quote:
Proven working ability in the field does not necessarily mean field trialling - it means to me a WORKING cocker ie doing the job the breed was created for, working in a beating line flushing and/or picking up.
I've heard this comment an awful lot....
and it's always from people that have never worked their dogs.
I think that breeding like this is perpetuating a 3rd type of cocker, the 'pet' cocker. That puppies bred like this that have become workers is purely as a result of luck and not of good or careful breeding - and I personally would steer clear of any breeder of working dogs that doesn't work them.
Hmmmm I can only account from my own account of experience of seeing one working kennel when I first looked for my first cocker, while the vast majority are well run and the owner trainers adore their dogs,but you can also get the bad breeders to in the so called working kennels, my first cocker was from a working kennel breeder and to be honest i nearly ran for the hills when I saw the conditions of her dogrun that she was housed in, and when I got her home she did nothing but pass straw for 2 days, after being told she was fed nothing but the best of chicken,fish and meat, He didn't believe in giving his dogs complete or traditional dogfood. She was ravenous for weeks and a very nervous pup that had no socialising, Well sorry but just because you work your dogs doesn't also guarantee a good owner/breeder either. Imagine if i had walked away from the kennel and with a thought that all working kennels were the same as that first one I visited, Thankfully since then I have visited quite a few over recent years and made some really good friends in the working circuit to the point of now taking up working/beating as well as agility and as well as taking my dogs out for their normal walks 3 times a day.
The argument about the carefull breeding from working kennels, all I can say to that is go through the working sites and try and find champions that have been screened or to the point your normal working studs that are advertised who can clain to be health screened, as i would edge my bets the vast majority haven't even from one or 2 well known kennels.
But getting back to the point in hand it not just about doing separate activities its also getting it rite for future generations in health screening. To which I am also learning to and I have still allot to learn. And again I will repeat i hope more Sporting activities are introduced into the kennel clubs acknowledgements as society becomes more recreational and does more sports with dogs. The working cocker is adapting to new demands as well as what it was originally bred for. There is only one market the pet market it's just some just happen to show their pet dogs or work them as a sideline to our daily lives, recreation. just some do it more than others.
