A good Breed Type English Cocker has to be sound, have good temperament,
and proper furnishings, be in good condition and have good bone structure.
People talk about Breed Type vs. Soundness, Breed Type dealing with the structure
of the dog. They try to take all of these parts and deal with them as individual
pieces. You can not do this. Breed Type is all of these things.
Man does things with these pieces. We adjust them in what we think they
need. We change the dog's soundness by adjusting their locomotion. we make
them go faster or slower to get the legs closer together, or further apart,
even to the point of going fast enough that they overreach in the middle.
We try and judge temperament but what we see in the ring is an attitude
that quite often is created by whether the dog likes or does not like what
he is doing. If the handler of that dog isn't gentle with the dog, he won't
get the best out of him. The English Cocker will often shorten his stride
and drop an otherwise hard topline in rebellion.
Grooming styles. God gives them a certain amount of furnishings and
we rearrange them to suit our needs. Sometimes artfully, creating an illusion
which the judge must see through if he is to find the true dog. Sometimes
less artfully, creating a fault which is not really a part of the dog but
caused by excess or lack of hair.
Weight makes a lot of difference in an English Cocker, not only in how
they move but in how they look. An English Cocker should be smooth. The
muscles should fit well under the hide. The skin should be just a little
loose. You should not feel ribs. You should not feel backbones. You should
have muscle laying over these bones. You should feel a slight indentation
at the end of the ribs. You should have a good sound loin that is broad and
muscular. He's going to carry game, go under things, go up and down pitched
banks. He's going to do a lot of running and that loin has to be strong and
flexible. Good condition equals good weight.
Structure. Conformation pose is an entirely different thing. The English
Cocker should have a slight slope from the wither to the loin. Not an Irish
Setter with a steep slope to the back and hocks standing far behind the
dog. The English Cocker is moderate in structure and should be moderate in
pose. Purpose. Breed Type. They go together. Our standard calls for us to
go to field. That's what you should be judging.
Remember that all of this is one whole.
