English Cocker Spaniel - Dog breed

The English Cocker Spaniel is a breed of gun dog. It is one of several varieties of spaniel and somewhat resembles its American cousin, the American English Cocker Spaniel Spaniel, although it's closer to the working-dog form of the Field Spaniel and the Springer Spaniel. Outside the US, the breed is usually known simply as the English Cocker Spaniel Spaniel, as is the American English Cocker Spaniel Spaniel within the US. Due to the breed's happy disposition and continuously wagging tail, it has been given the nickname "merry cocker".

Appearance

The English Cocker Spaniel is a sturdy, compact, well-balanced dog. It has a characteristic expression showing intelligence and alertness. Its eyes should be dark and its lobular ears should reach the tip of the nose when pulled forward. Today a significant difference in appearance exists between field-bred and conformation show-bred dogs. The English Cocker Spaniel's tail is customarily docked in North America. In some countries the tail is generally docked at about 4 or 5 inches in field-bred dogs while show dogs generally are docked closer to the body.

Temperament

English Cocker Spaniels are renowned for their friendly, faithful, playful, and affectionate natures. They are easily trained and make a good medium-sized family pet. Very few English Cocker Spaniels have temperament problems; in a 2002 survey consisting of 487 English Cocker Spaniels, only 1% of the dogs were aggressive to people and 2% were aggressive to other dogs