I thought it might be nice to introduce ourselves and tell you all a little bit about us and our beautiful dogs. Also to explain where the idea for Cocker Crazy came from and how we hope to bring you the ultimate Cocker Spaniel Companion!
We’re a family of four from sleepy Norfolk in the United Kingdom. And until four years ago, Cocker Spaniels didn’t really feature in our lives. I know…terrible eh!!
Our two children had wanted a puppy for soo long and had promised to look after our doggie to be with the greatest care and attention.
I had grown up with dogs as family pets as far back as I remember as a child. We always had Labradors, apart from one beautiful orange & white English Pointer… not a Spaniel to be seen though. I’ve always seen myself as a ‘doggie person’. Loving their loyal, kind, playful and affectionate natures. However, my husband never had a dog as a kid and needed more encouragement!
We set about researching what type of dog we might like to share our lives with. How about a Sheepdog… too much exercise needed… or a Deerhound… too big! A terrier? Hmmm perhaps too barky? We went over the prospective breeds over and over again… until we thought of spaniels. Sooo many boxes were immediately ticked! Family friendly ✔️ full of fun ✔️ not too physically large ✔️ a kind nature ✔️ and utterly utterly beautiful ✔️✔️✔️
So, we’d decided on a breed… now which type of Spaniel would we go for? Springer, Cocker, American or King Charles? We started to do our research… we trawled the doggie websites and tries to amass as much information as possible! We didn’t want too large a dog, as our children were still fairly small, so that seemed to rule Springers out. We also wanted a gentle pet, who would enjoy playing with the youngsters… we finally searched for Cockers and realised we’d found our fun, affectionate perfect little pup!!
But now we had a new mountain to climb… how to find our very own little Cocker? Also, the thorny question arose of Working or Show type? We read several articles on just how much exercise a working Cocker needs, it seemed limitless! However, we didn’t relish the grooming needs of a Show type… so which to go for? As I’ve said, we live in deepest darkest Norfolk, so chances are our dog will get muddy and wet quite regularly… so the Working type won through.
We began to look for Working Cocker puppies locally, via The Kennel Club website, at first. It was a really useful exercise and one I’d thoroughly recommend, but as buying a pedigree pup wasn’t high on our agenda, we decided to look elsewhere.
The app Pets4Homes was to be our lifesaver! I know some people advise prospective puppy buyers to be VERY cautious when using this sort of app, and I’d agree with that. But all I can tell you is that we had a really excellent experience.
It was a sunny Saturday morning and we’d been searching for AGES to find our little Cocker pal. My daughter told me she was going to have one last look on Pets4Homes, but none of us held up much hope. How wrong we were!
Right at the top of the list was a beautiful looking little litter of Working Cockers about 15 miles away… it seemed to good to be true! 4 puppies were available, both mum and dad were family pets and both available to meet. I gave the breeder a call with my heart beating out of my chest & my fingers firmly crossed!
Yes, they did still have the 4 pups availaible and yes, we could pop around that day! We all reminded ourselves that we had to be really level headed and not take a pup if the breeder seemed suspect, or that the puppies provoked any welfare issues.
Later that day we found ourselves outside the puppies front door, feeling soooo excited, but also nervously hoping our little Cocker to be was within.
The next joyful hour was one I shall never forget. It was a whirl of tiny waggy tails, bright eyes, fluffy little ears and two beautiful, happy, healthy parents. All of our worries melted away as we entered the serious business of choosing a puppy! I foolishly set my handbag down on the floor and suddenly had several little pairs of gnashers treating it as a chew toy, but I didn’t mind one little bit.
My daughter told me that the little blue roan girl pup had been nibbling her brother’s shoelaces and gently licking his hand. And that was the precise moment we all fell in love with our beautiful Rosie…she was the girl for us! Four weeks later she joined us at home, but that’s another a story for another day!
