Hello There - I would just like to know if anyone else has any experience of Sproker Spaniels - I have a 8 month old bitch called Lotty (springer x working cocker) - and to my mind she is the best dog you could ever want - a little lively but lovely!!!  She is all black with just a small flash of white on her chest and has the most lovely nature.  Has anyone else got one and what has been your experience?

I have a friend who works his dogs, and he had to give up with his sprocker - she was manic and completely OTT. Lovely kind natured dog, but too hyper, even for a working gundog man.

Yes Lotty is ultra hyper too - and is keeping me very fit - demanding at least three walks aday!!

I've come across a couple working. Nice enough little dogs, nothing wrong with them from a working perspective that a decent trainer couldnt have sorted out.

I cant really see the point of breeding them deliberately - no real benefit over the pure varieties of either breed now that working cockers have improved in standard. (Mind you it is occasionally rumoured that it was an unauthorised injection of springer blood that did much of the 'improving'! ;-) ) However, in the right hands many can make serviceable little gundogs, depending on the quality of the parents.

As a pet, i cant see them being any better or worse than either a working bred springer or cocker. Not the easiest pet, but good fun if you've got the ability to bring out the best in them.  

i have a 2 year old sprocker spaniel, he looks every bit a springer and is just as manic, Jack does drug detection work and is an excellent worker, when working he is a very steady dog and is a lot more 'deliberate' in his actions than a pedigree springer is, as i am typing this he and bruce (choc lab) are busy throwing each other at the bathroom wall, Jack was an accident (dont tell him though :) ) but has proved to be an excellent dog, he does tend to yodel abit whether this is a cocker trait or something that jack does i dont know, perhaps  a coacker owner can enlighten me

tanya

:) Just one of my spaniels yodel-and it's my 2 year old english show cocker thats the culprit!  I've never had any of my springers do it, however my sister's cocker also does it-she's taught him to sing along, especially whenever it's someone's Birthday! :D

The Cocker I grew up with yodelled - my current Springer doesn't, niether did my late Dad's Springer.  Def a Cocker thing I think ;)

flynns mum sister & uncle yodel......they are BCs!!!!!

I have a yodelling Aussie :D

Daisy

:D its not just jack then :D its the cocker coming out in him, he thinks he is a cocker trapped in a springers body then :D

tanya

I've got two cockers and a springer and as far as I am aware, none of them yodel!  They could do it when I'm not listening, or leave them in the kennel, then I would never know!  Perhaps I'll sneak up on them unawares and check :-)

Hi there, i have now two gorgous sprocker pups!! I was the typical anti dog person as not having any experience with them until my partener convinced me to get a puppy to keep us company, after much deliberation we decided on a sprocker and its the best choice we ever made! We bought Ruby home home at weeks eight weeks old, shes a now 8 months pure black with a small white patch on her chest!! Shes has the lovliest temperment although rather naughty at times! We have purchased another sprocker pup, 9 weeks old, chocolate brown woth a patch of white on her chest and named her Amber! Again she has a lovely temperment and also rather naughty i wouldnt be without my sprocker now!! The best choice of family pet for entertainment, cuddles and long walks.

I am sure that a Springer of a Cocker would have been just as nice and you would have had the benefit of being able to predict their adult size and looks, as well as likely cahracteristics as Cockers and Springers have rather different temperamentsk, though the working cockers who don't look like the classic show cocker are perhaps rather more like small working type springers.

Also I suspect that the parents of your pups are most unlikely to ahve had the health tests that either breed ought to have before being bred from.  Also they are very unlikley to ahve been good examples of their own breeds, as if they were why would they not have been used to produce quality pups of their own breeds???

I wish you luck with your Spaniel crosses.

brainless you are so rude the person said they were happy with there dogs whats your problem?????????????

I can understand where Brainless is coming from. It's condoning breeding crosses on purpose when there are already so many x's in rescue. Another thread recently discussed puppy farmers breeding different types of pedigree dogs together to make weird crosses. It's the old story of supply and demand, if people buy them people will breed them.  At the end of the day Cherry is happy with her dogs thats the main thing but they are not sprockers, they are crossbreeds.

I would agree completely with Brainless.  I'm also very glad that Cherry is happy with her puppies but I would not support the deliberate producing of crossbreed pups.  There are enough 'accidental' matings without people purposely doing so when rescue kennels are full of them! :(

I am afraid I dont get it either.  Cockers and springers are not the most expensive breeds in the world but people seem obsessed with crossing them both.  I have got one lady who has a  cocker x cavalier.  The dog is like a enormous cavalier.  I personally think that working spaniels are a specialised breed as they are bred for just that working and in my experience when they are put into pet homes they have a great deal of trouble adjusting.

Working cockers can make ideal family pets for families who have done their research and know what they are taking on. I don't know much about dalmatians but am fairly sure that they were not originally bred to be "just pets", not many breeds were.
Working cockers have a temperament second to none making them, in my opinion, just right for the most important of all canine jobs being a family companion.
Eavie

Working cockers have the temperament second to none for making them do one job only and that is being out in the field, all day, every day, for 5 months of the year flushing and picking up pheasant, rabbit, pigeon, etc.

You are lucky if you get one who is happy to simply do the important job of being a family companion. My cockers are adorable and very lovely to spend time with but they still live in a kennel and work.  It would be cruel to not let them do what they were bred for.

Please do not assume that all "pet" homes are cruel to working breeds, I am afraid that is highly patronising!!
I have four working bred cockers,bred from the best lines of today, they are not "worked" in the traditional manner but believe me they have no poorer a life for not retrieving game!!
A good home is a knowledgable caring home, trust me working them does not guarantee that!
Please let me know what breeds are "allowable" in a pet home as we are obviously all too stupid to research the breeds of our choice!
Eavie

just to add I have one FTCh x FTCh bred (Danderw Druid being the sire) two champion sired (Whaupley Reiver and Mallowdale Rackatear) and a grand daughter of Maesydderwen Soloman.
Eavie

Please do not assume that all "pet" homes are cruel to working breeds

I didn't and wouldn't assume such a thing.  I just stated (IMHO) that I don't like working cockers not being used for what they were bred for.  Of course that type of work can be creatively recreated in other ways (agility, etc) but they need an outlet for those skills that have been so carefully bred.  After all, that's what top breeders look to recreate.  Not all "pet" homes can cater for this need which is where problems can begin.

Most breeds in pet homes do not do the job that they were originally intended for and by saying,
"It would be cruel to not let them do what they were bred for"
is labelling non working homes cruel.
I believe that many people fail with certain breeds because they are told they will.
Eavie

Good for you Eavie but I have had a number who come to me for grooming who do not have the ideal temperment for a family pet.  You cannot possibly compare them to dalmatians as dalmatians were bred as coach dogs and I believe we stopped using horse and carts in this country a long time ago but a dalmatian who does not get the correct amount of excercise and stimulation do not make ideal family pets either.

Proper working spaniels are just that working dogs the working instinct is very clearly there.

It's also worth remembering that in the days when dalmatians were used as carriage dogs and they lived in the stables, that was a very busy place! There were the grooms, the coachman etc, whose families often lived above the stables - stables weren't the quiet, lonely places they often are now. They were a hive of activity - and this is what dalmatians thrive on. They don't cope with nothing happening ... as you say, without the correct exercise and mental stimulation they are far from ideal pets.

Basically the guest has two puppies whose ultimate conformation and temperament and mental characteristics have not yet developed, so they may be happy with their crosses, but they are not a breed, so the title given is erronous they are simply Spaniel crossbreeds, and their breeding should not be encouraged no more than that of any other cross or mongrel, even though the unique individuals may or may not make wonderful pets.

Here here Brainless.  Very well put.

am i mistaken or has this site no perviously endorsed the breeding of crosses? namely the so called labradoodle???????????  so is that ok ??? or have i just lost the plot totally ??? and am i not correct that they way people used to tell the difference between a cocker and springer was to weigh them??????   i don't think dogs should be crossed but if someone is happy with there cross let them be as long as they dont intend to breed.           i know alot of spaniel crosses are accidental and i dont know any breeder or hobbist that deliberatly cross them. but i do know of alot of working kennels (including the one i work at) that house springer and cockers together.and alot of the spaniels i have come in contact with have had silent season so accidents happen.

If you do a search on 'labradoodle' you'll find long debates on the subject, and no, most were not 'endorsing' the cross........

>am i mistaken or has this site no perviously endorsed the breeding of crosses? namely the so called labradoodle??????????? 

If you read the umpteen previous threads about them, you'll find you are indeed mistaken, I'm afraid! ;)

I think you ar3 mistaken as most of the regualr posters and breeders are not in favour of any of the doodles or their like.

If you notice this thread is on the breeding board, and started off about the deliberate breeding of these crosses, not for any working purpose but purely to have a gimmicky sounding name for the pusp and sell them to gullible pet buyers, as neither parent is a good representative of it's breed.  Chances are that they wouldn't be able to register any offspring, and the crosses with a fancy name sell better than poor quality unregistered purebreds.

Whilst 'sprockers' are bred deliberately occasionally I wouldn't be inclined to lump them in with the the 'designer' cross breds like the labradoodles etc. For a start they generally sell at a similar price to an un-registered puppy of either breed rather than at a premium.

The main reason they seem to be bred are as a result of breeding from un-registered springer bitches. The resulting pups when mated to a cocker are probably a little more saleable than unregistered pure springers. However, there doesn't seem to be any level of hype surrounding them, or any unjustified claims.

Due to the close ancestory of the two breeds, there will be less divergence of type and temperament within a litter than for two very different breeds like labradors and poodles. In fact with a number of registered working cocker strains, there will be a fair amount of springer blood in them despite what it says on their five generation pedigrees! ;-) There is a remarkable divergence of type within registered litters of springers and cockers anway.

It is difficult to envisage that someone would mate a registered, top class, turbo-charged, field trial standard bitch to one of a different breed. I certainly wouldnt let a cocker dog within a country mile of my springer bitch when in season! :-D . However, this is not necessarily a bad thing for someone just looking for an active pet and/or occasional shooting companion rather than a FTCh.

As I've said before, I really cant see the point of deliberately mixing the breeds. I cant see a top quality springer being improved by mating to a cocker (sorry cocker fans ;-) ). However, if you were just looking for a very active pet or working dog, with no thought of breeding or competing then a cross would be just as suitable, as long as you're not paying a premium price.

In theory, buying from a registered litter would give the benefit of the health screening schemes. In practise it is virtually impossible to buy a registered working spaniel from tested parents.

For the right home, working springers, cockers and mixes of the two make great pets. Given the variety within the two breeds, a knowledge of the type and temperaments of the parents and close ancestors would be a much more reliable guide than the actual breed.

They are not ideal pets for everyone, but that applies to virtually any active, intelligent breed.

Looking at the whole picture aren't we forgetting that working cockers and Springer's are from the same heritage? Prior to the 17th century all members of the group were designated merely as spaniels, whether they were large or small, long bodied or short, fast or slow on their feet. Gradually the marked difference in size began to impress those who used the dogs for hunting, with the result that the larger dogs were soon springing game and the smaller ones hunting woodcock. The names Springer Spaniel and Cocker, or woodcock spaniel naturally followed, and in 1892 the Kennel Club (England) finally recognized them as separate breeds.  People who seriously breed the sprocker would love it to become a breed in its own right one day they believe they are getting a better dog. I know several pet' owners of sprocker's and they are fantastic family dogs.

my oh,s brother bought a sproker at 7 weeks old to be a companion to there 3 yo springer or cocker called fudge not sure but shes the smaller type   she was gorgeous but a nutter,she lasted with them till she was 6mths old.shes currently in her 4th home and shes not even 18mths old yet . i rearly feel for her but i woudnt have 1 as a pet they need to much mental stimulation and phisical to fit into most families.
i cant understand why people cant just ether have a cocker or a springer withought mixing them :( !
im sure you may get the odd 1 that may be a little calmer,but the majority are nutters!

most cockers or springers i know are nutters too

I would not want a cocker if it wasn't full of life!!
They are truly exuberant, the ultimate large dog in a small dog's body! A bad owner can make a "nutter" of any breed.
Eavie

I don't think they are nutters, I think they are fun and thats what owning dogs is all about :-)

It's not always fun with my springer x - he drives me up the flipping wall on times!!  Like a huge bag of unspent energy :D

i didnt mean "nutters" in a bad way. i work with working cockers and springers (most of which are young dogs in for there gundog training )everyday i just meant they are always in hyper drive. like watching a video on fast forward

I know what you mean ;-) Though I prefer to call it "fun loving" LOL

they might be cross breeds but have been cross for a reason and thats for a working dog just happens that there temprement means that there perfect family pets too so what if they are cross breeds !!!! also the kennals might be full of dogs that havent got homes but families aren't always sutable to have dogs from kennals THINK before you diss cross breeds they are all pets and part of peoples families and i love SPROCKERS

yes chocolate hear hear !!!!

havoc thats why they were bread they arn't a new breed they were bread for working it just so happens they make good pets and i wouldn't show a PET anyway they are "hyper" but make super pets and family dogs i actually carn't stand how people diss peoples PETS there living animals at the end of the day and happy lovely PET at that so just go on and love your pure breads that will have problems through interbreeding like "most" pure breeds have!!!

*sits back with a bucket of popcorn*

This is an ancient thread & can't see any reason why it's been resurrected so will close. Please start a new thread if anyone really does want to discuss cross-breeds again, although we have no shortage of threads on the subject ;-)