Show cocker - possibility of training them to work ?

[Helen]

yayy emma 

sporty AND beautiful...what a girl

[Katina]

WOW! Katina.

Very impressed, not only with your dogs and their all-round ability, but with you too. Do you have time for anything else at all in your life? Your dogs always look perfect.

Well, to be complitely honest, I don't have much trouble with free time  , but..

This is how I have chosen to live my life, wouldn't want to have it any other way 

[carryon]

Many claim that the show dog is not a good field trials, at least they do here in States. I disagree with that and have gotten kicked in the teeth for it, figuratively (Spaniels-for-Sport yahoo group). However, all a FT judge has to do is see long ears and the dog has no chance.
So I hunt instead. I never fail to put a few birds on the table (if there are birds there!) Also my dogs work the brush as they should and never speed past a bird in the rush to quarter at the speed of light. They can even hup! And capable of being called off the bird too.
JM2 cents
MegW

[GingerLeo]

Katina, thats pretty impressive what you've accomplished with Emma and your other dogs. It sounds like they have a great life.

I think Leo would love to do some kind of working/hunting as he's very bird obsessed.

[Black Angel's]

But, with the coat part, I disagree strongly. When the coat quality is right, you don't need to worry at all. Just have to add a photo here. On 2nd of september 2006 my Emma was at a goosehunt for the whole day. This is her on the 3rd of september, winning best bitch with CC.

OK,I really respect your opinion,but mine is that if you constantly pull out coat it doesn't have too much time to grow up again..and also,"hair root" (excuse me,I don't know how to say it in English) becomes very "weak",so I don't believe that it's possible to have show and working cocker at the same time,separated,yes,together,no...
my Holly for example, has really quality coat,she practiced for working test at the time when she wasn't shown..


Iva

[sarah25]

Lovely dog's Katina & Iva

They can always come and stop with me anytime they like 

[spanielcrazy]

Katina, your dog is gorgeous, you are a brave soul (and hard working!) going to a show the day after a hunt! I'd be afraid I'd have to be up all night picking out burrs and twigs and lose some coat to it.

Do you put anything like oil or something  on their coats before  going into the field?


Black Angel, your dog is also gorgeous, but has a very different coat than Katinas parti colour. I don't blame you one bit for not taking a heavy coated black (and long!) into the field while still showing! I had a black bitch whose coat was very heavy and tended to be a bit on the wooly side. Just taking her for walks could be a real job afterward...

But as Katina said it depends on the coat, and every dog is different

[Ulla R]

About the coat: I do have both working and show cockers and I prefer the coat of a worker when we go shooting pheasants or woodcock. It is different when you are shooting waterbirds, but the dence cover will ruin your show cockers coat. It takes hours to go through the coat especially when burdocks are present. In most cases show cockers have too much coat. A hunting dog does not need that much of it. And when it gets wet it does not dry fast enough. But any way you can hunt with a show cocker. The training may be harder and they don't have the same drive, but I've done it so you can do it.

[winewood]

Hi all,
 It makes me very jelous hearing about all the hunts there is nothing here in Australia for spaniels,I've now joined the pointer and setter field club in order to get some training. We are still in a drought so there are very few birds to hunt, no duck season here this year. Black angel what do you do to the dogs coat when you do hunt how short do you go, do you have a photo. One day I'll get to the UK or the states to see the cockers working