your views on long coats or clipping

[JaspersMum]

hm !

now i don't know whats best as we will be up the farm everyday with the horses

i love my choice of show cocker chosen especially for his look and personality

but in hiensite (sorry i havent a clue how to spell this word) maybe i should have looked further into it and maybe a working cocker would have suited our lifestyle

it will all be ok in the end we will find a middle ground with everything coat wise in time 

teresa xxxxxxxxxx

Why not wait and see, if it becomes a problem you can always clip latter, better that than clip early and wish you hadn't because the coat can change a lot after clipping.

Our younger dog Louie is part worker and although he has feathers most of the coat cleans off very quickly, if you want to see how much, have a look at puppy photos board and look for "Who wants...".  If Jasper had the same habit the coat would have to be clipped much shorter 

[Luvly]

Just because a dog has a full coat dosent mean it cant do the same things  Belive me mine are in the brambles there digging in the garden and they swim every single day  and I have 7 in full coats   

[Cob-Web]

Why not wait and see, if it becomes a problem you can always clip latter, better that than clip early and wish you hadn't because the coat can change a lot after clipping.

I agree - we found that Molo didn't need clipping and I was able to keep him tidy and knot free for several years with a coat king, scissors and brushes 

I eventually decided to have him clipped as we took part in a charity walk of 14 miles, and he had been getting very uncomfortable on our training walks in the heat last month - of course, as soon as I had him clipped, the weather changed and he completed the walk wearing an Equafleece coat 

[Magic Star]

Definitely prefer them in full coat   Buttons is now clipped but in a show style which means I clip everywhere you would normally hand strip or use thinning scissors ans all the feathering is left intact but shaped accordingly.

Thats how Indie is done now too   I did for 3 years have her handstripped either by myself, but after each season she would drop her coat, especially her skirt!  So she didn't always look right    I started having her clipped in a show style for a few reasons really, firstly, I could no longer handstrip her myself cos it made me ill (i'm allergic)  shes quite an active dog too and spends a lot of time in the river, sea or trying to get down rabbit holes and in bushes, but the main one recently has been TICKS    I now live in a tick hot spot and found it quite difficult checking through a long coat to make sure she was clear after each walk     It really did become a bit of an issue with me, Indie also detests being groomed and really wasn't happy to sit daily and have me go through her coat with a detangler comb.  So off it came, i'm happy and most of all Indie is happy, she has no problems now when she goes in the bushes, she doesn't bring all the twigs out with her    I can give her a quick brush over daily and can check her for tics MUCH easier    Theres also so groomer here, nearest being a 3 hour drive!  So clipping her really is now the only option for me   I haven't had her ears clipped, I have had them thinned out though and they look fine, although the last groomer did trim the length, which I wasn't too happy about, but hey, it will grow back

I do love to see cocker's with the beautiful long coats though , there is nothing nicer, but for an active dog like Indie, it wasn't working anymore, she was unhappy being faffed with, so I am happy I took the plunge with the clipping

[Ben's mum]

Billy never used to like it either. Then one day as i was pulling a twig out he nudged my hand out of the way and pulled it himself  

So now when it happens (he's longer than i like at the moment) when i find a twig in his fur i say "Billy Twig" , show him the twig, and he pulls it out  

It's hillarious  

Just a warning, Ben used to do this, till one day the twig got stuck length ways in his throat and we had to drive like mad to the vets from the middle of nowhere in the Peak District as he couldn't breathe.   The vet operated immediatly and all was fine (apart from the bill )

i know it was a one in a million chance that it happened but it scared the life out of me, and i woun't let him do it anymore

Bens mum

[Joelf]

I much prefer a long coat for Domino; however he has a very fine & silky coat which is comparatively easy to keep neat & tidy; I would probably feel differently if he had a thick, woolly & curly coat!

