Cocker Spaniel-Buying advice?

fenny

go to someone who shows and where the parents have current PRA certificates. You will pay more for a well bred dog of course, but better than a cheaply produced puppy farm pup where you save money but the parents pay the price!
Do a google for 'boycott dogs4us' as there's a video about how your cocker was reared.

fenny

the show cocker, though beautiful, was a bit overbred (pedigree as long as your arm) and hyper and suffering from tummy problems that the vet couldn't diagnose.

The length of a pedigree is meaningless. All a pedigree is, is a record of the family tree. What does 'overbred' mean? Again, it means nothing. They are terms used by people with a bias against the show type.
Working bred dogs, apart from being uglier, are raving loonies who *need* to be active or they go crazy and shred your home.They can also come with pedigrees as long as your arm.
I had show type cockers for many years and not one ever had health issues.
If you are happy with a cheap, short eared, flat headed nutcase, then the working cocker is the one for you

Fosterdog

thorsoak wrote: »

I know that I am setting myself up for a scorching/flaming here - but in my opinion, the rescue concerned here has been extremely irresponsible - the poor mothers of these litters have been through so many unknown pregnancies/litters - and here they are again! The puppies who have been born are from uncertain/possibly unhealthy parents - the puppy farmers would not have given the mothers the rest between litters that they so obviously need - and the studs would be just whomsoever jumped in first. Had they arrived in Rescue earlier enough, they (Rescue) should have taken the big breath - and given the mothers an injection of alizen - which could have been given up to 48 days of a pregnancy which would have terminated the pregnancies, thereby saving the poor mums from going through the whelping/rearing of the litters - litters which may well be pretty poor, giving the fact that the mums would not have been properly nourished during the pregnancies. These puppies have not had the best start in life, and, sorry as I would be for them, I wouldn't want to take one on.
But there again, the Rescue will be able to charge a sizeable rescue "donation" for them :-(.

I'm not going to give a scorching/flaming, you have a very valid point however as Red Squirrel already pointed out when I said they gave birth within days of being rescued from the puppy farm I really do mean days, as in the first one gave birth just 72 hours after being rescued and the others within the three days following that.

Of course these dogs have been over bred and probably lead horrific lives so far and the health of the pups will never be certain however the only other options in this case would be to leave them in the puppy farm or PTS all of the mothers and full term pups.

The pups are now 8 weeks old and all left for their new homes on the weekend and now the mothers are all moved to foster homes to get them ready for rehoming with a lot of interest in them already.

As for charging sizeable "donation" fees, the donations are what keep rescues running and without them the dogs would have nowhere to go and nobody to provide nor pay for food and medical care. Although the RSPCA are the ones who tools the dogs originally they were then signed over to Hope Rescue who rely entirely on finding, they have just a few paid for members of staff all funded by specific grant applications, everyone else is a volunteer giving their time freely.

maisie06

Show type or working? I only have experience with workers, you can pick up a well bred pup from health tested parents very easily these days and I'm led to believe that "cocker rage" is very very very rarely noticed in working lines.

Do your research, ask at your local gundog club who will be happy to point you in the direction of a reputable breeder, many will be happy to sell to active pet homes if you don't intend to work the dog, beware of ads on facebook/gumtree/pets for homes etc google phone numbers and if they have a number of litters/breeds for sale - avoid these tend to be back yard breeders who are just in it for the money.

Most WCS pups will be reserved from birth so get in touch with breeders to register your interest.

maisie06

fenny wrote: »

The length of a pedigree is meaningless. All a pedigree is, is a record of the family tree. What does 'overbred' mean? Again, it means nothing. They are terms used by people with a bias against the show type.
Working bred dogs, apart from being uglier, are raving loonies who *need* to be active or they go crazy and shred your home.They can also come with pedigrees as long as your arm.
I had show type cockers for many years and not one ever had health issues.
If you are happy with a cheap, short eared, flat headed nutcase, then the working cocker is the one for you

:rotfl::rotfl:oh dear...you've not had much experience with good WCS then??? Mine is certainly not ugly....he's a workman, I wouldn't want to be unhooking a show cocker from brambles on a shoot!!! nor worrying about injury to overlong ears and tails.... I haven't known any nutcases either just working dogs with a high hunting drive and an absolute joy to watch when doing the job they have been bred for generations to do ...mine can flush game in a beating line, stay steady to game and retrieve to hand often from blind using the supersonic nose to find it in some cover, they are also obedient and steady, whenin the right hands....the only nutty one I have ever met was in a pet home walked for 20 mins twice a day and crated most of the time, any dog would go crackers at that:mad: Funny to how WCS or springers are used for drug detection etc rather than the show type who have to me "lost their way" as traditional gundogs, and although cute just don't do it for me when I see them waddling around the park!!