Comments on: What Your Dog Says About You…

By: MKaeding

MKaeding — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

Cockers are not difficult to housebreak, neurotic, or biters. When they are poorly bred animals that someone has bought from a pet store or some bozo down the road who thought they’d breed a litter bucause they had a dog and a bitch, yes, they can be. I grew up with cockers, my mother has bred and shown American Cockers since 1976. She also bred and owned a dog who became the top winning cocker in breed history, his son now holds that record and our dog is number two, his grandsire is also on the top winners list at number 3. We’ve never had trouble housebreaking our dogs, never had a biter, and all have been well socialized and very friendly. My mother still has people who come back to her again and again for pets. She has a waiting list for puppies and retired adults. My mother is also a groomer and I’m a vet tech, and yes, cockers are generally one of the breeds you hate to see come in because they can be very hard to deal with, but it’s not the breed, it’s the poor breeding and lack of proper socialization as a puppy. I could say a lot of bad things about a lot of breeds, but it’s not the breed in general, it’s most often poorly bred and completely unsocialized animals that are the problem, not the dogs breed. Think of it this way… If you had a kid and locked them in a room with nothing but food and water, no contact with other people, no toys ect. don’t you think they’d be afraid of everything and possibly lash out uncontrollably? Even if that child has lots of love and toys at home, but it never sees any one but it’s caretakers, never leaves the house, it’s going to be emotionally stunted and fearfull. That’s what people do to their dogs by not socializing them as puppies. They are pack animals and as such require the company of others.

And as for them biting children more often… did you ever think that maybe more people should teach their children how to properly treat a dog? Even the best dog will get fed up with having it’s eyes poked, coat and ears pulled, kicked, slapped, ect. Some dogs are able to deal with more than others and that makes them good dogs for children, but those kids still need to be taught what’s ok and what’s not. I grew up not only with the cockers but my mother’s doberman as well. most people would say that was an accident waiting to happen, yet I learned how to walk by holding on to her ears, and would lay down with my head on her on the floor and she never made any sort of move to hurt me, even on accident. One of the cockers used to lay under my crib or swing and protect me from people she didn’t know. if I was on the floor, she would curl up next to me. Even after I grew up and we no longer had small children around to socialize our dogs with, we only ever had one who didn’t like kids, and he had good reason. He loved everybody until one year at a dog show we left him in his pen while we walked over to the food vendor to get lunch after we finished showing. As we walked back we caught several boys kicking and hitting his pen, and poking him through the wire with sticks. Where they got the sticks I have no idea since it was an indoor show in an urban area with no trees around. From that time on he hated children. I was still in my teens and competing in junior handling and he was my juniors dog. Because of this incident with unsupervised children who had obviously never been taught that it’s mean and cruel to tease and torture animals, a wonderful dog was made to hate kids.

So don’t go around making nasty comments about an entire breed when you have dealt with very few and no nothing about the breed in general.

By: Basset Hound Lover

Basset Hound Lover — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Hi Kenn,

I have heard cockers are nervous dogs and tend to bite sometimes..

By: Shannon T Alston

Shannon T Alston — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:35:14 +0000

nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now
keep it up

By: Kenn Bell

Kenn Bell — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:10:02 +0000

Hi Katy, my hounds are Max, The Dog Files Mascot, he's a Pointer/American Foxhound mix. And Remy, a beagle/border collie mix.

By: Katybeth

Katybeth — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:44:25 +0000

Kenn,
If you have Cockers, I am going to put my foot in my mouth…they are hard to house break, bite more often than not–most especially children, can and are often neurotic….and are dam difficult to housebreak….and the owners are often the same! Well I am not sure about the owners housebreaking habits. Yes, I know there are some lovely Cockers–I have just not meet many. With the exception of one sweetie named Charlie–but she is English and very well bred!!

Beagles on the other hand are complete charmers–and so are there owners (I own a beagle!)

LOL–I think I will refrain from adding my web site on this one!!

By: female

female — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:56:09 +0000

Has read with the pleasure, very interesting post, write still, good luck to you!

By: What Your Dog Says About You… — Cute and Fun Cats and Guinea Pigs

What Your Dog Says About You… — Cute and Fun Cats and Guinea Pigs — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:08:22 +0000

[...] Came across an interesting article on Forbes.com. You can pick up after your pooch and make sure he plays nice, but its your dogs breed that truly speaks volumes about what kind of owner you are. Got a Beagle? You are inquisitive and willing to learn new things. The Beagle is constantly questioning. If you own one of these dogs, chances are you are a curious, willful person who is loyal to friends, tough on enemies and pretty stubborn. Those with Cocker Spaniels are family oriented and nur source: What Your Dog Says About You [...]

By: Whitehouse On Best Political Blogs » What Your Dog Says About Youâ€¦

Whitehouse On Best Political Blogs » What Your Dog Says About Youâ€¦ — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:00:28 +0000

[...] What Your Dog Says About Youâ€¦ …downturn in the economy or job stress,â€ says Shari Curran, director of Therapet Foundation, a Whitehouse, Texas-based not-for-profit that… [...]

By: Dog Tails » What Your Dog Says About Youâ€¦

Dog Tails » What Your Dog Says About Youâ€¦ — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:59:22 +0000

[...] on enemies and pretty stubborn. Those with Cocker Spaniels are family oriented and nur Source: http://www.thedogfiles.com/2008/11/21/what-dog-says-you/ Nov 22, 2008 | | Dog [...]

By: Whitehouse On Best Political Blogs » The Dog Files

Whitehouse On Best Political Blogs » The Dog Files — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:42:51 +0000

[...] The Dog Files â€œAnimals provide a consistency to the ups and downs of our life, whether thatâ€™s the downturn in the economy or job stress,â€ says Shari Curran, director of Therapet Foundation, a Whitehouse, Texas-based not-for-profit that provides … [...]