[Jan/Billy]

Billy never used to like it either. Then one day as i was pulling a twig out he nudged my hand out of the way and pulled it himself  

So now when it happens (he's longer than i like at the moment) when i find a twig in his fur i say "Billy Twig" , show him the twig, and he pulls it out  

It's hillarious  

Just a warning, Ben used to do this, till one day the twig got stuck length ways in his throat and we had to drive like mad to the vets from the middle of nowhere in the Peak District as he couldn't breathe.   The vet operated immediatly and all was fine (apart from the bill )

i know it was a one in a million chance that it happened but it scared the life out of me, and i woun't let him do it anymore

Bens mum

  Poor Ben!!

thanks for that, hadn't thought of that 

Glad ben was ok 

[lyn]

Personally I prefer long coats, that's what cockers have !  and that's part of the deal imho.
If I wanted something easier to manage I'd choose another breed

Snap!

Which short haired breeds have similar breed traits as cockers? 

I'm not sure Molo would be too happy about me trading him in for a short-haired breed anyway, tbh........I never intended to  hike miles with him when I chose a show cocker; maybe I should let his fur grow and stick to shorter walks with him, instead...........

erm, a working cocker maybe
i miss grooming a long haired dog soooo much. today i bathed dried and groomed ellies ears in under 1 hour. with maisie and even millie it could take a couple of days. aww it is sooo relaxing and you can have fun with the long coats. maisie once sported cornrows(just on the top of her head) and another time she had a pink ponytail for a few days.
there is nothing more pleasing to the eye than a well groomed long coated dog
except for a well manky cocker after hitting the mud puddles

[JaspersMum]

Lyn, please add you address so we can send you our long coated cockers - we'd hate you to miss out.  However they may well be "manky cocker after hitting the mud puddles" 

[lyn]

the muddier the better. it means they'll be knackered and will keep still.
send them all but, don't expect them back

[CraftySam]

Personally I prefer long coats, that's what cockers have !  and that's part of the deal imho.
If I wanted something easier to manage I'd choose another breed

Snap!

I agree too! 

I like to keep my dogs looking as "traditional" as I can.  I groom them myself and on Barney I use a combination of handstipping, Coat King, Stripping Knife and thinners.
His coat is starting to get woolier since he was castrated, so is need a thorough groom most days but for me thats what I signed up for when I decided to get a cocker.

I also have an American Cocker pup, like Vera. As she said their coat is heavier than an English and also has a skirt to the floor traditionally. I shall be keeping him with a full skirt, as I don't think they look right clipped short. I might live to regret it by hey ho I love grooming! 

[Nicola]

I think it depends on how the dog is clipped. I've seen show cockers done so that they look gorgeous and very natural but still a bit more manageable than a full show coat like Elisa's Bailey to give an example who I know    I do like the feathering and skirts on show types, they look lovely but I couldn't handle all that grooming, especially with the lifestyle I have with my existing dogs where they're charging through the moorland, woods, mud and water two or three times a day and all they need is a quick ear comb every night... unless of course Sam decides to move north and then I could get a show type and she could groom it for me! 

[Luvly]

can we see a piccie of  your little yankee sam

[Shelley]

My Cockers are just pets, but I try to keep them looking like show Cockers.... Try is the right word as I can't handstrip as I have arthritis in my thumb joints. So I use thinning and straight scissors on mine, people who meet them in the street have said how nice they look, so may be they aren't so bad!!! I did have a woman who told me she was a professional dog groomer ask me how I trimmed the girls as she thought they looked so good... God knows what she does to peoples dogs then I thought!

I find looking after a Cockers coat soooo easy though, probably because I am used to much bigger hairier dogs! So when the Cockers need a bath or a trim I am so happy to do it as there is so little work involved to me

[JaspersMum]

One of the teachers at my daughters school as an American Cocker and has it clipped short.  That just seems like sacrilege  I can't think for a minute he has it running anywhere particularly rough so I would of thought there must be a compromise.