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The last 18 months have seen many of us welcome a new four-legged friend into our homes, as the Kennel Club saw dog ownership rise by nearly eight per cent over 2020.
But with 221 different breeds of pedigree dog to choose from, there’s plenty of thinking to do before you select your perfect pup.
There’s even academic guidance to seek out, with Psychologist Stanley Coren’s book ‘The Intelligence of Dogs’ ranking breeds by instincts, obedience, and the ability to adapt.
One dog that often appears at the top of people’s canine wishlists is the Cocker Spaniel – they were the UK’s third most popular pet in 2020 (only bested by the Labrador Retriever and French Bulldog) and have a range of positive attributes that make them a great family pet.
Here are 10 fun and interesting facts about the breed.
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There are actually two distinct breeds of Cocker Spaniel – the American Cocker Spaniel and the English Cocker Spaniel – but both are simly called Cocker Spaniels in their native countries.
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Cocker Spaniels are the 18th most intelligent species of dog according to behavioural experts. In 2015 a four-year-old Cocker Spaniel cocker named Ginger from Strone, near Dunoon. took Gaelic classes with her owner and mastered basic commands like suidh (sit) and fuirich (stay) in only three weeks.
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The ‘Cocker’ part of the Cocker Spaniel’s name refers to the reason they were originally bred in the UK – to hunt woodcock. They were then exported to the US to hunt the American woodcock, bred to have slightly different attributes to enable it to specialise in tracking down the different type of bird.
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A Cocker Spaniel, or at least one of its descendents, was a passenger on the Mayflower – the ship that carried the Pilgrims from England to the New World in 1620. There were two dogs recorded on the crossing – a Mastiff and a Spaniel (at this point there were no distinct breeds of spaniel).
Photo: Canva/Getty Images
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