There are more cocker people that clip throats and ears than I think Jane realises?
?? The way I was shown by an experienced breeder was to clip, and although I have stopped this on my oranges as I don't like the finished result, but my clippers do give a better finish on my dark blues - i find the thinners still leave bold patches as the surface is not "flat" and the hair goes very wavey in that area, especially once thinners have been used once, but perhaps this is something to do with my breeding lines?
My swedish import has his ears clipped as once they have been clipped it is difficult to get them right with thinners, and a judged has never once mentioned it to me, and he is still being placed in good competition...but yes they do do things differently in different countries.
I find that where cockers have been stripped on their ears, people are not able to take enough hair off and it spoils the natural ear set...JMHO.
We have just acquired our first english setter and to my horror they use thinners to trim everywhere, apart from the back and sides.....eeeeeeek.
With my field spaniel I always found the hair was silky and thin enough to use thinners, but generally speaking fields have lots less coat than cockers.
