Thought you might like to hear an interesting story from our walk this afternoon.

Walking round the lake with my mother, 2 GSP's and a Springer pup a man with a working type cocker came up to chat mentioning how his cocker is going to be worked etc. I then said yes so is our springer pup and the GSP is out on shoots already. He then said 'really' as if a GSP shouldnt be working (obv a lab and spaniel man!)

He then went on to ask which shoot and other such questions and then turned to my mum and said 'so whats your husbands name?' My mum turned round and quite sharply said 'my husband has nothing to do with the dogs its my daughter that works them!'

I was quite annoyed that he obviously thought a young girl was not capable of handling a working dog!! Some people hey!!

he was prob miffed because all he could control was a cocker and u have to big GSP a friend of mine also a lady works her springer she does not get people saying anything to her!!

"he was prob miffed because all he could control was a cocker "

I think you might find that controlling a working cocker is not a piece of cake, they are machines........... which, if left idle, are a PITA ;)

I went to watch a working test last summer and met up with a female friend who had her Chessie with her. We spent all day watching the tests and virtually everyone who spoke to us asked me if I was working my dog even though my friend had him on the lead all day.

I agree with Tohme's comments re working cockers :)  I have a professional gamekeeper friend who would love a cocker but has decided to wait until he retires and has the time to devote to it :D
I think you may be misjudging this man's misogony too, he may have just been wondering if he knew your father in the dog field socially, he already knows he doesn't know you :)

I took the OP to mean that the man probably didn't expect a woman to work a gundog at shoots rather than making any assumptions about the breed. 

There are still many men who stereotype women.  It's not that they don't like women but they are stuck in a time warp which really is very sad for them as they find it quite confusing to see women in roles that they think of as roughty toughty grr grr this is a man's role. :) 

Oh yes I am sure that is what she meant.  I didn't use the work misogony correctly did I :)  but what I meant is she is just mind reading and my mind reading could be just as likely true :) 

You should of heard the comments and laughter from gundog people when we went to our first working test and I'd never done anything like it before.  By the end of the day the laughter had stopped and you could of dropped a pin and heard it :d  We certainly showed them that our woolly breed could do as well as many other breeds!

I know someone with a Toller who had a very similar experience, she does very well too! ;)

When I first got flatcoats that was the attitude we met frequently. I will always remember our first working test. Standing by the car putting on boots etc, listening to the barbour and green wellied chaps, looking down the list they saw my dogs name and one said, "Oh look it's a new one" to which the reply came, "Well we won't have to worry it is only a flatcoat". We were winning the test, but in the run off between us and an equally high placed lab, we lost half a point on the retrieve. After that we were taken seriously and at our next few tests, some competitors would just put their dogs back in their cars and go home rather than compete against us.

I would interpret the mans comment to mean he was trying to place your father and perhaps connect him to a known shoot. You will find on most shoots these days there are a good few lady handlers in both picking up and beating. So I don't think he would have been stereotyping you or your dogs.

With reference to working bred cockers, they are a handful even for the most experienced people to handle, unless you are lucky and have one Stella my friends working cocker, she is a gem! Working bred springers are slightly easier I reckon, but there is a saying that "a labrador enters the world half trained and a springer leaves it half trained!" So you can work out where a cocker would be in that.... lol

my mum has 2 labs currently working, and also houses and trains other peoples working dogs- vizlas,gsp's,other labs and spaniels for them. she is one of the best working dog handlers around here, all the men on the various shoots respect her for it- plus i think it helps that she's a great shot too! ;)

there are more women coming in on this scene nowadays, actually at a local basc training day we went to, there were more women than men!

My Cavalier has relatives who work at trials, not sure what level though. Their owners get very funny looks when they turn up!! :-D

You have worded things much better Polly but that is just what I meant.  Suspecting men of prejudice when they haven't actually said anything is another form of stereotyping isn't it? ;)