Why A Cocker Spaniel And Picking Roo.

Let's start with why we chose a cocker spaniel puppy.

Firstly I, Molly had grown up with spaniels and Chloe had grown up with a cockerpo. Both our parents also have cocker spaniels at the moment. After looking at countless different breeds, researching them and finding available puppies, we kept gravitiating back to either a cocker spaniel or a cockerpoo. One of the main reasons we didn't end up going with a cockerpoo was breeding. It was very difficult to find cockerpoos being breed from a spaniel and poodle rather than two cockerpoos, this can come with health issues which Chloe experienced with her childhood cockerpoo.

The other breeds we strongly considered were Italian Greyhounds, Daushaunds and Beagles. These all come with their own issues and problems and after all the research we decided for our first pup it was easier to stick with what we knew. However now, I often wonder what life would have been like with a different breed.

Cocker spaniels come as either a show type, working or a mix of both. Depending on what type you go for will change their needs and energy levels quite a bit. Show cockers require more maintance in regards to grooming but generally have lower energy levels compared to the working type. These are typically high energy, not collie level but still high. They require a lot of mental and physical stimulation. Cocker spaniels are however adaptable dogs, making them a good family pet. Both also come in a range of colourings.

Here is a great wesbite with all the info you need on cocker spaniels.

Now what happened:

Now here comes Roo. We found her on pets4homes, we actually saw the ad one day and within a few hours all the pups were reserved. We were gutted. Both her parents were active working dogs. Her mum a farm dog and her dad a gun dog, both on the smaller side of a spaniel. We were looking for a smaller sized spaniel as we live in a terrace house. My parent's cocker spaniel Rosco, is a big boy at 20kg! Our house is definitely not big enough to cope with him.

The next day I was looking again, there she saw. The sale had fallen through with Roo and she was available again. I instantly messaged the seller and was delighted to find I was the first to it. There is so much competetion for puppies at the moment. I was told 4 other people were also interested in her. We paid our deposit and got her the next day. For complete openness and transparency, Roo is not KC registered and we paid £1,300. She came without her first set of vacines.

When we collected her, one thing we weren't aware of was that her tail had been docked. As both her parents were working dogs, the owners docked the tails when the pups were a couple of days old to allow for them to be used as working dogs. In all honesty, there was a brief moment when we looked at each other like "oh...." but decided that she was far too cute to let a smaller tail stop us. She came with all the official docking paperwork etc and we knew the vet who had carried it out. We also got to meet her mum, but not the other pups as they had already been collected.

What we would have done differently:

With our next pup (yes there will be another), we will definitely spend more time looking into registered breeder with the option to see them a couple of times before they come home with us. We would probably also look to find a breeder who will carry out health checks and the first vacine (this is important as it causes delays with socialisation).