. DH has started calling her shadow, because she also walks at heel so close you constantly think you've lost her.

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

I’ve got a black working cocker and he’s so shiny - shinier than any of the others I’ve met. But the person who said they’re hard to see in the field at night is spot on! And I know a roan wcs so they do exist... I find the liver ones tend to have woolier fur but I like black or liver or roan myself, less so the goldens.

[Whitney168]

I hope you don't think this breeder is doing you any favours selling you a pup at £2k? - I would say that is well over double what a working Cocker (by which I mean a generic working type Cocker, not a trained working gundog) would normally go for.

I honestly think anyone buying a puppy at the moment wants their head read. It is madness. It's going to be very interesting to see whether prices re-normalise, or whether this will become the new normal.

[MaitlandGirl]

My parents found with their cockers that the solid black had issues with other dogs. It’s really hard for dogs to properly body language on all black faces. Dad found their black cocker got attacked a fair bit because did it.

I adore cocker puppies and my choice would always be a golden roan if at all possible :)

[Frlrlrubert]

Our liver (working cockers are liver, not chocolate imo) bitch had lemon, golden (can't remember the proper colour off the top of my head) liver and black pups from one mating with a golden stud (I think the official colour might be 'red' but he didn't look red).

We kept a black bitch but the lemon boy was so beautiful.

I have a genetics degree so tried to work out the genetics of it all - it's very complicated!

[welshdaisy]

How exciting for you. I think all of those colours are lovely but chocolate is my favourite. I just love dogs though, I'd want one in each colour

[m0therofdragons]

The chocolate has caught my eye but we will see when we visit in a few weeks. Friend is excited and sending lots of videos already.

[frostedviolets]

I see, I think the chocolates are the prettiest personally

[Aposterhasnoname]

I’m so jealous. Would love to be able to have a puppy.

I always let the pup choose us. Our gorgeous, much missed boy used his brothers and sisters as a staircase to get over the wall to say hi to us.

[m0therofdragons]

First litter had a different stud. These were bred to be solid colours and are. There are 6 - 3 golden, 2 black and 1 chocolate.

Mum and stud are on the KC register as I’ve looked them up

[m0therofdragons]

Maybe it was black and white - only saw one pic and I thought it was roan but I’m a novice.

No need to be suspicious - this is the second litter over 2 years. Mum is black. I’ve seen the babies with mum shortly after birth and like I said, I know her. She only owns one female so doesn’t have lots of litters.

[Motorina]

It would be worth googling the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test at some point. I found it really interesting, particularly the suggestiosn of what sort of outcomes are good for what home.

[DramaAlpaca]

Blimey that's expensive My springer from a very good line of working dogs cost €500 four years ago.

Anyway, if I were to choose a cocker on colour alone, as in what's my favourite, I think it would be a golden.

[FATEdestiny]

solid black, chocolate and golden. The last litter was blue roan, lemon roan and a chocolate

Do you mean 3 pups - solid black, solid chocolate and solid golden?

Or do you mean 2 pups, one solid black and one "chocolate and golden" - which isn't a recognised colour. Is it chocolate and tan?

"Chocolate and golden" could mean the sable colouring that is around a lot at the moment. Not recognised by KC (and undesirable from a breed standard point of view) because once the sable gene is there you lose all solid colours in the future breed line due to its dominance. It's the same with the roan gene - if the roan gene is present you lose the solid colour line.

www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/standard.aspx?id=2052

www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/colours.aspx?id=2052

Whichever option, I question the validity of these (and the blue roan, lemon roan and a chocolate example you gave) in a single litter and wonder if it's actually that full colouring hasn't come out yet, which is not unusual in the first week

[SchoolNightWine]

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

SchoolNight, x-post.
Blame the wine!

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

SchoolNight, x-post.
Blame the wine!

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

these are working the show cockers are £1500 (from a different breeder we were put in touch with).
Cripes. IME top-end working-line gundogs from health-tested parents come in at about a grand.

For anyone who wants their brain to explode this is fun for cocker coat colours . I'm too tired to delve into it tonight. But working cockers can definitely be roaned.

[Floralnomad]

I’d want a boy so I’d see what colours they are and then choose - probably a golden if there is one .

[SchoolNightWine]

@frostedviolets

solid black, chocolate and golden. The last litter was blue roan, lemon roan and a chocolate. This mum has colourful litters
Again, do solid black, chocolate and golden typically show up in a single litter of cocker spaniels?
What colour is the mum?
I am assuming one of the parents is black?
Loads of different colours in a litter I suppose is possibly depending on what colours the parents ‘carry’ but I’d be a little suspicious.

these are working
Eh?
I didn’t think workers came in roan?
I thought that was a colour pattern pretty much exclusively seen in show?
Or does your breeder do both types?

Workers definitely come in roan! I have a blue roan one!
Lighter colours show up well in forests when they roam away from you...

[Wolfiefan]

I brought home a puppy at the end of last year. I was going to choose based on all sorts of sensible things. Then she walked up, gazed into my eyes and held my finger in her mouth.
Needless to say I didn’t make a choice.
I do have a fondness for the golden though. I don’t have cockers. But every golden cocker I know is an absolute sweetheart. Really confident and funny. Love people. So I’m biased.

[HelmutShmacker]

I know someone with a golden cocker, he's the loveliest little thing, his temperament is amazing :) If I had to pick I would choose golden

[longtimecomin]

We got a black sprocker just before lockdown. He was the runt and is just adorable, I love him so much. Just go for the puppy that makes your heart sing 🐶