Very worried we got a working cocker puppy - will we cope?

[Miriam]

Okay. I am embarrassed to admit this but we didn't do our homework properly.  I didn't know there was such a difference between working and show cockers.  My husband and I have just acquired a 12 week old working cocker spaniel puppy.  He joins our 3 1/2 year working/show labrador.  Our lab is a settled dog and we lost an old terrier a few months ago.  Our lab has missed him a lot and we decided to get him a friend.  The puppy has been with us a week and seems just like any puppy so far, ie knows his name - Dizzy, plays with toys, nips me a lot, runs around the lab and crashes out to sleep every now and again.  He is great at night, sleeps on our bed with our lab and us and goes through the night without accidents so far.  According to the breeder, Dizzy was identified as a submissive and laid-back puppy.  Though how he knew I'm not sure since Dizzy seems pretty active and confident to me and he doesn't seem scared of the lab, quite the reverse.

I work from home and my lab needs a good long off lead walk every day which I am happy to give him plus a couple of round the block lead walks.  Obviously Dizzy will get the same when he is old enough.  But, having searched the forum I realise that we should probably have got a show cocker because we are just an ordinary pet family.

Has anyone got a working cocker spaniel as a family pet and do you have any tips for me?  Spaniels do look so gorgeous and all the breed information I did prior to acquiring Dizzy said that both working and show cockers are happy, affectionate and trainable little dogs. Now I'm panicking and worried that Dizzy's needs will be too much for us.

[its.sme]

Welcome to COL,

I am owned by Bea a Show cocker so am not an expert on owning a worker, there are plenty of members on here that have worker and I'm sure they will be in touch soon.

Dizzy sounds like a typical cocker, happy confident and lots of fun, when I read up on the breed the top 2 differences seemed to be, less feathering on coat so less grooming( yay ) but could go on for hours when on a walk etc, keeping his brain bizzy with different toys will help and building him up to his walks, a good rule of thumb is 5 Min's walk per month of age, off lead walks should be less time as they are more active off lead, saves them having painfull joint issues later.

It sounds like you enjoy walks with your lab so I would not panic but you may need to do a second long walk when he is old enough.

Both Show and Workers make loving happy companions.

Welcome to the wonderful world of cockers.

Sharon.

[Miriam]

Thanks Sharon!  You obviously really love cockers! 

The thing is I don't think I'll be able to do much more exercise with my chaps than an hour off-lead and a couple of 25 min block walks! 

That really is fine for my lab, he is happy and well.  I am really angry with myself because I think a show cocker would really have worked for us assuming we got the right character.

Maybe a 'working' owner can tell me what it is like with a working cocker in a pet household. 

[lottiescat]

Hi
I think that it depends on the nature of the dog. We have a two year old show cocker who is quite utterly insane! Holly has endless stamina and really only rests when I do. No problem since we live in the country and spend hours outside with the horses and she has our other dogs to play with. Our daughter on the other hand has a nine month worker who can keep up with Holly but is basically far calmer and although I hate to admit it, more intelligent and has been easier to train . ( Don't let Holly read that!)
Good luck with your little one.

[JohnK]

Miriam, we got Minnie, our 4 year old WCS, when we lost Fudge, a show type cocker. We already had Danny, a six year old calm springer. Although we deliberately chose a wcs, we hadn't realised how much extra work they are, compared to show type. They are certainly more active and need more mental stimulation than show types, I have to admit there were a few times during the first year when I thought I had made a mistake. However, she is a very loving dog, great with children and good with other dogs. Sadly, we lost Danny, two years ago and Minnie took the mantle of top dog and is now an absolute dream to own. If Dennis, Rosie, Jess or Ruby are out of sight, she gets them back for us and generally keeps them all under control. She is also brilliant at swimming, running and agility. Yes, in my experience, a wcs is slightly harder work, but well worth the effort.

[Jonnydog]

Hi Miriam, my previous cocker was a WCS and although she had plenty of energy, she didn't need any more than two walks a day and normal running round the garden etc. I used to give my springer a single long offlead walk per day, plus garden games, but when we got Jess, I realised she needed to go out twice, so I would do one long walk and one moderate walk and that suited us all. She was a submissive girl and very devoted to me, but the easiest dog to walk ever since she loved being on the lead from day one (whereas springy boy never took to the lead).

I think you'll find Dizzy will fit in with your routine fine, especially if you ball-train him so that he can get lots of running about on your offlead walks. I found that Jess needed a 'job' to do and fetching the ball or carrying a stick fulfilled that need.

[Miriam]

Thank you very much John, lottiescat and Jonnydog, we'll just have to hope for the best.  I must say that my gorgeous lab Django is being so lovely with the puppy and actually wags his tail when the puppy comes to play.  And because Dizzy had a lot of socialization with his mum and other adult cockers plus littermates and family, he seems to love the lab and goes next to him to sleep.

To be honest,  I thought I'd made a mistake with Django the lab during his first year.  That second six months of teenage defiance and biteyness really got me down, but after the 18 month mark it was plain sailing and Django is now a much admired, reliable friend.

I'm hoping that having an older role model will help young Dizzy.

Luckily we go to my mum's house (she lives in the country) nearly every weekend and she has a huge garden and life is very easy there with dogs.

[woodlander]

Hi Miriam
I can totally understand your thoughts - like you we didn't really do our homework and we got Sweep a black wcs.  Our learning curve was pretty steep!!  We too are a normal pet household - no working.
She is nearly 7 now and we call her a sofa cocker! She is really laid back and a total cuddle monster. I have just been out for our usual Sunday morning walk and she is now chilling on the sofa. We will spend the rest of the day around the garden and house and she will be fine.
Hope this helps- we wouldn't be without her.

