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When we first decided to get a puppy we knew we wanted a Cocker Spaniel because of our experience in dog-sitting a friend's Cocker, Karamel. She was so sweet and loving and her size/energy-level was conducive to our lifestyle. We wanted to do the 'right' thing and thought seriously about adopting from a Cocker rescue shelter; however, upon further consideration, we decided we'd rather get our first puppy from a reputable breeder since we were inexperienced/unprepared in dealing with pre-existing issues or problems that a rescue dog may have. So, we eventually embarked upon the long, exhaustive process of researching various Cocker Spaniel breeders to ensure we found one that met our criteria, specifically, one that is knowledgeable/experienced in the breeding process, committed to the welfare of the breed, and ultimately has their dogs' best interest at heart. We wanted to make sure we avoided 'backyard' breeders, whose motive is either for profit or simply misguided, i.e. wants their dog to have the 'motherhood' experience.
In an effort to keep our search focused, we decided to limit our searches with breeders who were members of national/local American Cocker Spaniel clubs. We created a list of questions in an Excel spreadsheet of other key criteria, such as health certifications of the damn/sire, breeding philosophy/experience, where they raise their puppies--house or kennel, etc. Also, we wanted to adopt an 8 week-old puppy in early summer so that we would have sufficient free time to devote to the puppy during the critical first few months of its life, which meant that the puppy had to be born between April-May. So after several emails and phone conversations with various local breeders, we had to slowly expand our search to nearby states until we found the perfect match. There were periods during our search where we felt hopeless and thought we wouldn't be able to get a puppy this year, but at last we found a breeder in upstate New York that met all of our criteria and, as an extra bonus, we were given first pick of the litter! The breeder's name is Sharon Lesio of Carney Hollow Cockers. http://www.carneyhollowcockers.com/ Her dog, Ginger, had given birth to 7 buff puppies on May 3rd, 2011. (4 girls, 3 boys) We felt very fortunate. Sharon is an excellent breeder and her damns have won championships at dog shows, are extremely well behaved and friendly, which is a good indicator that she knows what she's doing.
Having the first pick meant we would be able to identify and choose the puppy with the disposition we were looking for, namely--calm, submissive, and very cuddly. Early on in our search process we thought females tended to fit those characteristics, however, most of the breeders said that gender plays little to no role in temperament, especially if they are spayed or neutered. Yet, if you wanted to make some broad generalizations, they claimed that boys are the cuddly ones, the true lovers, whereas the females are---well, the running joke is that "they don't call them 'bitches' for nothing".
To help us select the 'right' puppy, we planned to use 'Volhard's Puppy Test'. http://www.volhard.com/pages/pat.php It's designed to help determine certain traits/characteristics based on a puppy's behavior. It has ten specific exercises such as putting the puppy on its back, and then provides a scoring system based on the puppy's reaction. At the end of the test, you're supposed to tally up the scores. A lot of 1s/ 2s means the puppy is dominant and has leadership aspirations, which may make it difficult to manage; mostly 5s/6s means the puppy is either extremely shy and/or independent. We were hoping to find a puppy that scored lots of 3s and 4s, which means the puppy is somewhat in between, not too dominant, more affectionate/submissive, yet very social and engaging with people.
On the day we went to pick up the puppy we had the test and clipboard in hand, confident that the selection process was just going to be a simple matter of having all the puppies take the test and then choosing the one that scored the 'best' according to our criteria...easy peasy. When Sharon brought out the puppies she patiently allowed us to test them, however, I'm sure she knew it wasn't going to be that straight forward. Her and her husband got a kick out of watching us struggle to do all of the exercises and decipher the scores. All of the puppies behaved more or less the same--they ran toward us, licked our faces and then ran around the yard playing with each other. We tried the best we could, and although it was difficult, we actually did note some differences in the scores. In retrospect, we should have followed the test guidelines more closely; specifically, we should have asked Sharon to take out one puppy at a time and put it alone with us in an unfamiliar space so that it would be easier to judge the puppy's true reaction to each exercise. Anyway, we ended up just playing with the puppies to see if we could decide by gut instinct. We ultimately narrowed down our choice between 2 male puppies, and finally chose the one that had more 3s/4s on the test. (So, in some ways, the test actually did work!) Once we chose Charlie, we knew we made the right decision. And, although he sometimes acts like a little monster, stealing slippers or jumping on the dishwasher, we have no regrets.
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