Please read todays Daily Mail!!!!!

[haziefantazie]

I am now not going to buy the Mail and I have already stopped watching "its me or the dog" along with binning her book, which I had.

I had a red cocker (sadly now gone) and he was the most placid dog I have ever met.

Due to him being so lovely, after he went I got another cocker, only this time a black one. 

If this stupid man wants to come and see how lovely my cocker is, he is more than welcome.

So now I have had a full red one, and a full black one  What are the odds of me getting 2 cockers who are both lovely, placid

I think he needs to go back and do his sums again

Is he stupid, ignorant or just doesn't have any common sense.

[miche]

I am now not going to buy the Mail and I have already stopped watching "its me or the dog" along with binning her book, which I had.

I had a red cocker (sadly now gone) and he was the most placid dog I have ever met.

Due to him being so lovely, after he went I got another cocker, only this time a black one. 

If this stupid man wants to come and see how lovely my cocker is, he is more than welcome.

So now I have had a full red one, and a full black one  What are the odds of me getting 2 cockers who are both lovely, placid

I think he needs to go back and do his sums again

Is he stupid, ignorant or just doesn't have any common sense.

Totally agree and wont be buyiing the mail again as an owner of 2 black cockers -OK so mine are working and working x show but I know more people who have lovely kind solid cockers than people that have solid cockers with agression probs.  Where does this man get his facts from

[Jan/Billy]

My dad ( who looks after Billy for me) rang me today to say he'd "found an article about black cockers that I might want to read".  I quickly told him it was nonsense and not to listen to a word it says. Not sure he believed me though 

[jools]

As many of you know, I had to have Millie, my golden cocker, PTS back in August. I have to say that, having read the article, he could have been talking about Millie's behaviour. What I took from what he said was that rage is present in some blood lines - not every one....and because of this, he would not recommend solids as family pets.

 I know many people on this site have solids......with kids....and they are perfectly well behaved and not at all like the mosters solids with poor breeding can become.

I have mentioned on this site before that the breeder I got Bramble and Poppy from has been breeding for 50 years. She breeds solids as well as particolours and she is 100% firm that if anyone with a young family wants to buy a solid, she will not sell one to them, due to, in her words, their unpredictability.

This is going to sound patronising - and I really don't mean it to be, but until you have lived with one of the dogs Dr Mungford described, it is very difficult to understand. They are so different to solids who have clean blood lines and particoloured dogs, that they are simply not recognisable as the cockers we know and love.

If his article stops one family go through what we have gone through, I applaud it.

Just to stress, I am not saying there is a problem with every single solid in the U.K, but these dogs can come from "good" breeders, not just puppy farms. If I knew then what I know now, I would never have bought a solid cocker. Just a personal thing.

[Cob-Web]

They are so different to solids who have clean blood lines and particoloured dogs,

Given how many solid x parti matings I have read about recently, I doubt that parti's can be considered "clean", either 

If you consider Rage is to be genetically inherited condition (which has not been proven, but is considered likely), then it becomes comparable to conditions such as epilepsy, deafness or any other condition with a genetic basis .

The need to find a breeder who knows their breeding lines for many generations is essential if Rage (or any genetically linked fault) is to be eliminated; but all the while cockers remain a popular breed, they are going to continue to be a breed favoured by commercial breeders and puppy farmers who couldn't give a stuff about inherited conditions  Some of those pups will then be bred by BYB, and so the cycle continues........

If cockers have to be demonised as a breed to stop the demand for puppies being met by irresponsible, unethical and in some cases inhuman breeders, then I can't totally condemn the article, even if I disagree with the reasons for Mugford's beliefs 

[jools]

They are so different to solids who have clean blood lines and particoloured dogs,

Given how many solid x parti matings I have read about recently, I doubt that parti's can be considered "clean", either 

If you consider Rage is to be genetically inherited condition (which has not been proven, but is considered likely), then it becomes comparable to conditions such as epilepsy, deafness or any other condition with a genetic basis .

The need to find a breeder who knows their breeding lines for many generations is essential if Rage (or any genetically linked fault) is to be eliminated; but all the while cockers remain a popular breed, they are going to continue to be a breed favoured by commercial breeders and puppy farmers who couldn't give a stuff about inherited conditions  Some of those pups will then be bred by BYB, and so the cycle continues........

If cockers have to be demonised as a breed to stop the demand for puppies being met by irresponsible, unethical and in some cases inhuman breeders, then I can't totally condemn the article, even if I disagree with the reasons for Mugford's beliefs 

Well put Rachel..... and I hadn't thought about people who breed parti and solids together.

[PennyB]

Sadly this sort of article creates hysteria and makes people blinkered as they never get past the word rage -- I have come across cockers due to be pts for very slight misdemeanors because of this sort of hysteria, or people who probably now fear their dogs even though they've done nothing, or who will still buy cockers from unsuitable breeders as they're particlours and not solids. And what about other breeds where rage may be found no one knows about those as no one ever talks about it other than here.

What people take from these articles is only that solid cockers more than likely get rage  (no matter where you buy them from), they are blinkered to the fact that you need to buy from reputable breeders, train or socialise their pups etc. as they stop listening once someone mentioned rage and don't even see the link. More than likely these unscrupulous breeders will push badly bred particlours on to them instead suggesting they don't get rage so have these. I doubt very much anyone learns anything from Roger Mugford's articles re cockers as he is so blinkered about them himself (as Jane said he writes pretty good articles about other breeds including bull breeds). It doesn't sell newspapers to say this is how you should go about researching any breed or socialising them or training them.

