However there are so many breeders around the world who are not so lucky as I was, and thinking on them I decided to show my interpretation of the standard, with as many photos as possible, trying to help the novices to understand the standard of our so loved breed.
Remember, nobody is able to bred to improve the standard. The standard is what it is. The breeders must improve their dogs to meet the standard. That is the goal to any good breeder and a good dog is the one who is as closer as possible to the standard's description.
Never forget something: To breed good dogs you don't need any luck. You need KNOWLEDGE. If you are able to understand the standard and visualize how a good dog should be, you will not have any problem to breed good dogs. You just need luck to bred GREAT DOGS, but the decent ones are a piece of cake!
So, here we go!
Besides the head is the most important part of any dog - Why? Which part of the dog you look first to recognize if that is a dobermann, a cocker or a collie? The head, right? we have different opinions about how the perfect cocker head should be. Basically there are two types of heads that meet to the standard: Sporting and Plush and the different between them should be the length of the foreface and the skull shape.
Here are the two VERY BEAUTIFUL examples of each one:
the stop is deep, the foreface is short and
the muzzle is broad
The "plush lovers" say the skull of the sporting heads aren't round enough and the foreface is too long.
And the "sporting lovers" say the plush heads' foreface is too short and sometimes the eyes are too round. And they never will be able to work on the fields because they couldn't carry a bird.
I like the plush head better and as I think the head is so important, I do my best to bred dogs with plush ones. I am what people use to name "head hunter". It is quite difficult for me to like a dog without a plush head. On the other hand, I will not think twice to use a male with a sporting head if I believe this male will help me to fix some faults in one of my bitches.
However I already note the sporting head is quite dominant to the plush one. Everytime I used a sporting to a plush I get NO plush head puppy. A good exemple are the two puppies bellow. The dam is the same, a bitch with a very plush head out plush head parents. The puppy A is out the MALE A (sporting) and the puppy B is out the MALE B (plush), each puppy (they are girls) was the first "head choice" of their litters.
So, if you are a plush head lover, but all your dogs have sporting heads, I don't have good news for you. It will be very difficult you get a plush head out them. But you will be able to get plush heads in two generations. You will use your bitch to a plush male, hold the best head girl and use her again to a plush male. You will have good chances to get a plush head puppy doing that.
Another important point to identify a good head- IT MUST HAVE A "8" SHAPE, the two elipses being almost the same size. There are more exemples bellow (believe or not the particolor was bred by me. It was the only one parti litter I already bred):
There is the the dog that doesn't have a deep stop, has plain skull, the muzzle isn't broad, the foreface is long. I don't know if there is a correct denomination for this kind of head. I name them CARROTS, because it is how they look like.
* The muzzle isn't so broad
* The eyes are to wide
The example bellow is a combination of both: the eyes are too wide and the muzzle isn't so broad.
You can note the stop is too much deep, "the bony structure beneath the eyes isn't well chiseled". There are so many folds under the chin and on the area at the side of the eye to the earset. Here are two examples:
But I already used overdone head dogs in my breeding program and I got very good results. You can use any kind of head with them (except the plush ones) and the puppies will have very nice heads. They work very well with sporting bitches. It is the only case you can get a plush head (out a sporting head) on the first generation.
EYES - the standard says it is round and full, but not goggled, as darker as better. The bitch on the photo has two problems on her eyes. They are googled and could be darker. All the other dogs I used to ilustrate the standard has good shape of eyes and correct color
It has being a big headache for the breeders who import dogs from USA in the past. Sometimes we imported a dog who had a good bite but who produced bad ones because there are cases of bad bites on their line. But I already noted day by day more American breeders are paying attention to the bite problems and are eliminating bad bite dogs of their breeding program. But the small teeth still are very common, not only in USA, but in almost everywhere.
I believe the other descriptions of the standard about skull, nose and lips are very easy to understand and I don't need to comment them.
"The shoulders are well laid back forming an angle with the upper arm to approximately 90 degrees which permits the dog to move his forelegs in an easy manner with forward reach. Shoulders are clan cut and sloping without protrusion and so set that the upper points of teh witther are at an angle which permits a wide spring of rib. When viewed from the side with the forelegs vertical, the elbow is directly below the highest point of the shoulder blade. Forelegs are parallel, straight, strongly boned and muscular and set close to the body well under the scapulae. The pasterns are short and strong. Dewclaws on forelegs may be removed. Teet compact, large, round and firm with hory pads, they turn neither in nor out.
