Our first litter included Tansy, who is now retired and has gone to a new permanent home with local lady.
We then bought Barley from the same lady where we got Poppy. Barley sired some lovely pups of all colours, well boned, strong, loving pups,Venus being one of them. Barley has also now retired and gone to a new home in Blandford with a lovely lady and has a companion Jack Russell for company. He is very spoiled and goes to lots of shows, where he has picked up numerous rossettes.
Next came Maizie, she is a very sweet natured, gentle little dog, daughter of Poppy. She had three litters of pups and is now retired. Her first litter included Sophie and second litter included Gertie I found this second litter very hard to part with as they had been so good, not too noisy, easy to feed, no upset tummies, a real joy to have. It was also a bonus, as we thought Maizie was unable to have any more pups. We mated her twice to Barley and she had no pups, so we think it must be they wern't compatible. Maizie has now been spayed and is retired.
Then we bought Gypsy, who is from a show background family. I just loved her mum Tumble and knew she would have lovely pups with Barley and Venus is the result! I didn't pick Gypsy, but SHE picked my husband and this is why she became his dog. She had 3 litters in total so is now retired and has since been spayed. Gypsy has now gone to live with a lovely Gentleman in Wraxhall, they are such good companions, is thoroughly spoiled and it's no less than what she deserves for being such a wonderful dog.
Sophie was a pup from Maizie`s first litter, she had one litter and matured into a very nice dog. Sophie has been rehomed to a friend of the family and came back often for holidays. She always fitted in well and you would think she had never been away! She will soon be emigrating to Canada with her new family!
Next is Venus, she is a lovely dog, quite dominant, but very loving nature. She is the result of Barley and Gypsy's first litter (both now retired) She has had 2 litters of pups, one of which one of which includes Jenna, who we have kept. Venus had problems with her second litter, on the 8th week into her pregnancy, she had a problem and unfortunately lost all her babies.We were very grateful and relieved that she herself was ok, but felt very sad for her and the babies we lost. We have sucessfully since, had a second litter from Venus, a lovely litter of 8 and apart from having to have a c-section everything went well. She recently had a phantom pregnancy and I think, although she had a litter after losing her pups, she hasn't forgotten it, therefore it was in her best interest to re-home her, to avoid her being around other bitches who would be having pups. She has now found a lovely new home in Leicester, where she can be loved and spoiled and will soon be distracted from Motherhood!
This brings me to our lovely Jenna! who is a very well boned sturdy stocky little dog, with a very thick coat. She is so cuddly, just like a teddy bear! Jenna is a very quiet shy little girl and shorter than her sister Sassy and her mum Venus. As she has matured and lost her baby coat, it didn't grow back as thick, but is a lot easier to manage. Jenna has a had an unbelievable litter of 9 healthy strong pups, with Archie, I don't know where she carried them all, but she had them all naturally without problems, which of course was a bonus. One of the pups is Leo, who will hopefully have as much success as Archie when he becomes a proven stud dog! Jenna will hopefully have a second litter in the Spring 2008.
Next comes Archie, who is a typical boy cocker spaniel, so lovable and friendly. Archie now 3 years old and has grown into a very handsome, lovable young man. I was at one stage thinking he was going to be too big, but he seems to have stopped at a very nice size for a cocker, lovely coat, not too thick or too sparse. Archie has now sired several litters, of all colours except chocolate, so he is now a proven stud dog and has taken over from Barley who has now retired and is living in a very caring home being thoroughly spoiled. Archie has been PRA/glaucoma tested and has also been OptiGen and FN tested. As his status is OptiGen A1, it means he does not carry the PRA gene, which means he will not pass it on to any of his offspring. He also has now been hip scored and FN tested - clear, which means he should not pass on any inherited kidney problems! Archie is available for stud to approved bitches only, holding current clear eye certificates.
We unexpectedly had one of Venus's daughters come back to us through no fault of her own. Her owners had a few personal problems and they very sensibly brought her back to us to find her a good permanent home. We had plenty of enquiries for her, which would have been suitable but my daughter got so attached to her that we have decided to let her stay, so we now also own Sassy too. Sassy is totally different to Jenna, very lively and bouncy, always has a toy in her mouth, or presents you with a ball to throw, always wanting to play, but can be a bit over-powering, which is sometimes misunderstood by the other dogs, but she is absolutely adorable! She can at times be be so loving and seems to be a different dog. She barks a lot for attention ansd gets a bit stressed if she can't see me, but if the others are outside barking, she is usually indoors , looking at me as if to say "It's not me, what are they barking for?" - Sassy has had a lovely litter of 7 puppies, one of which is Teddy. Sassy will hopefully have a second litter in January 2008.
Next is Gertie, who is the result of Maizie's second litter! She has her mum Maizie and Grandma Poppy's, wonderful, gentle, nature. We thought Maizie would not have any more pups after two mating's with Barley proved fruitless, we now know they must have been incompatible, as she proved us wrong when she was mated to Archie. It was Archie's first litter, so extra special too, but also a B/W from Maizie was hard to resist. B/W's are a favourite of mine, maybe because of Poppy being B/W and my first cocker. As her coat has come through again since her first season, it seems to gone very ticked, so now we think she is probably a very light blue roan, rather than B/W, but we love her to bits watever her colour. Gertie will hopefully have her first litter early 2008
And so to Leo , a pup of Jenna and Archie! We hadn't planned on keeping Leo, but were thinking about a second stud dog to have at some stage. He was another that caught Dave, my husband's attention and Dave kept saying he was staying, I insisted he wasn't, but nevertheless told people I hadn't made up my mind about him. It was really a pup from Sassy I wanted to keep as she had gone to an outside stud and it seemed better to bring in the new genes, so this was the reason for keeping Leo and Teddy for 6 months until I knew for sure. It turns out that Leo is, after all the better option for us, but it is going to be so hard to let Teddy go as I have become so fond of him. Leo has now been OptiGen tested and as expected, he is the same as Mum and Dad, being "A1", which is brilliant! He is also glaucoma clear and SHOULD also be FN clear, but not yet tested, but as both parents are clear, he should be too. He has now also been hip-scored.
Teddy was OptiGen tested and had a 50/50 chance of being "A1" or "B1", he was unfortunately a "B1" which means he would get limited use as a stud and I felt this would be unfair to him to keep him. Teddy has now found a lovely home in Cornwall and has a companion of an Archie/Maizie pup, he is enjoying lots of lovely walks and it has turned out really well for him, I am so pleased he is happy, he's a very lucky boy!
I had never had an interest in the solid cockers, until my friend had a litter which included blacks and black/tan's, I did like the golden's, but didn't have any intentions of owning a solid. She sent me several pictures and I grew to like the b/tan's even more. I was relieved when she sold them all to stop any temptation, but then she told me 2 were coming back........well that seemed like fate to me and so to Lexie, she is a beautiful show type, very sturdy, stocky little dog with a lovely nature. She is inseperatable from Leo and Gertie "The GANG of 3". She is very bold and fearless too!
Our Dogs History 