Hi, am a complete newbie on here and would be grateful for some advice!  We have always had dogs but Lulu is our latest - a beautiful blue roan cocker spaniel aged 20 weeks.  She is absolutly fantastic and we love her to bits but have a couple of questions I would love to ask.  Firstly she is a nightmare to try and groom - she just goes ballistic and tries to chew both myself and the brush - hence her coat is looking pretty awful now - it is getting quite long and I feel she could do with being professionally groomed.  Our other cockers just went down the local grooming parlour and had a bog standard cocker spaniel clip but Lulu is so beautiful I would really love her to look the part!  What can we do?  Secondly she is inclined to put on weight!!  She was the biggest pup in her litter and I would say she is naturally a "good do-er"!!  She is eating Pedigree pouches and I have cut this down so she is having 1 pouch for breakfast, a handful of Iams dry biscuit for lunch and another puppy pouch in the evening.  This is far lower than the recommended daily allowance but she would be vastly obese if I stuck to their guidelines.  She has between 20 and 30 minutes walk daily (this includes free running).  She is also on the go most of the day.  Any ideas please?  Many thanks!!

I have beardies which are longcoated breed you really should have begun the grooming from day 1 if you plan to keep the coat long . Our breed are groomed mainly lying on thier side so I generally give a bone chew to occupy them when very young as they get older they usually fall asleep out of boredom...LOL
I am not a groomer but at 5 months the coat cant be that long , make sure you are using the correct equipment for a cockers coat , get in touch with your breeder / breed club who should be able to give you advice or if they live near can give you a demonstration . If you are really worried about the state of the coat find a groomer who knows the show cut for a cocker spaniel but make sure they know what they are doing go by recommendation.
I groom 10 minutes  every other day with a full groom once a week which can take a few hours.
I am sure some groomers or cocker parents will be along soon

Welcome to champdogs !!

Roni~

I've owned a Tibetan Terrier and a part Afghan with full Affie coat, TT was 6 months old and had never been groomed, AffieX was 2 years old and hardly touched :(  both objected strongly to being groomed at first, but with a hungry dog and a good supply of ultra high value treats ( I find smelly cheese or salami cut into tiny pinky-fingernail sized bits really good) and plenty of patience it's possible to train a dog to accept grooming gracefully and even to enjoy it :)  The biggest help is to have a table to groom on, something to attach a lead to (for safety) and only brush/comb for a minute or two at first - but repeat every hour/half hour thru the day (ok for about 6/7 sessions ;) ) - every day! ;)  give the treat at the end of the minute/2 mins and don't give too many - keep them wanting more ;) be firm about not allowing biting/playing with the brush and give plenty of calm praise for good behaviour.  And once they begin to enjoy it keep an eye on them so they don't get so relaxed they fall asleep on (off!) the table :D :D :D

Hope this helps :)

Most people I know with whatever breed feed far less than the guides, in my case less than half, but most often no more than about 2/3ds.

Agree with Brainless :)

I also found my dogs to be like lunatics and very 'hyper' on Pedigree foods - tins, complete or pouches :(

Ditto - look for a low protein holistic complete, Burns or Wellbeloved are good.

Pouches are not really the the things to have . I have a friend who breeds spaniels and she recommends Autarki, Burns, wellbeloved or Tesco's.  I own have wheatens and feed them Burns or wellbeloved and the burns Hi Oats as my oldest bitch who is spayed  she has put a little weight on and its coming off with this

>look for a low protein

This is the second time i've seen this statement made in as many days... Why would you recommend low protein foods?
Personally i wouldnt go below 25%,and there are foods which go up to 42% protein.Good quality moderately high protein is needed to build muscle amongst a whole other myriad of things.
The only dogs IMO who need "Low protein" foods are those with compromised liver damage,or other diseases which call for LP diets,not normal healthy dogs!

I agree however, to stay away from pedigree..

Isn't it funny I have a working breed who are well muscled and I only use at the highest 24% protein, most of the dried food i use is around 21%.  Although they do have raw meat a few times a week.

Well you are adding the quality protein in the form of meat.

If Lulu has a thick puppy coat, this may be making her look fatter than she actually is. I've known countless Cocker puppy owners who are convinced they have a tubby puppy and are amazed when a sleek little Cocker emerges after the puppy fluff has been stripped out. If you want to show your Cocker or keep her in show trim, 20 weeks is too early for any serious trimming or stripping but you should try and get her feet and ears tidied up and perhaps make a start on stripping out her head if she has a fluffy top knot. If you want to learn how to strip and trim your puppy yourself, perhaps your breeder can teach you or recommend another breeder/exhibitor who could help you. There is also a AMP Grooming video/DVD on the market which demonstrates hand stripping techniques for Cockers and The Cocker Spaniel Club publishes a Trimming Booklet which you might find useful.