Breeding

If you are thinking of mating your bitch it is important to plan certain aspects in advance. The choice of a stud dog is an obvious one but also the likelihood of finding good homes for the pups is perhaps more important. We do get a lot of enquiries for pups and we pass these enquiries onto people who have used our stud dogs and so should be able to sell some of the pups for you.

If you intend to dock the pups, you should contact your vet at an early stage. The Animal Welfare Act of 2007 allows an exemption to the docking ban for working dogs but the docking must be done by a vet who will need some evidence that the pups are likely to go to working homes. 

Some people are unsure as to when to mate their bitch. Most are mated between 11 and 14 days after the start of the season and it is safest to count Day 1 as the first day that you see blood. You can either judge when the bitch is likely to stand for the dog or you can your bitch pre-mate tested by your vet. This is done by either a swab or a blood test that measures hormone levels.

We ensure that any cocker that we stand at stud is of a high working standard (usually proven in Field Trials although in our mind that is not essential), has excellent conformation and is of a type pleasing to us and has an excellent temperament.

We have full embraced health testing and will health test all our future cocker stud dogs. If the tests are available there is no reason at all not to test, but we will do it as part of the full package of working ability, type, temperament and health tests  We would never stand a dog at stud based on its health tests alone.

We are looking for a nice, rounded cocker that is well put together and has a lovely nature but overall, it must be good at its job.