Working Cocker Forum

[Millomite]

Hi

I notice you have a show cocker forum but not a working cocker forum where things such as field trial results etc could be posted. Is it possible to set one up?

Thanks

Scott

[Jane S]

I'm not sure we have any members who compete in Field Trials. If there was sufficient demand for a Field Trial board, then we would certainly consider it but only if it was limited to Field Trials and not used as a separate area for Working Cocker chat. The showing board is not a show-type Cocker board - it's for all chat specifically relating to showing as we have a lot of members who actively participate in shows at all the various levels.

[Millomite]

Hi Jane

I did not mean a field trial board as such, but just a forum specific to working cockers. To trade training tips etc. There is a gundog photo section but not a forum specific to training cockers for working

[Jane S]

We currently only have a small number of members who actively work their dogs.  If this number was to grow, then we would consider a board for discussions related to working activities/training but at the moment we couldn't justify the creation of a new board for this purpose. In the meantime, there are other forums which do specialise in discussions relating to working gundogs and their training and I'm sure our working members will point you in the direction of these.

[Millomite]

Hi Jane

I'm aware of the other boards but thought it would be useful to have something on the breed specific board, after all, cockers are a gundog breed aren't they?

I was reluctant to join this forum because there wasn't anything to do with working cockers on it, would having a working cocker forum encourage more people to sign up?

It doesn't cost any more to add a sub forum, and there are forums which havent been used for ages, I thought it would be a useful addition.

[Penel]

There are lots of us who have working cockers - and quite a few who work them.  If you want a general working dog forum though, you'd be better off joining Nobs - not sure of the link but am sure if you google it you'll find it.

[Millomite]

There are lots of us who have working cockers - and quite a few who work them.  If you want a general working dog forum though, you'd be better off joining Nobs - not sure of the link but am sure if you google it you'll find it.

I helped set NOBs up

[Jane S]

There are a lot of Working Cocker owners on here but most have their dogs as pets only. I can think of less than 6 who actively post about working their dogs and this is not sufficient to justify a separate board. If there turn out to be a lot more and they currently are just lurking but not posting, then fine, let's hear from them all and we will reconsider the decision but any new board in the future will relate to working activity only - there will be no separate area for Working Cocker chat generally. Most of the discussions and questions people have about their Cockers are of equal interest and relevance to owners of either type of Cocker and we do not want an "Us" and "Them" divide on COL, much as some seem to want this.

[Cob-Web]

It doesn't cost any more to add a sub forum

There was a thread about this a few months ago:
http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=21367.0

I said in that thread that I know that maintaining a busy forum like this takes a lot of time and effort, and I for one appreciate everything that Jane and the other Admin/Mods do 



The membership of COL has grown hugely in the last 12 months, with a lot more off-topic chatter as well as the cocker-related threads - and each new sub-forum would require moderating and maintaining, too 

[Penel]

There are lots of us who have working cockers - and quite a few who work them.  If you want a general working dog forum though, you'd be better off joining Nobs - not sure of the link but am sure if you google it you'll find it.

I helped set NOBs up

well there you go then, you know where it is 

[Millomite]

I know I do. What I thought was to go to a more specialised board, of cocker owners, to see if there was anyone who could help, rather than a general gundog board

[Penel]

What do you need help with, maybe there is someone here that can help you ?

[Millomite]

Nothing as yet, as I have not even got my pup. What would have been good was to be able to read working specific topics all in one place, rather than trauling through topic after topic looking for info.

What an unfriendly and unreasonable bunch you all appear to be

[Magic Star]

I know I do. What I thought was to go to a more specialised board, of cocker owners, to see if there was anyone who could help, rather than a general gundog board

Thats the beauty of having an open forum for both show type and working cocker strains, everyone gets the benefit of knowledge that each other holds, instead of having an us and them    Why change what has worked very well for a number of years

[silkstocking]

What an unfriendly and unreasonable bunch you all appear to be

that's certainly not true