English Cocker Spaniel Grooming

About the English Cocker Spaniel

The Cocker Spaniel guide covers the American Cocker, which is what the name means in the United States. The English Cocker is a separate breed, they were split in 1946, and the differences matter at a grooming table.

An English Cocker is taller and leaner with a noticeably longer muzzle and a flatter skull, and it carries considerably less coat. The American was bred toward a profuse coat with a low sweeping skirt; the English kept the working spaniel outline, with a flatter medium length coat and feathering on the ears, chest, belly and legs but no skirt to speak of.

The practical consequence is that an English Cocker is genuinely less work: still a real commitment, but a grooming problem of a different size. The ears, unfortunately, are the same problem in both.

How it differs from the American Cocker in practice

Coat volume is the difference that changes the appointment. An American Cocker in a full pet trim carries a heavy skirt of hair hanging from the chest and belly nearly to the floor, and that skirt is the reason the breed has a reputation as one of the highest maintenance spaniels there is. An English Cocker does not have one.

What an English Cocker has is a flat, medium length, silky body coat, with feathering that is longer on the ear leathers, the chest, the belly, the backs of the legs and lightly under the tail.

Head shape matters too. The American has a very short muzzle, a domed skull and a pronounced stop, which produces the rounded head that needs careful scissoring. The English has a longer rectangular muzzle, and the head is trimmed close and clean rather than sculpted.

There is also a working type and a show type within the English Cocker, and the difference is real: working bred dogs carry noticeably less coat and shorter feathering, and some need almost no trimming at all. A show bred dog carries considerably more.

Comb the feathering every two or three days with a metal comb and brush the body coat with a slicker. Groom every six to eight weeks.

The ears, which are the same problem in both breeds

This is the health issue that defines cocker spaniels of either type, and it is worth understanding rather than just cleaning.

The ear leather is long, heavy and densely feathered, and it lies flat over the opening like a lid. Underneath, the canal runs down and then turns inward, so it does not drain by gravity. Add a dog that puts its head in undergrowth and water, and you have a warm, dark, poorly ventilated canal that stays damp.

The result is that cockers have one of the highest rates of ear disease of any breed, and untreated it progresses to a permanently narrowed canal that needs surgery.

Lift the flap weekly, look and smell. Healthy smells of nothing. Yeast is sweet, musty and unmistakable once you have met it.

Dry the ears and the ear feathering after every bath, every swim and every wet walk.

Ask a groomer to keep the hair on the underside of the flap and around the opening trimmed short at every appointment, which is the single most useful preventive thing that can be done.

Head shaking, scratching at an ear, a head tilt, redness, dark discharge or a smell means a veterinarian rather than a bottle of ear cleaner. Cleaning an infected ear without treating it does not work.

Trimming, and the stripping question

The show trim on an English Cocker is largely hand stripped and thinned rather than clipped, which keeps the coat flat, harsh on the surface and richly colored, and keeps the outline natural rather than scissored.

Clipping the body coat is what most pet dogs get, and on a spaniel coat with an undercoat it has the familiar cost: the coat comes back softer and denser, it holds shed hair rather than dropping it, and it mats more readily than it did. Solid colored dogs also lose depth of color.

For a pet in a shorter trim that is a reasonable trade, and it is what the great majority of English Cockers wear.

Whatever you choose, the functional trimming is the same: the hair on the underside of the ear flap and around the opening kept short, the feet tidied and the hair between the pads cleared, the sanitary area trimmed, and the feathering shortened enough that it is not sweeping through mud.

Give a groomer a length in numbers for the body and say how short you want the feathering, because opinions differ widely.

The feathering is where the mats are: behind and under the ears first, then the armpits, the chest, the back of the front legs and the britches.

Skin, eyes and the working dog

English Cockers are prone to skin allergies, and a dog that is chewing its feet, rubbing its face or getting repeated ear infections is usually showing allergy rather than a hygiene failure. That needs a veterinarian, since ear disease in this breed is very often the visible end of an allergic problem.

Bathe every six weeks or so with a plain gentle shampoo unless something specific has been prescribed, rinse thoroughly and dry properly including the ears and feathering.

Eyes are worth watching. The breed has inherited eye conditions including retinal degeneration and cataracts, and the heavy brow can hide a developing problem, so any cloudiness, squinting or a dog hesitating in dim light needs an eye examination.

Check the feet after walks. A feathered foot picks up grass seeds, which work into the skin between the toes and cause abscesses, and this is a working breed that goes through cover.

Nails every three to four weeks, since a spaniel that is not working hard does not wear them down.

Weight is worth watching too, because cockers of both types gain easily and feathering hides it.

What to tell your groomer

Say it is an English Cocker and not an American one, because the trim, the head shape and the coat volume all differ and the booking is often taken as a Cocker.

Say whether the dog is working bred or show bred, since the amount of coat is very different.

Ask for the hair under the ear flap and around the opening kept short, every visit, and the ears dried and checked.

Give a body length in numbers and say how short the feathering should be.

Ask for the feet tidied, pads cleared and a check between the toes for grass seeds.

Mention any allergy or ear history, since the two are usually the same problem.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the English Cocker Spaniel