Working/ show confusion anyone?

[bajoleth]

I think its easy to forget that plenty of the general public are not acutely aware of the appearance of every breed. I for one was ignorant to the fact that there was such a thing as a working Cocker before I joined COL and that was just 3 yrs ago, I am not ashamed to admit that , why would I know?? I knew about the various breeds I had grown up with i'e GSD, Yorkie, Shitz shu (can never spell that), Collie Cross, Show type Cocker. As an adult I wanted a Cavie so know all about them as I owned one, when she died I wanted a Cocker like my childhood dog, if I had seen a worker out and about which I am pretty sure I would have I would have thought them a cross as my vision of an English Cocker Spaniel is a Show type, that doesn't make me a bad person I was just ignorant to the fact as to the 2 strains. Since joining Col I am aware and can quite clearly see the difference and appreciate the beauty of the 2. Through COL I have also found out about Field Spaniels, Flatcoats both if I had seen out and about before would have thought they were crossed with something as I didn't know about them
My 2 have never been confused with anything apart from everyone thinking Belle is a boy when she is so clearly a pretty girl so I can sort of understand your annoyance but I think sometimes us Dog owners give the General public far too much credit when it comes to recognising Dog Breeds

[wendyt]

I've got 2 WCS Murphy and Indy. A lady once commented when we were out that she'd never seen Springers that were "all one colour", when I said I'd never seen any either she gave me the strangest look and said "well that's odd you have 2 of them". I explained that they were WCS and not Springers but she still didn't look convinced and eventually said "are you sure". At that point I felt it was time to walk away.

We were on the beach not so long ago and I heard a lady say to her OH, "Oh look at that little setter puppy, isn't he beautiful", she was pointing at Indy, who is the most beautiful liver colour, I felt obliged to tell her that he was a WCS and she was so interested and asked quite a few questions about the boys, we had a really nice chat.
 

[NotanotherAlfie!]

Our Alfie is a working cocker (alllegedly!) but looks more like a show.  He looks just like the Alfie posted on here except he is chocolate roan.  I actually keep his ear hair length quite long to give more of a show appearance  

[LurcherGirl]

I think its easy to forget that plenty of the general public are not acutely aware of the appearance of every breed. I for one was ignorant to the fact that there was such a thing as a working Cocker before I joined COL and that was just 3 yrs ago, I am not ashamed to admit that , why would I know?? I knew about the various breeds I had grown up with i'e GSD, Yorkie, Shitz shu (can never spell that), Collie Cross, Show type Cocker. As an adult I wanted a Cavie so know all about them as I owned one, when she died I wanted a Cocker like my childhood dog, if I had seen a worker out and about which I am pretty sure I would have I would have thought them a cross as my vision of an English Cocker Spaniel is a Show type, that doesn't make me a bad person I was just ignorant to the fact as to the 2 strains. Since joining Col I am aware and can quite clearly see the difference and appreciate the beauty of the 2. Through COL I have also found out about Field Spaniels, Flatcoats both if I had seen out and about before would have thought they were crossed with something as I didn't know about them
My 2 have never been confused with anything apart from everyone thinking Belle is a boy when she is so clearly a pretty girl so I can sort of understand your annoyance but I think sometimes us Dog owners give the General public far too much credit when it comes to recognising Dog Breeds

I totally agree... just like cars look all the same to me because I know nothing about them, many dog breeds are not recognisable to many people and that's fair enough. I have no problem with that.  

Skye is a cross between working and show, leaning more towards working look-wise. I have been asked what sort of spaniel she is as she definitely doesn't look like a show type cocker which is what people normally visualise as a cocker spaniel, but she doesn't look entirely like a working cocker either as her legs are quite long and her muzzle slighly more show type shaped... She has occasionally also been mistaken for an Irish Setter puppy...   I don't mind really and I am well used to the fact that most of my dogs never get recognised as the correct breeds anyway... having a saluki, American cocker, strange looking cocker and used to have a Pyrenean mountain dog...  

[rubytuesday007]

when Ruby was little I used to get asked if she was a golden retriever, I used to say no she's a working Cocker.. to which a couple of people responded are you sure.. i dont think they come in that colour 

[bluegirl]

I was out with my show cockers once and someone thought they were terriers

[elaine.e]

I've been told that William is a Clumber on at least 3 occasions and can only assume that it's because he's an orange roan with a lot of white and the people who were mistaken had never seen a Clumber in real life or they might have noticed the differences in size and shape.

Here's my "Clumber" masquerading as a very handsome show type Cocker
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm201/elaineestall/William3-2.jpg

[Clare B]

Working cockers are very rare here in OZ, as far as I know there is only one breeder in oz abd they are in western Australia. I have though seen 2 , both brought out with their families when they moved from the UK.
My orange roan as a puppy has been mistaken for a springer ... I'm thinking welsh as there's a few around here and the colours similiar , but maybe I'm giving the benefit of the doubt.
The weirdest confusion was when Flo was a young pup and someone said she's a jack russell cross with something ... Must be the colour again, but really ... Jack Russell ?

[8 Hairy Feet]

I didn't know there were 2 strains
until Pepper arrived but I've got
my cocker eye in now.
Have also recently seen a Clumber
which I thought was a Sussex but I
hadn't knowingly seen either before
so I'm going to forgive my own ignorance
steffxxx

[black taz]

I have been asked a couple of times if Taz is a cockerpoo

[twiceover2]

People usually correctly identify Pippa as a cocker spaniel, but someone the other day commented on my TWO lovely cocker spaniels.  Barney is a Basset Fauve de Bretagne   

[CockersIndie]

I think you can be forgiven or the sussex/clumber- neither are very common! I do wonder how a cocker can be confused as a jrt or gr but oh well! I know my cocker is supposed to look
Like!

[pipkoi]

All the time ...  Alf is a show cocker and all show in his pedigree but, even to me looks like he has some worker in him = what do you think?


http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/bertie749/IMG_0498.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/bertie749/IMG_0610.jpg

Alf Looks like 100% Show Type to me especially with those gorgeous ears. You are very handsome Alfie  

Ditto Don't see how there could be ny confusion He's beautiful