When I started with cockers - 1993 - the front were the big problem on the breed and besides it has improved a lot, it still is what our cockers have worst. And each part depends of the other one. Bad shoulders will "destroy" the topline, bad shoulders will make your dog's neck be short, bad shoulder will make your dog doesn't have a good reach. And the most terrible, you can fix a head in two generations (like I said before) but you will finish your breeding program with the shoulders you started.
My foundation bitch had quite decent shoulders with a good neckset. I used her with a dog with decent shoulders (in that time it was quite impossible to find a cocker with excelent shoulders) and I didn't have any truly bad shoulders on her litter.
But I decided to import my first American dog and I can tell you its shoulders were terrible. I used him once with this same bitch and all the 6 puppies had the same shoulders as their father. I used him with another bitch and she had only one puppy, but with the same terrible shoulders. I just place him in a pet home as well his kids and didn't think to use him or anything out him once again. THAT WAS THE BEST DECISION IN ALL MY "DOG LIFE". Just a little detail - I paid US$ 2,000.00 for that dog plus shipping cost and it was in 1994!
If you want an advice, here it goes. You can take your chances with heads, with hindquarters, bites, even with temperament, but NEVER use bad shoulders in your breeding program. In few generations you can distroy all your years or hard work breeding dogs.
But let me start to explain about the shoulders and all the other important points. The standard says ths shoulders are forming a 90 degrees angle with upper arm. There is no way to explain this than using photos or draws.
Now another puppy.
Now pay attention to the 2nd line I traced, the one from the elbows to the ground. What would happen if the shoulders had proper angulations and its withers were there? This dog would be much shorter on back and with a longer neck, isn't it? If you get a cocker magazine and start to trace these lines you will see why people say the fronts are the biggest problem in our breed!
But you want to evaluate your own dog, there is nobody to stack it for you while you take a look on it. What to do? Use your hands! Stack the dog, put your thomb on the withers. You little finger should touch it elbows.
Check the photo bellow.
Just another important thing: When you are watching a dog in moviment (in special in a dog show) pay attention on its front legs and on the nose (YES, THE NOSE). A dog with a good reach will be able to put his foreleg ahead than his nose. If it is not able to do that, it is because it doesn't have a good reach and its has problems with the angles of its shoulders. Let's see what I am talking about:
This is a Brazilian dog bred by one of my good friends - CH Good Advice Total Eclipse, aka Jordan.
Now you already know how to evaluate a good head, lay down shoulders & long neck. Believe me, the head can change, but the shoulders never will. Bad shoulders never will be good ones. And the opposite doesn't happen too. Sometimes it can improves A LITTLE, but don't wait for MIRACLES, ok? I have some photos to prove what I am saying. Take a look on this girl. Since she was 15 DAYS OLD I was pretty sure how her shoulders should be. DON'T FORGET TO TRACE THE IMAGINARY LINE, ok?
But we are not done with the fronts. We must check the ribs. The standard says: "its front sufficiently wide for adequate heart and lung space, yet not so wide as to interfere with the straight forward movement of the forelegs. Ribs are deep and well sprung."
This is a diagram of a cocker, front view. You can see the ribs on it. If the ribs are not wide enough, the dog will have a narrow front, but if it is too wide it will force the elbowns to be out, like a buldog front.
Sometimes we hear the expression: "this dog needs more substance". Usually people are talking about the fronts. The dog who needs more substance is the one with narrow front.
Some puppies with narrow front will improve with exercises. By the way, exercises are the best thing for any puppy. Some breeders don't like to do that saying it will damage the coat. Remember that a coat can grow up when the dog is older, but the same will not happen with the dog's structure. Exercises works great for the rears too, but we will talk about that later.
We are almost finishing with the fronts. We only need to talk about the chest and forechest. The standard asks for a deep chest, "its lowest point no higher than elbows". There is no way you "see" how deep a chest in a show coat dog. but you can feel it. Put your finger on the elbows (there is an arrow showing the right place), the chest must be deeper than your finger. By the way, it is a good test for the ribs too. If there is a "space" between your finger and the ribs, it is because it is not wide enough. Ribs with good shape will be very close to the elbow.