[Sasha B]

Hi, I know how you feel as I must admit Sash (WCS) was our first dog and we were not as prepared as we thought and should have been. However I am so glad that we have  Sash now and don't regret a minute of it. I too was told that she was the quietest in the litter and she certainly is calmer than a lot of WCS I meet.

Hubby and I work full time and have Sash and a  working strain springer. They get an hour off lead in the morning about 30 mins at lunch and another 30/60 mins in the evening, are happy with the 30 mins.

I play games with them at night such as hiding treats or give them a treat ball. Sash also gets her dinner in a Kong Wobbler so has to work this out.

At weekends we do like to do longer walks and we do take the odd days holiday now and then to spend more time with them and most of our actual holidays are in the UK and they come with us, but they are very happy and settled.

I think a big part of this is they get there walks every day come rain, shine, hurricanes or snow. This helps to keep them calm in the house.

Sash does have the odd mad spell (zoomies) but I think that is quite normal. From what you say if you add some brain training you will be fine. They are fantastic dogs.

Good luck

Karen

PS both lying at my feet now snoozing

[vixen]

I have two working cocker litter sisters from a working/trial background.  The breeder said all his dogs were very biddable  .  This quality has made them an absolute joy to own.  I don't work them, they are just 'pets' but they are happy to do whatever I do.  They will walk as far as I want but will equally adapt to shorter walks if necessary.  They are very clever girls and it is easy to teach them things to keep their brains active.
I have had lots of different dogs, GSDs, GSP, terriers, hounds but my WCs have been the easiest of them all 
They DO have less desirable qualities ( like the absolute necessity to roll in dead creatures, to find the dirtiest water to wallow in  ) but I just accept these as the joy they give me more than makes up for their 'dirty' habits.
Good luck with your Dizzy 

[Walshies]

Sounds to me like you will be ok as long he gets out and about a few times a day and is stimulated - lots of find games and ball chasing on walks should do the trick.

Our 2 year old working cocker Fudge has a varied exercise regime. When we are on holiday which is quite often as we are both retired, he is out on the fells when we can doing between 8 and 18 miles per day. However when we are home, he has less exercise mostly, resulting in him being less tired but still a calm dog. That's because even though he gets an hours walk in the morning plus a shorter one in both the afternoon and evening, we tire him out with running, fetch and find games.

Come the evening, no matter what he has done that day he is a relaxed and happy dog.

Best of luck with the little chap - plenty of advice on here - just ask, someone will know the answer!

[Murphys Law]

We have a show x worker who has just turned one year old. He hasn't quite got the energy of a worker but he still has plenty of go. I try to give him at least an hour off lead every day and another half hour later on in the day on his lead. This is plenty enough for him.

If, for any reason, he doesn't get his early walk he will certainly let you know. It is like having a tornado in the house

Murphy won't settle at home unless we are settled. At this moment we are watching the football and he is flat out at my side but the moment I get up to make a cup of tea he will be straight up after me.

I think you will have no problems at all. Your exercise routine sounds spot on. Enjoy your pup.

[Helen]

I wouldn't be looking at just exercise alone to wear your puppy out - it won't,  over-exercise can make them even more hyper -  I would be looking for good gundog training classes near you.  Their brains need stimulating and working.  They are working bred dogs so the best way is to work with them and channel their energies into what they love.  This doesn't necessarily mean taking them to a shoot but developing and training them as a working dog will reap benefits - recall, biddability, a dog that's brain is happily tired so they're not destructive etc etc.

Please don't get them tennis ball obsessed - you end up having a dog who's only pleasure is that ball and who has an incessant need for you to throw it and that can be unbearable on walks (plus their teeth really suffer!)

[BobnDot]

We've both a four year old female show cocker, Milly, and a two year old male worker, Chaz.

Milly has always been Dot's dog and I was looking for both a companion for Milly and a dog that I could call my own  .  We were well aware of the exercise requirements of a worker and were able to visit Chaz's breeder, a local gamekeeper, and go out with him and his dogs to experience working cockers in the wild so to speak.
Neither of us are exactly youngsters and were concerned that we may not have been able to cope with a worker but, after spending some time with Chaz's breeder and his dogs up in the hills above Ballater, he addressed our concerns with a typically Scottish "Aye, you'll do".
To cut a long story short, We were contacted some months later by the breeder and went out, along with Milly, to see the litter. Both Milly and I chose Chaz  and we came home with him later that day.

Chaz is now very much a part of our family, firm friends with Milly but different in so many ways, somewhat challenging during his puppyhood but worth every minute of it  . He's been back out to his breeder several times for a run up into the hills and some tips on his training. The biggest compliment I've ever received came when his breeder, after watching Chaz and I working together, commented "Nae bad, nae bad at 'a" which, from a Scottish gamekeeper, is praise indeed 

Chaz and Milly get about two hours of off lead exercise a day, half an hour in the mornings, an hour or more late afternoon or early evening then another half hour off/on lead before going down for the night. They also have access to our garden in between.

Chaz has never been worked with guns but is being trained to the whistle and retrieving lures. From his first day here as a puppy he's been crated but, after about six months, the door was been removed and he comes and goes at will.

I've found that having a worker is more of a partnership than merely owning a dog. Their intelligence is mind blowing at times and, if harnessed properly with lots of things to challenge them and keep them interested, the rewards can be amazing 

Don't worry, you'll cope. The next year will be hectic, interesting, frustrating and may even drive you to drink    but the end result will be a dog that literally becomes a part of you...Cocker spaniels are wonderful dogs but working cockers are really something special 

Bob. 

[MIN]

we got our working spangle because " a dog needed a home". we do work her for the 4 month shooting season but she is firstly and foremost a pet.  just forget about Dizzy being a worker and enjoy all the fun to come. special treatment not required