Wow! This is great

[Pauline T]

Hello   Welcome to COL.  I am owned by Charlie a 6 yr old orange and white show type.

Enjoy the forum, there are lots of great friendly people here with lots of knowledge, advice & support about all things cocker and many other subjects as well.

[Clarabell]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome everyone  I can't believe I've found all these lovely people all as passionate about their cockers as I am. Thought I was a bit mad.
I thought I would tell you all a bit about my beautiful Thea.
After doing our research, we being my husband and two sons decided that a black and tan cocker was going to make our family complete. We were lucky to find a wonderful breeder in okhampton which meant we could go and visit as often as we wanted. We first met Thea at 3 weeks of age & collected Thea from the breeder on may 7th last year ( my birthday) at 8 weeks of age.  From that very first day she has been a confident, happy, loving ( and very dominant) little girl. When the time came that we could take her out, I was petrified about letting her off the lead but we plucked up the courage and have never looked back. She is totally amazing. Comes back every time.
We a truly lucky to have found this little treasure and I live for my days off so we can be together all day. On the days I work, she goes to her nanna & grandads for fun and playtime and they are smitten too.
Any advice on seasons & speying would be appreciated as we are going through her first. Want to make the right decision for her.
Love Claire & Thea xx
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jonnydog]

Hello Claire and Thea
Welcome to the forum. Thea sounds absolutely scrumptious! 
I have wee Penny who was born on the day you collected Your lovely Thea! She is a solid black and is our true delight. I'm dreading having her spayed but will do so after her first season. Is that your intention with Thea as well? Penny's not had a season yet, which I'm happy about 
Cheers, Di, Jonny (springer) and Penny-Pup

[Clarabell]

Hello Di & penny, I'm very confused as to what to do with Thea. I've heard that speying can ruin your dogs coat & cause weight issues but not speying has health issues too.The vets seem very pushy regarding speying which alarms me a little. The breeder mentioned the doggy pill but I'm not liking the idea of pumping chemicals into my girl. It really is a mine field.
Her season has not been too bad as she is such a clean girl but it's the lack of contact with her doggy pals that I'm not enjoying.
Hope penny doesn't suffer too much when hers arrives xx

[ejp]

Welcome to the forum, you will gets lots of advice and fun here    I am Elaine, with Bertie who is 11 years od and Lara who is around 6 years old.

[langcliffe]

Lots of good advice here re spaying. Bram was spayed last october 8 weeks after her first season.. We took the advice on here and gota baby gro for her and she sailed through the whole experience. No weight gain, after, her show coat is is still lovely and in fact she is back to the playful girl we had before she her season.

[jennycockerspaniel]

Hello Im Joan I too in  live North Yorkshire not far from Wendy and also owned by Penny my little black and tan   who is nearly 3 She is happy from the time she gets up till she goes to bed Glad you have fond COL but mind its addictive which means you will have paws on your laptop

[Clarabell]

Thanks so much for the welcome and advice. I think we will go for speying as I want my girl to be able to run free with her boyfriends all year round 
I can't wait to be able to show some pics of Thea but I'm having probs there  x

[Wenco18]

I opened an account with photobucket where you can "click on the IMG code" of the photo you want to share which "copies" it then you just need to "paste" it on the post on here


Lottie and Lola xx

[Clarabell]

Hi Wendy, I have opened an account but not sure how I upload pic from the iPad to photo bucket. I'm obviously being very dim here lol!

[Joules]

My vet reccomended spaying at 6 months before the first season and so this is what I did with Coco.  Have to say I have no regrets about doing it so young and would do again.  The thought of her being restricted to lead walks for a couple of weeks would drive her and me nuts    She sailed through the op - came home that night raring to go, never bothered with her stitches and the biggest problem was trying to stop her from doing the wall of death round the garden before she was healed up  

Re her coat, she has gone curly and more woolly but her coat is very soft.  That is not a priority for me though as there are many health benefits to getting girls done and I just keep her coat short

[Clarabell]

Thanks for the advice. I hope I didn't come across as mostly worrying about her coat but the breeder & vets both said her coat would become hard to manage and as Im keeping her full coat, this did worry me a little. I've made the choice to let her coat grow as intended with just trims round paws and ears and I spend a lot of time grooming her which is something We both love and always intended to do. She loves her grooming sessions and very much enjoys showers and then being hair dryered. I personally don't want to have her clipped right back but I do know lots of cockers are. I have decided to have her speyed as I want her to enjoy free runs and not be confined to a lead walk every day for weeks and of course, to reduce the health risks.

[Clarabell]

Lots of good advice here re spaying. Bram was spayed last october 8 weeks after her first season.. We took the advice on here and gota baby gro for her and she sailed through the whole experience. No weight gain, after, her show coat is is still lovely and in fact she is back to the playful girl we had before she her season.
[/quote

Can I ask about the baby gro and what did you use it for? I'm intrigued 

[JulieM]

Welcome to COL 

We have Florence who is 1 and is a show blue roan. We had her spayed at 6 months and I have to say that her coat hasn't changed at all yet and was fine after the first 24 hours after the op and back to normal after a couple of weeks (though we were a little careful with her after that). Some people use the baby gro to stop them licking their stitches. I used a head collar as Florence kept bothering her stitches and I was a little paranoid about her ripping them. There's lots of info on spaying on the health section which is worth a read.

[Clarabell]

Florence, what a gorgeous name 
Thanks for the advice. Very helpful indeed & I will be looking out for the baby gro. Any ideas where I can get one?