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A happy, healthy Cocker is not a difficult thing to achieve, they are by virtue of breeding a happy breed to start with, so you need to build on this to make the most of your Cocker Spaniel.
Some points of note for a happy, healthy Cocker:
Provide enough exercise to prevent boredom Spend time with your dog Provide the best food you can afford Don't overfeed Groom daily, bath when needed Provide a comfortable space your dog can call his own Give training, an obedient Cocker is a joy to own Build a good relationship with your dog, he will respect you for it.
Feeding. The following is my opinion, not gospel, I don't think you will go wrong by this, but if in doubt or if your dog has special dietary needs, please consult your vet or a dog nutritionist. Also note that these notes are intended for adult dogs, not puppies.
There are three main food groups with which you could feed your dog. The first is the raw meat type, where you buy fresh or frozen meats, cook them, then mix with maybe vegetable matter to provide a balanced diet. The second is tinned dog food, possibly with a handful of mixer. Thirdly is the large bags of dry 'Complete' foods which are also readily available - even at the supermarket these days!
The raw meat diet. This may suit many people, but I find it inconvenient, you have to select your cuts of meat, cook it off, mix with other foods to provide other vitamins and minerals, it is all a bit of a chore. Also bear in mind that no two cuts of meat will be the same nutritionally, what you buy one day (fresh or frozen) will not necessarily have to same levels of protein and vitamins/minerals as that which you buy the next. A bit of a gamble I find. Cost may also be an issue here.
Tinned foods. Convenient and relatively cheap, in the region of 50 pence per tin (for the better quality brands), provides most the nutrition your dog should need. Although it should be eaten with a hard biscuit mixer to keep the teeth and gums healthy. This puts the feeding cost up a little. One minor disadvantage of tinned food is that you may find that you will be 'picking up' after your dog more often, due to the high water content of most tinned foods.
Complete foods. Cheap (in the long term), convenient, doesn't 'go off'. A Cocker size dog could be fed for less than 30 pence per day. The initial cost of a big bag of complete food may be off-putting, but bear in mind that this huge bag is going to last! You may only need around 250g of the biscuits per day. The dry complete foods tend to 'bind' up your dog a bit more, so you'll be 'picking up' less after it. One small problem, a very large bag may be difficult to store, out of the dogs reach!
Feeding Notes. Complete foods should be mixed with nothing, this why they are called complete, if you must moisten it, use water or a little gravy (i.e. stock not instant!)
Don't formulate a cocktail of different brands, and do try to stick to the same brand all the time. Remember that dog food companies spend millions of pounds researching to create the best diet for your dog. If you go and upset that balance which they have created, who knows what is going on inside your dog! It's amazing how people say they have a hyper active dog, only to find out that they are mixing different brands of feed every day!
Avoid feeds which are designed for working dogs (unless your dog is a working dog of course), they give your dog extra energy and not really recommended for pet dogs.
Should you wish to change brands or type of foods, do so gradually, this will prevent any tummy upsets. A good method is to introduce the new food by percentage, e.g. On the first day 10% new food 90% old food, next day 20% new food 80% old food etc etc. Over the course of a week or so this will allow your dogs digestive system to adjust.
Fresh clean water should ALWAYS be available.
If in doubt ask your vet.
You may wish to free-feed, this is when the dog gets all of it's daily allowance of food in one go and can pick at it as it pleases. I would recommend this method of feeding only if you use the dry biscuit complete feeds (the tinned stuff goes stale too quickly) and you only have one dog, this will prevent your other dog(s) from helping themselves!
Grooming. If you are up to it there are several books available on grooming. If not a local grooming parlour may the best option, for a reasonable fee, they will trim your dog to Breed Standard. These days many will see to your dogs anal glands too. Note though that if a grooming parlour says that it will 'clip' your dog, this may mean that it will return quite heavily shorn! Try to get recommendations from someone who knows local groomers who will trim your Cocker so that it comes back looking like a Cocker!
Your dogs coat should be brushed regularly, daily if possible. Bathing is only really necessary when the coat is very dirty or neglected, choose the best canine shampoo you can afford. Don't forget to plug your Cockers ears with cotton wool before bathing, his ear canals are very deep.
Exercise. Cockers love to walk, explore and generally sniff about. Having said that though their exercise requirement is not as demanding as some breeds. You may have difficulty training your Cocker to walk to heel, this is because, they are very much a ground based dog, always scenting and sniffing their way around, if they latch onto a scent they will want to follow it regardless of where you want to go! When out walking your dog, take extreme care to keep him/her on the lead until your are absolutely sure it is safe to let him off the lead. If you walk near farmland, make sure that your dog cannot get into the farmers fields, if your dog harasses the farmers animals, he is quite within his rights to shoot your dog.
Try to set aside a little time every day (say 20mins) to play and interact with your Cocker, this may involve a few 'fetch' exercises or a bit of basic training, 'sit', 'stand', 'stay' etc. He will learn in no time what is expected of him. On a similar note, we found that when we took our Cocker to training classes, she wasn't very good at the exercises in class, yet at home she could perform most of them after a few tries, we found that a large hall just waiting to be explored, other dogs, other people and a host of new smells, was just too much! Her concentration span was virtually zero! All she wanted to do was go and meet everyone and have a sniff around, Cockers are so inquisitive. So if you do decide to go to training classes, you must be prepared to practice the exercises at home.
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