Cocker Spaniel

The temperament sheet

Energy is moderate: a good daily walk with some sniffing and fetching in it keeps a Cocker content. Tolerance for time alone is poor, and the sheet is firm on this — a devoted companion breed pays for its devotion when the house empties, so long days away are the wrong fit.

With children the rating is good. As a first dog the answer is yes — and it is worth noting that on this line both of our references agreed. A flat is workable on the space rating.

The practical side

• Grooming: high. Those soft ears and that coat want regular, unhurried care.
• Shedding: moderate. Some hair about the place.
• Barking: moderate. Conversational rather than constant.

Where the references disagree

Size is the contested line. The American and English conventions split between small and medium: one of our references would not commit to a single answer, while the other recorded medium. This club does not print a fact its references cannot agree on, so no size is asserted here — and because the matcher needs that rating to place a breed, the Cocker Spaniel sits outside the matcher entirely. Better an honest gap than a confident guess.

The sheet is not the dog

All the more so on this page: an individual Cocker Spaniel outranks its breed sheet, and meeting the dog itself outranks everything written here.