Hello and welcome to COL
We have four cockers, 3 workers and a confused show type. 3 were bitey as pups and the only reason the fourth wasn’t is because she came to us age 6 years old......they are known as cockerdiles for a reason!
As you have already discovered, Cockers are very different to springers - tho to be fair, all dogs are different and a great deal depends on the breeding of the dog and just how much “drive” they have.
My thoughts are a) ditch the book, you now have COL and a wealth of experience of all types of cocker spaniels from their owners (real life stories v generalist book content, which it has to be) and b) invest in wine and chocolate both help enormously with the coping strategy for the cocker pup owner.
One subject I note you haven’t covered is how much sleep your pup gets? Cocker pups need around 18 hours rest/sleep a day which really took me by surprise with my first dog. She is the reason that I’m on COL and yes, it was (like so many other members) how to cope with the biting phase that brought me here! I forget who said about routine and sleep for pups but I owe them my sanity
Is your pup in a set routine of sleep, eat, going outside, wake for 30 mins or so and maybe a short walk (recommended 5 minutes walk for every month of age up to 3 times a day) then back to their bed/crate for a sleep? Pearl (#1 dog) would become fractious as the day wore on and although slept during the day all week, while I was at work, by Sunday night she was a whirling dervish of teeth....my own fault for not being savvy enough that her sleep pattern was disrupted
The other consideration is that at 6 months your pup will be teething. This will make the play biting, nippiness worse as frankly your pup has sore gums and like babies, will want to relieve the gums - frozen carrot sticks work a treat. Teething can also cause a very upset tum so expect this if it is teething.
Hopefully this has started to cheer you up a bit but be aware......the teenage phase is yet to start. 8-10 months old your lovely pup who has a good recall (?) will very likely suddenly develop selective deafness
there is a good reason for this, their hearing develops last and only really forms age 10 months on and if you have a headstrong, hard hunting dog (#2 dog) I would suggest you may want to programme those brakes now!
Good luck with your pup,
Jayne
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