do your working cockers work?

[joanne_v]

Just a random question! Everyone I know who has working cockers does some sort of 'work' with them. Is that the case with you COLers? The only person I know who doesnt do anything other than walk their workers didnt realise they were working type when they bought them. They got 2 brothers.... needless to say they run riot....

Also, I have no clue about the whole gundog thing.... Can you 'work' show cockers or are they just not as good? All the show types I know would be rubbish at it although my Lily has a bit of a working attitude! Think she was scared of gunshots though when Crazyspaniels had her. Wimp.

Hope i'm not making an idiot of myself by asking these things!

Jo

[cazza]

Mine don't work 

Well Fern is 19 months and I am training her and she has been up the hill with local game keeper a few times and is off up again this Sunday (doG I must be mad, as I'm taking her with local game keeper  This is a fun day not an actual working session )
Hoping to start agility with Fern in the near future, just joined a club and got to go thro the basic obedience classes first

Braan is far too young at the mo but I am training him 

[Nicola]

I work mine but not everyone on here does. Well, I work Alfie and Tilly and Rodaidh is in training, hopefully he will be entered in some field tests as he's doing really well.

Show cockers can work, in theory there are lots of breeds of dog that could be trained to do gundog work (Poodles, German Shepherds and Rottweilers being just a few I've actually seen do elements of gundog work) it's just that some do it much better than others. It's horses for courses really and although on the continent dogs are expected to perform working tasks in order to achieve Champion status you will not find many show bred spaniels who hunt and retrieve as well or as naturally as a working bred one and that goes for springers and cockers.

It has been a long time since there was a dual champion cocker spaniel in the UK (a dog which is both a SHCH and a FTCH) which would obviously have to be a show type cocker as workers cannot be shown against the breed standard.  

In specifically bred working dogs their hunting drive should be greater and a lot of things will be instinctive to them. From the shows I've been to (not a lot but a few) a lot of the show cockers, particularly the bitches, are very dinky and may not be physically able to clear fences and ditches and retrieve a fully grown cock pheasant (and keep doing it over and over again all day) but there is a variety of shapes and sizes out there so some of the bigger ones may be better able to do this. I have to say though I have yet to meet a show cocker who is anything like as athletic as the workers.

[Krisdt]

We are doing the training but tbh I dont mind if Loki never works as he will still be kept active (agility club have a  waiting list) and we do try and learn new tricks.

[Coco]

Wherry works, she went on her first shoot of the season yesterday and did very well I hear. She has more instinct in putting birds up, going after runners (where they are hit but get up and run) and marking fallen birds or finding ones that have not been marked, she has less inclination to actually retrieve back tohand which we are working on but think it has to do with her size. She is fine with partridges but the phesants are a bit big and a bit much so she gets bored half way back   She isn't perfect but there is nothing better than seeing a working cocker doing theor job and they love it too. Having said that so long as they have plenty of exercise and stimulation there is no 'need' to work them and they are no less happy or content.

[Wendy G]

I am hoping to take Bailey on a partridge shoot in November, which will be his 1st time. As he is a rescue worker I don't know how we will get on but it's quite an informal day so hopefully we can do a few drives. To be honest I am probably not up to doing a full days beating (getting too old for it) I used to work two cocker's on a morning shoot and then go to a different shoot in the afternoon and start again. (wears me out thinking of it now).

I got Bailey when he was 11 months old so have been able to train him, we rescued Spud at 3 years which was (in his case) too old as he hadn't been used to being off lead so he is not steady enough to take on a shoot (he would probably do all of the drives in one hit on his own!).It is such a shame he was bought as a pet as he would have made a fantastic beating dog as he is so big and strong and will go through any heavy cover and  doesn't miss a thing.

[Tasha]

mine work but she is not being worked seriously like my weims because of eyesight problems so we are future planning.  She loves dogging in though and we've taken her on the shoots regularly during the closed season.  Keeps them calm giving them a days work or training and its lots of fun.

[Katina]

All mine are show type and all of them (except for one) are used for hunting  , so they are working dogs to me 

[pupdaddy]

Do you find that full length tails cause a problem?

[ali]

barkley is a working-type who is not worked.

we do however make as much of his natural instincts as we can and i hope to do agility with him in future, if his current knee problem heals up ok.

in the meantime, on walks and at home we often get him off searching for toys and other exercises, and i also work hard to make sure that he has a wide variety of walks as he quickly becomes dispondent if he goes to the same place repeatedly. he also gets a lot of walking time compared with a lot of dogs that we meet- two proper offlead walks a day and one onlead walk around the block at night. all this stimulation leads to a pretty content and, mostly, chilled out chap at home. on any days when he feels he hasn't had his fair share of exercise he quickly becomes very restless and starts to look for things to do- normally digging in the garden or destroying his bedding.

[crazyspaniels]

Yeah, Lilypad wasnt that keen on gunshot, and we werent shooting near her, it was over in the woods and she legged it and hid in the tea hut - Mr CS was gutted cos he would have kept her if she would retrieve a pigeon
Dobbie works with us but just for fun, I have no interest in working trials etc, but we go rough shooting, pigeon shooting and beating once a fortnight in the winter, plus we have been dogging in recently on the shoot. My hubby inherited 400 acres of shooting land and we have 350 pheasants on it, so enough to keep little Dobbie busy

[Nicola]

Do you find that full length tails cause a problem?

It hasn't for Alfie so far but as this is his first season out I guess only time will tell.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Can't see my current show cocker having any interest in doing anything that active 

Now I've learnt a lot more though, I think my last show cocker would have been fantastic.. and he came from a very successful show cocker father & grandfather. He had endless energy was extremely strong and athletic, very bright and desperate to please and he'd work his way through fields & bracken hills flushing EVERYTHING out (had no idea what he was up to at the time  ) and would retrieve anything for you, although his overexcitement at life was possibly a little uncontrollable at times   

I'm enjoying doing some gundog training with my Weimaraner and she really thrives on and needs the mental stimulation but I don't think she'll ever work properly, although it's early days for us. I love doing the training with her though and for me that's a huge part of owning a gundog breed - the bond and connection you can build with these dogs when you do 'stuff' together.. it's so rewarding for dog and owner. There aren't enough shoots to go around all the dogs from gundog breeds but you can use their skills in other ways and get a huge amount of enjoyment with your dog.. although I'm not convinced 'heelwork to music' is the right occupation for me and Storm (she's huge and I'm 5ft 1.5 and last week she gave me a priceless look when I was asked to teach her to weave THROUGH my legs.. she had to crouch down... a lot  maybe I'll take Dave to that class next time  )

Hannah x

[Katina]

Do you find that full length tails cause a problem?

No problem at all.

[Tasha]

oh hannah how funny, what a love!  I wouldn't give up on storms hunting abilities just yet she's doing well... think she might just surprise you