Cocker Spaniels have always been an important part of my life and I cannot imagine life without at least one.
My late mother and her two sisters had cockers in the 1930s and 1940s when they
were young. Later my parents and my Aunt and Uncle owned a succession of cockers (as one died, another was sought to fill the void).
My Mum (left) my Aunt Joan (centre) & my Aunt Jill (right)
I obtained my first cocker in 1984 from Mrs P. Masters (Styvechale) - a beautiful black bitch puppy whom we brought home when she was just 8 weeks old and we called her Tess. My three sons adored her and as a family we enjoyed many happy times with her. Sadly we lost her suddenly in 1994 and we were naturally devastated. We decided that although she was unique and irreplaceable, we would seek another cocker puppy straight away. We went to see a lovely litter of black puppies whose dam was black and tan. We particularly admired the dam, thought it was a lovely colour and we decided to try and obtain a black and tan. This proved to be quite a task. However, within 48 hours, Miss Smith (Humbar affix) informed us that she had a 9 month old black and tan bitch and she would be willing to let her go if we were interested. We loved her from the moment we saw her and we took her home on a trial basis but she settled in really well. She was already named Bess and this was a bonus because it didn't matter if we slipped up and called her 'Tess'.
We were so pleased with her that we asked Miss Smith if we could have a bitch puppy out of her next litter as a companion for Bess. A few months later, Miss Smith rang to tell us that her orange roan bitch had whelped a lovely litter of blue roan puppies and she invited us to have a look at them. We had never seen such young puppies (they were only 3 days old) but my husband chose a bitch, Jodie, and we have never regretted that decision. We went to see Jodie at various stages of her development and collected her at 8 weeks.
How I Started Breeding
Bess and Jodie are actually my foundation bitches, although at the time when we chose them I hadn't really thought about breeding from them. I had a lot of helpful advice from Miss Smith who had been involved in breeding Humbar cockers with the late Miss Bartlett since the early 1960s and I would not have started breeding without her valuable guidance. I was delighted with the, earlier than expected arrival of Bess' litter of 6 pups on 29/6/96. She produced an assortment of colours in this litter, which truly amazed me, as the sire was a Humbar bred blue roan. This litter comprised of solid liver, liver and tan, 2 black and whites and a black and tan. I had much to learn about the inheritance of colours and genetics and the fascinating study of cocker bloodlines has remained a prime interest of mine.
I later studied and passed the Diploma in Dog Breeding and more recently the Diploma in Advanced Canine Psychology with the Animal Care College. I have a particular interest in a condition known as Rage Syndrome and collect pedigree information about those found to be actually suffering from this problem.