[lyn]

paddy was my first cocker,he is showxworker also his dad was solid his mum parti.his breeder is a wannabe puppy farmer.he was awful as a puppy,a nightmare.people kept telling me he had rage.he was manic and the first few weeks were an ordeal .he has grown into a lovely boy.i never in my wildest dreams thought any dog could fill the space left in my heart after losing maisie but he has. i wish dr mugford could have met paddy at his worst and now at his best.training is essential for all breeds big or small.it's made a world of difference for paddy.luckily our usual vet adores paddy and paddy adores him.if pads has an ear infection and is in pain and grumpy our vet understands that.he doesn't assume the worst like the stand in vet i saw a few months back who thought paddy had issues

[kookie]

for what its worth, I've emailed my views to the 'contact us' on his website. I think he needs to re evaluate is views and opinions on cockers.
I've disliked his views and condemnation of the breed for years, and wouldnt normally give him the time of day, but I think he is a scaremongerer.

[Joelf]

Unfortunately there does seem to be a bit of prejudice against cocker spaniels amongst the uninitiated who don't realise what super but wilful little dogs they are.

Even my excellent vet wasn't that impressed when I said we were going to get a cocker (although I said to him "You only ever see the ones with something wrong with them!!" ); however he admits that Domino is a super dog & had in fact told his sister who was considering what breed of dog to have that he knew someone with a lovely cocker(meaning Domino!! )

It's a shame that anyone considering a breed like the cocker should be influenced by Mugford & therefore misses out on years of pleasure from such super little dogs.

[kate.s]

You see i have been thinking about this - and dogs are dogs

When you take any dog into your house - you are potentially taking in a weapon that is capable of harm. Now that probably sounds a bit dramatic - but dogs are dogs. They don't think the same as us because they don't have the same thought processes we do. Now that involves both humans and dogs adjusting to living together in a mutually acceptable way. We, being the part of the relationship, that is able to make decisions and so on, obviously have responsibility for facilitating the appropriate relationship.

If you are not in a position to do this you should not have a dog in your home, be it cocker spaniel, bull terrier, yorkshire terrier - what ever! Because they all have a potential for difficulty. Now I don't profess to have a degree in animal behaviour, but this is common sense - it should apply to any animal.

In every breed there is the potential for "rage" - but it very much depends on what you perceive rage to be. Rage however is not a dog who has bitten after provocation, where noone has stepped in to deal with it. Every dog will have a different level of tolerance for certain situations - as we humans do. Good training will recognise and deal with this.

In my opinion, "rage" syndrome is completely different to this - it is often unprovoked and out of character for the animal - with the chances of someunderlying cause being very probable.

Every individual must know their dog individually. You must know its capabilities and responsibilities and prevent behaviour by training and management.

Dogs are dogs - they act the way nature tells them to. It is not reasonable to take on a dog and expect it to be something other than that. There is no easy option

Hear hear!!

Sam is solid black, and I have three children, yes he has had his moments but he is twelve months old and at the end of the day dogs are dogs. That is what I say to the children......he is a dog

[leemanc]

I have not read the article, and did not know anything about rage when we got our 2 cockers, one red and one black and tan.  I feel that any dog whatever the breed can have problems for whatever reason,but basically it is down to the breeding and the way the dogs are looked after and trained.  I also have never heard of this bloke but if he is a Vet then I would have thought that he was in a better position than most to be aware of this, and I think it is irresponsible for anyone to give a label to any breed as a whole, dogs are like humans, individuals and responsive to the right treatment.

[Danni n Betty]

His full title is Dr Roger Mugford BSc Phd and he's an animal behaviourist/psychologist. He also owns the Company of Animals (suppliers of haltis, kongs etc). Shame he's come out with this old guff as a lot of what he says in interviews etc in defence of dogs is good but he seems to have tunnel vision when it comes to discussing Cockers sensibly.

I got to meet him, and sit in on a talk he gave on dog behavior and training, a couple of months ago at the NEC.
I THOUGHT he was great, a very kind approach to training dogs, gave loads of great tips too.
There was a Q&A at the end where you got to ask him for advise about individual dogs, which he was more than happy to do.
I was going to ask him for tips for Betty and her agression towards strangers, Thank God I never!
Im quite disapointed that he has generalised like that

[PennyB]

Unfortunately there does seem to be a bit of prejudice against cocker spaniels amongst the uninitiated who don't realise what super but wilful little dogs they are.


It's a shame that anyone considering a breed like the cocker should be influenced by Mugford & therefore misses out on years of pleasure from such super little dogs.

I think its that wilfulness that a lot of people can't get their heads round, unless they're terrier owners that is . Cockers do present with more challenges than their cuteness suggests for some owners

While I've never liked Mugfords approach I really do wish more people would do their research into breeds before getting a certain type of dog as I really do think cockers are not for everyone --- if anyone asks me about getting a cocker while I'm walking my two I must admit I don't do the oh they're the loveliest dogs on the planet thing, I will say that while I think they are they are very hard work and while not trying to put people off I really do make sure people think about what they want from a dog and what they can offer them. And lets face it mine are so relatively well behaved when I talk to them but I point out how much work went into that in the 1st place (mind you am the same when I 'interview' people for any of my foster dogs or if I do the odd homecheck)

[Jax]

Exactly why I don't and never have read The Daily Mail.  I will say no more.