And I traced another line to show where her chest "finishes". If you put your finger on the arrow (exaclty on the elbows) you will be able to touch her chest.
Now a puppy without enought forechest. It is easy to see the problem when the dog doesn't have so much coat, but in full coat, it is quite difficult, in special with a good trimming. It will be necessary to touch the dog to feel the problem.
Besides I am a "head hunter", I agree there is something in cockers (or any other breed) which is more important than the heads. It is the TOPLINE. What is the topline? It is the neck + back + tailset. A dog with a good topline is half way to be a good dog.
Basically there are three kind of toplines, but I don't know how to say that in English. But let's see:
* The first puppy is a good example how a good back should be.
* The puppy in the middle has a curve on it. Some lines have this type of curved back on the puppies, but when the dog is an adult, the back will be ok. That was the case of this puppy as well her dam. I saw them growing up and their back were absolutely strong before one year old. I have one friend who is a very famous schnauzer breeder in Brazil and he says he has the same on his line. Some of his puppies has this curve, but when adults have the best backs. But how to know if the puppy will have a hard back in the future or will keep the curved back? Only using a crytal ball. There is no way to know. So, maybe it is better to don't take your chances keeping a puppy like this.
* The other puppy is what I say soft back. It is the same kind of a horse back and I never saw one puppy with this kind of back that will be ok when it is an adult. It is quite the opposite. It never improves but can get worse with the age. Some puppies have good backs when young, but because they are overweight they can be soft backs when adults. And it happens very often with bitches after they have puppies.
With a good trimming and experince stacking dog, it is not difficult to cover the problem when the dog is stacked. So, the best way to see if the dog has a bad back is watching the dog moving. Unfortunately I don't have photos to show them in movement. But here is a photo of a perfect slooping back in movement:
This is an example of a LOW TAILSET. When the dog is stacked and in show coat, with a proper trimming, it is very difficult to see the problem. But when it is moving, the problem will show up:
As I did with the fronts, I will show the proper angulations. This is a photo of a bitch with very good angulations, front and rears:
To understand the rears angulations and its movement (it is named DRIVE) it is necessary to think in "to bend" and "to jump". I know, it doesn't seem to make sense, but I will show you my point.
You are standing up and start to bend your knee. The more you bend, the higher you will be able to jump, right? The same thing happens with the dogs rear but the dog will not jump, it will "push the ground". The more angulation the dog has (bend in the knees), the more it will be able to push the ground, commonly called 'DRIVE'. The bend in the knee is also called bend of stifle.
This also means that a dog with less angulation (the knees don't bend enough) will not be able to 'push' the ground properly (less drive) and an over angulated dog (knees bend too much) will 'push' the ground too much (too much drive)
Pay attention to these two puppies, littermates, pictured at the same day. It is important to say I resized the photos and the pupipes have exaclty the same height , ok?
You can think the second puppy isn't well stacked, but it is the "comfortable" position for him. How do I know that? Because the hock must be in 90 degres with the groud. In fact his hock is a little ahead than they should be and you can see the angle with the table is smaller than 90 degrees. It is the reason we say THIS DOG NEED MORE ANGULATIONS, the angle should be higher.
Another interesting information. Pay attention on their hocks. Can you note the first puppy has smaller hocks than the second one? Everytime you see a dog with a high hock it is because it doesn't have enough angulations. In fact I believe a lot of problems with rear angulations are because the size of hocks. As higher the hocks are, are less angulations the dog will have.
What I don't know is the following: the dog has high hocks because it has less angulation or it has less angulation because it has high hocks? If some noe has the replay for this answer, please let me know.
Now let's see other photo of the 2nd puppy when he was a couple of months older:
Why the knee can't go ahead than that line? Because when it happens his legs will not be bended enough to push the ground properly.
Check again the photo of the bitch with good rear angles. Trace an imaginary line on her tailset to the ground and check her knees. Her knee isn't ahead thatn the line like the other puppy, her rears are still bended and read to push the ground. Here is her photo again:
But what would happen if I stack this same puppy and put his hock on the proper angle (90 degrees)? His knee would be after thatl ine and that is not right. See the photo:
* he will be able to move faster because he will "push the ground" much more.
