I love everything about the cocker, except one thing, there size, just a bit tooo small!
Whilst out on a walk this afternoon met a lady with a dog, the dog was springer sized, but was a cocker spaniel, blue roan colouring.
pedigree english cocker.

Does anyone know of the Old type eng cocker?
does anyone breed them??

Mary Jones
Mary878@ntlhome.co.uk

Size varies quite a bit in Cockers - you can get small ones & much bigger ones in the same litter (I know this from personal experience :-)) Cockers should not actually be Springer-sized as the breed standard gives an upper limit of 16" for dogs & 15.5" - they should not come anywhere near 20" (the approx size given for Springers). I have certainly seen a number of Cockers around the 17"-18" mark but there is no guarantee when you buy a Cocker puppy what size they will end up as adults I'm afraid. Working Cockers can be bigger than the usual show/pet type Cocker but not always - I have seen a few small ones recently. If you like the size of the Springer, then perhaps you would be better off with a Springer or one of the other larger Spaniels, like the Field Spaniel?

There are a few working cocker spaniels around that are almost Springer sized.  The majority are slightly bigger than the show-type cockers, but because they are a lot leaner and their coats aren't so long, they often look quite small.  My partner doesn't like small dogs either, but the first time he saw a working cocker it was one the size of a springer and he fell in love.  We got a working cocker of our own and she is much smaller than he was expecting!  She still has tons of energy and can go on long hikes with him, but is small enough to sit on my lap (just!).  The best of both worlds...