clipped cockers.

[Maria n Dennis]

I really really cannot decide whats best to do with Dennis , my OH thinks i should clip him to make life easier but im undecided  I know he speaks sense because he is always wet and muddy , im having to bath him every other day and just to dry him takes about an hour. He loves to come up to then horses with me but i have had to stop that recently because the hay and straw just gets tangled in his coat and im forever snipping bits out with the scissors. Now my reason for not wanting to clip him is selfish really and i just love the look of a cocker with its full coat and the fact that Dennis isnt a wooly cocker and dosnt have much feather compared to most. If i do clip him id like to keep his ears , but would he look daft!

Any advice would be appreciated , and any photos of clipped cockers would be great so i can get an idea of what i want ?

Thanks for listening

Maria 

[Scarlett]

I had a similar issue like you...this is my post & the replies I got from COLs!
Look at pudding's links at page 2!  

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=70985.0
I am also curious on a clipped cocker photo!

[MaggieR]

Here's a link to a pic of Maggie - she's just been clipped completely (feathers and all) except her ears, she'd had surgery in Jan so her front half was pretty much as it seems in the pic and they just brought the back half inline

Last time we kept her feathers on sides/tum and legs, just thinned out and trimmed.  But this time its all gone and she actually looks ok tho would prefer some feathering - it'll grow back! 

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=70997.0

Wasn't so much of a decision for me as her coat has gone pretty woolly since being spayed and I had no intention of showing her... hope that helps a little!

[supergirl]

Both Roly and Misha have been clipped.  Roly was done for the first time at Christmas - he was a bit of a wooly monster.  For something so heavy coated Roly doesn't have much of a skirt, but all the same feathers, ears, tail and skirts were untouched other than ends being taken off.



and this is Misha

[Scarlett]

Both Roly and Misha have been clipped.  Roly was done for the first time at Christmas - he was a bit of a wooly monster.  For something so heavy coated Roly doesn't have much of a skirt, but all the same feathers, ears, tail and skirts were untouched other than ends being taken off.



and this is Misha

Super girl! They both look stuning after being clipped! I think when the head's hair is short as well as the body, the cocker looks very beautiful!! 

[Oliver21508]

I clip Ollie all year round because he picks up twigs and all sorts, and he drys in minutes rather than hours. I leave his tail and I ask the groomer to clip the top 1/3 of his ear to allow air to circulate around his ear canal. Here's a pictures:

[Uli]

My little Paula loves swimming. She even jumped into our river in winter when we had temperatures around 0° Celsius. That is why I took the blending scissors last week, thinned her fur, shortened the feathers etc.. This is the result:



This picture was taken last summer when she was almost 7 months but far too young to touch her coat of hair:

[Nicola]

Tilly's a working Cocker but her body coat grows out very dry and fuzzy so she normally gets clipped every couple of months but I just get them to take off her body coat and leave the feathering on her ears (but thin out the top bit), chest, backs of legs, tail and most of it on her belly, I get them to clip out her armpits and a strip up the middle of her belly so it just leaves the feathers at the sides so it still looks nice but she doesn't get the matts and tangles. She still looks natural and like a Cocker but it's really manageable.

When she's done she looks like this:

[SJP]

Tilly's a working Cocker but her body coat grows out very dry and fuzzy so she normally gets clipped every couple of months but I just get them to take off her body coat and leave the feathering on her ears (but thin out the top bit), chest, backs of legs, tail and most of it on her belly, I get them to clip out her armpits and a strip up the middle of her belly so it just leaves the feathers at the sides so it still looks nice but she doesn't get the matts and tangles. She still looks natural and like a Cocker but it's really manageable.

When she's done she looks like this:

Awh Tilly 

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Aw I love that picture of Tilly

I clip Dave usually and try and keep him a little like this as I prefer a bit of feathering to the all out clip, although his ears are shorter here than I like them usually - he's just been clipped in these pics so it looks a little more natural a couple of weeks on:





It's tricky though, he gets badly caught up if I leave his feathers any longer than this and there are times I take the whole lot off as the areas we walk in (health and forests) are a 'mare for a highspeed cocker to get tangled in - particularly as he follows his more streamlined chum everywhere she goes

[bracken]

Bailey is clipped shorter on the back though than the legs, OH isn't allowed to touch her ears 

She hates being groomed and has been spayed so clipping is best us both of us 

[elaine.e]

I took the plunge and had William clipped for the first time (he's nearly 6 years old) a couple of weeks ago. I love Cocker coats, so it was a big decision to make and I understand why you're not sure.



He still has his chest, tummy and leg feathering, plus some under his tail. You can't see the chest feathering clearly in this photo because it was a windy day and he's facing into the wind. Only the top one third of his ears has been clipped. In addition, I clip what I call his air conditioning strip underneath him, so he still has the appearance of full tummy feathering, but it's really just a fringe either side.

William is castrated and his coat had become fluffy and unmanageable despite my use of thinning scissors. I was fed up with him bringing half the New Forest home every day

It's taken me a while to get used to it but I think he still looks like a Cocker and looks balanced, not shorn, so will be sticking with it.

[Maria n Dennis]

Thankyou for all your replies , i think i am going to take the plunge it will make my life easier and his 

I think im going to start off with a clip like Daves and see if thats easier to manage and if not it will all have to come off 

[Emma xx]

Here is Meg after being clipped,


I do prefer the fuller coats myself but its a lot more comfortable for her and easier to manage, plus like has been said she dries off much more quickly. She's still our pretty girl though xxxx

[vikki.k]

We go for the easy life over summer, Baja and Mole were clipped last week ready for our holiday at the moment in Suffolk, for us it's ease of drying off/keeping cool/easier to manage on holiday in other peoples houses.

This is them before.....


And after, this is the very short look as it has only just been done, but they do kind of grow into it after a couple of weeks. I love the way they feel and the suede feeling ears