* A dog over angulated has short hocks (good point)
* Doge over angulated always have slooping back (great point)
Believe or not a lot of breeders thought the same on the past. Nowadays over angulated dogs are so common on the rings, but they forgot about the ballance of the dog. The front will not be able to follow the rear movement even if the dog has a good front. And we can't forget until 1992 the cockers should be 15% shorter on their backs than taller.
Try to have a picture. The fronts were terrible, no proper angles and you already learned a dog with that characteristc doesn't have GOOD REACH. The rears were over angulated, it means the dog had TOO MUCH DRIVE. And the back should be short! To resume: IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO THE DOG MOVE PROPERLY. The best movers were the ones with long backs. What hapenned? They changed the standard and the dogs should be longer backs after 1992.
I know a lot of people will not agree. They will say there are other reasons, but it is hard to me to believe on the reasons like pain in the back (someone already told me about that). But just remember IT IS MY OPINION.
You should keep this in mind - A GOOD DOG IS A BALLANCED DOG. The rears and front should work together, ok?
Now we must see the rears from another view:
There are two other kinds: cow-hocked (the hockes almost touching each other) and another one who would be exaclty the oposite: The hocks are too far and the legs has the same shape as a "cowboy leg". I don't have photos of these two types, but I will try to find them.
Well, we are done with the rears. I will talk now about short and up on leg dogs. I am sure you already heard these expressions, right?
The standard is VERY CLEAR about the dog's size. A dog or bitch who is over that size should be DISQUALIFIED. For this reason I never will be able to understand why dogs in USA are so big. However I already noted it is different from one state to another. Sometimes if you show a dog 15" tall it will look like a mini-cocker when you put it side by side with other cockers on the same show. I am sorry, but I don't think that is right.
My dogs use to be as closer as possible to the IDEAL HEIGHT (around 15", because it is what the standard asks for, right?) but some breeders think my dogs are too small !
Another thing that I don't like is big bitches who look like more males than girls, or small males who look like bitches. I think you must note if a cocker is a male or a female just looking to it. If you must ask to the ower about the sex it is because something is wrong. The same for the puppies.
As example I am using photos of two littermates - CH ST'JAMES NEVER ON SUNDAY and CH ST'JAMES NOVEMBER RAIN, at the same age. I think you will not have problems to know who is who, right?
Another important thing about the dog's proportion is the lenght of the legs. I believe everybody already saw a photo of the "father of the breed" - CH Obo. He was a very low dog. Don't forget there is a big difference between a small dog and a low one. The low dog has short legs and the small is just small, but still a well proportioned dog.
When I started my dogs used to be small with "normal" legs - not so low not so long - but it was very common to have some puppies short on legs. I had to introduce new dogs on my breeding program to fix that problem. But you must be careful trying to make your dogs upper on legs because you can get oversize dogs and of course that is not diserable.
The last time I was in USA to watch a National was in January/2003. I have to say I was so disapointed with the buff dogs showed there. Almost 80% of all the dogs/bitches/puppies were short on legs. I believe the lenght of the legs are the worst problem with the buff cockers nowadays, even worse than the shoulder angles. As I didn't go there since them I am not sure if the problem is still the same of if the legs are upper.
Here are examples of normal, short and up on leg dogs. As usual I am using puppy's photos to show better:
As I said before, the shoulders never change, but the legs do. Some short leg puppies at 2 months old can be normal when are older. The oposite happens too. And never forget to DON'T TAKE photos of your puppies just after they got food. Their belly will be so full and they will look like shorter legs than they really are. Another exemple of the same puppy. I got the first photo as soon she got food. The other was around one month after. Much different, right?
But when the dog starts to move, it will shows all its qualities and faults. The low tailset will be there, the soft back too, in special the problems with the forelegs and rears.
A dog must walk troting, like a horse. Look these photos:
There is another "movement mistake" very common. A lot of people (I think they are the maiority of the breeders) use to think as faster the dog moves as better the movement is and THAT IS NOT TRUE! Nowadays the shows more look like races. Who goes faster wins! And usualy a proper movement is like the dog is going in slow motion. As it has lot of REACH and DRIVE (front and rears) it will take more time to stretch the legs to the maximun point than a dog with poor reach. Not sure if you undertand what I mean. Let's try in a different way:
You have two people walking side by side. One is moving with big steeps and the other with little ones. But as they are friend they want to be together. What happens? The person with "little steps" should move the legs much more times than the other, but they have the same speed and are walking side by side
The same happens with dogs with good and bad movement. They are able to move on the same speed, but the one with little steps (not proper reach and drive - NOT GOOD COVER GROUND) will have to move the legs much more times than the other with good cover (big steeps), isn't that truth?
But do you know what happens? People see that dog moving its legs so fast trying to go on the same speed as the dog with good drive and reach and they think that one is a MOVING MACHINE!!! But in fact the other one, who doesn't make so much effort to move because it has the "big steeps" is the one who REALLY MOVES CORRECTLY!
Let's see what the standard says about GAIT:
"Prerequisite to good movement is balance between the front and rear assemblies. He drives with strong, powerful rear quarters and is properly constructed in the shoulders and forelegs so that he can reach forward without constriction in a full stride to counterbalance the driving force from the rear. Above all, his gait is coordinated, smooth and effortless. The dogs must cover ground with his action; excessive animation should not be mistaken for proper gait".
Do you see? EXCESSIVE ANIMATION SHOULD NOT BE MISTAKEN FOR PROPER GAIT - it is not because a dog moves its legs very fast it means its movement is right! NEVER FORGET THAT!
When the exibithors (in special the handlers) noted a lot of people were doing that same mistake (including JUDGES!), they start to make their dogs move faster and faster, like a race. But when you make a dog goes so faster on its trot, maybe this dog will show some problems in his back that in fact he doesn't have. But that doesn't seem to mean that much for some handlers . In their opinnion A SHOW DOG MUST MOVE FASTER and that is all.
Another VERY IMPORTAN THING: Time by time we have in our breed dogs that become great winners, in special because they are great movers. It is a great pleasure to watch them flying around the ring, but when you pay attention on their structure - ugly head, narrow front and rears, very long back, you realize that dog is nothing more than a mover.
I believe you already note there are some top models who aren't that beautiful. In fact you can't understand why they are so famours, but when they see them on the "fashion shows" you note they have some thing different, they get all the "eyes" to them. It is "the flash", it is what we name on the dog world "show attitude". And you can be sure the same happens to the dogs.
"The flash" is a great thing to a handler. One dog who is a great mover and has flash is half way to become a BIS winner, but to a breeder THAT CAN NOT BE SO IMPORTANT. Of course I like a dog who is able to move correctly, but it MUST HAVE other qualities. I never will use a dog with a bad head, long back, no bones, no substance, just because it is a great mover of because has "show attitude".
I already had so many dogs who had great structure, they weren't perfect but were very close to the standard but besides they were able to move correctly, they didn't have "flash". They were able to finish the championship, but they never got any BIS. And every time they were on the same show with the "big movers" they lost. Is that fair? Well ... who said the dog shows are "fair games" ?
So here goes one advice. Movement is very important to show the dog's faults, but it doesn't mean a "flashy dog"r is a perfect dog. Don't use a dog with your bitch just because it is a big winner or a big mover, because maybe it will mean nothing on your whelping box.
But let's talk about movement ...
As you already saw on this page, a dog with a proper front and proper rear angulations will have a beautiful REACH and DRIVE, an expression we see very often on the stud sires advertisements. It will be BALLANCED. Let's see these photos in movement:
Do you want to see another dog moving, this time a young puppy?
But what is a NOT BALLANCED DOG? We must think on him as two parts. Each part will walk with different size of steps. If he doesn't have REACH enoght, his "front steps" will be short ones. If he is over angulated on his rears, his "hind steps" will be large ones. So a not ballanced dog is the one wicth "front steps" will not have the same size as his "hind steps".
A dog with bad reach will look like this:
And you can find another kind of movement problems when a dog has more drive than reach: SIDEWINDING or SIDLE. What is that? It is when the dog can not move in a streight line. Why that happens?
Very simple ... look the photo of the buff puppy moving (above). Can you note the paws which are on the floor are very close to each other? All the dogs use to move in that way. But now think in a dog not ballanced. He doesn't have too much reach (small/short front steps) but as it is over angulated on rears, he pushes the ground very much (large/big hind steps). If this dog was moving in a streight line, he would put his hind leg AHEAD than the foreleg. Of course he can't do that, so what he does? He puts his hind leg at the side of the foreleg. