I have just mated my Springer with a Cocker, i am wondering if they make a good gundog.

Deja vue??????

I answered it Brainless but I can't help thinking it is a WUM. I hope not but we'll soon see

Regards, John

I doubt it Snowball. If they were already good gundogs I guess you would know the answer but as you have to ask then I have to assume they are not working gundogs. Just crossing two breeds will not give you anything in the way of working instinct that is not already there. Quite frankly, to mate your Springer with a Cocker makes no sense. I think you have rather blown it with this litter.

Regards, John

yes snowball, from what i have seen they can make a good gundog. there has been another thread on here recently regarding sprockers, you should go back and read that. You may receive some fairly negative replies, people seem to forget that the majority of their breeds were created by the cross-breeding of other breeds, and not necessarily using the best lines. Why should that stop now? Why shouldn't we develop other breeds. Yes there are some cases where certain breeds shouldn't be crossed, but as somebody who both shows and works this is not one of them!
This board should be about advice and encouragement - not just criticism, otherwise it will become a 'closed shop'!!

Gpointer. Suppose for one minute you were looking for a working gundog. Would you be interested in a crossbreed resulting from two dogs who had no background in work? Do you think you would be able to find a keeper who would allow you to "Try It out" on his birds which have possibly cost his guns something in the region of £30000 to buy, raise and feed? I think not. Certainly no working gundog person I know would buy one and that is the acid test. You might be able to sell a few to pet homes but not SERIOUS working homes. That is not "Closed Shop" or Criticism, just MY answer to a question asked by the OP.

Regards, John

Yes, the majority of our breeds were created by crossing, but by the same token we are now fighting and working hard to save a large number of those breeds. This is not helped by creating "new" breeds for no good reason. There a number of gundogs on the KC vulnerable native breeds list, so perhaps it would be better to turn attention to them rather than creating something new.

Having a female cocker and a male springer in the same house, we go to huge lengths twice a year to AVOID creating sprockers!

I know that accidents do happen but it's incredible that people would actually make a conscious decision to cross breed.  Why not just find a decent springer stud if you are really insistent on breeding? [If you can find one that will allow you use of their stud - I think I've just answered my own question here!!!!]