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<span style="text-decoration: underline" lang="en-gb">
<font size="6" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: 700"><i>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS">Felstead Gundogs</span></i></span></font></span></td>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center">
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center">
<span lang="en-gb"><u><b><i>
<font face="Trebuchet MS" size="5" color="#000000">The UKs most
informative website for Working cocker spaniels and all working
Gundogs for the shooting field</font></i></b></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span lang="en-gb">
<font color="#000000" size="5"><span style="font-weight: 700"><i>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; text-decoration: underline">
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Working Cocker Spaniel </span></i></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-weight: 700">We
have always loved the cockers, firstly because of the practical size they come
in, but also because of their appealing character, always up to a bit of
mischief, but liking nothing better than to follow their owner round faithfully,
like a shadow. Hence the saying "follow you round like a spaniel". My saying is
Love & treat them well and they will repay you twenty times over with love,
affection, faithfulness and kindness. You will thank me for this small
piece of information, whatever you do stand by it, It works and I will quite
happily disagree with anybody who thinks different.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000"><i>
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; font-weight:700">Working
cockers, compared to show cockers tend to have broader, flatter heads.
Their coats are usually shorter and their frame is more athletic and
sleeker. Also a more marked difference is their shorter ears, which are far
more practical and tend to lead to fewer problems than their show cousins.
Colours vary considerably, but are similar to the usual cocker strands. For
instance in our latest litter, the dam is liver and the sire chocolate
roan. We also have found over the years that you will find that most
working cocker breeders tend to go by the quality in the pedigree rather
than the colour, we beg to differ in this area completely, we feel that the
colour of the dog plays a most important part of the buying and working
factor as well as the pedigree you must like the dog you are working with,
and if for any reason you do not, and that includes the colour you can
forget it, it will not work, (I say this with first hand experience and
through various people I have chatted to at working tests<span lang="en-gb">
and Field Trials</span>) We feel you should wait for the right cocker
spaniel, with the <u>
pedigree and the colour</u>. If you are like me do not settle for any less,
be patient,<span lang="en-gb"> Dont rush in,</span> wait until the right
dog for you comes up, you will thank me for this relatively small piece of
advice, it also makes extremely good sense. </span></i></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#000000">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; font-style:italic; font-weight:700">
Working cockers also tend to suffer far fewer physical problems than the
show dogs, for example ‘rage syndrome’ known to occur particularly in
golden and black (solid) coloured show cockers does not seem to afflict
workers. All the cockers that we have encountered during trials etc, have
all had excellent temperaments. Our cockers are all extremely affectionate
with our children, something that we were never able to say about our
previous dogs. They are on the whole happy, affectionate, faithful and
confident.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><u><b><i>
<font face="Trebuchet MS" color="#000000" size="5">The training of
<span lang="en-gb">Working </span>cocker spaniels</font></i></b></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><font face="Trebuchet MS" color="#000000">The
training of cocker spaniels for the gun differs in no wise from that of
other spaniels, except insofar as the cocker is inclined to be an
individualist and requires greater firmness and tact in handling. When
properly trained a cocker of working strain is one of the most useful dogs
that a rough shooter can have, being keen, fearless in cover and water, and
possessing a good nose for both fur and feather. In regard to retrieving,
this varies from dog to dog, but some of the best retrieving gundogs I have
seen have been cockers. With experience these little dogs can deal with any
game, including cock pheasants and even hares.</font></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><font face="Trebuchet MS" color="#000000">The
king-pin of gundog training is OBEDIENCE. A dog which is not obedient is
not trained, no matter how brilliant a game finder it may be. A wild,
unruly gundog of any breed is a curse to the shooter rather than a
blessing, putting up game out of range of the gun and generally spoiling
sport for everyone present. Wild dogs may develop wonderful noses and find
plenty of game, it is true, but they spoil more sport than they provide,
and this is particularly true of wild spaniels. The cocker is inclined to
be wilful and therefore needs special attention paid to its preliminary
‘hand’ or obedience training. The trainer must be firm but kind, and very
patient. The old saw about ‘a woman, a spaniel and a walnut tree, the more
you beat them the better they be’ may be true about women and walnut trees
— I don’t pretend to know — but as far as cocker spaniels are concerned the
less punishment that is given the better. This is not to say that
punishment has to be altogether dispensed with, but I wish to dispel the
illusion, still retained in some quarters, that ‘the stick’ is the only
method whereby cockers can be trained. Punishment handed out
indiscriminately and without showing the dog where it is at fault can
produce only two types of gundog— the cowed cringing wretch that is the
pity of all who behold it, or the hardened sinner who will please himself
and accept a beating as a matter of course. No thinking man desires to own
either type of spaniel.</font></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><font face="Trebuchet MS" color="#000000">What
is required of a cocker spaniel in the field? Normally, the cocker is used
to quest within gunshot for unshot game, flush it and retrieve the slain
only upon command. It must remain steady when rabbits bolt or game gets on
the wing, and is generally taught to drop both to flush and shot. There are
some owners who not only use their cockers thus but also like them to act
as retrievers pure and simple when game is being driven. To use a cocker in
this manner, whilst by no means impossible, is asking a lot of a breed
whose natural instinct is to be on the move the whole time. I have found
that whilst certain individuals will take kindly to the idea of waiting in
a butt or at a pheasant stand for driven game, the majority of cockers are
far too restless and are inclined to become over excited, whine and even
yap when the birds come over and the guns start firing. Such dogs are a
nuisance to both handler and to the other guns present, and generally end
up by being tethered to their masters’ sides if not removed from the
shooting field altogether. My advice to cocker owners is, therefore, not to
expect too much from the breed in this respect, but to use the dogs mainly,
if not solely, for their natural work as questing dogs when game is walked
up, plus, of course, retrieving when required.</font></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="en-gb"><font color="#000000">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700">
Throughout the Felstead Gundog website there is a huge amount of information on
all aspects of the Working Cocker Spaniel including Spaniels in general and all
working gundogs. We also have a free classified Gundogs adverts for sale a vast
amount of stud dogs, Training, Breeding, Field Trials, Working tests, Gundogs
Clubs and societies, photo gallery, Dog medical conditions, Links to various
gundog kennels and so much more.</span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: italic; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-weight: 700">
<font color="#000000">please feel free to email me and tell me what you
think of the site<span lang="en-gb">.</span> please do not hesitate to email me
on <span lang="en-gb">
below </span></font></span>
<span lang="en-gb"><font color="#000000">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700">
<a href="http://www.felsteadgundogs.com/index.htm"><font color="#000000">
www.felsteadgundogs.com/index.htm</font></a> </span></font></span></p>
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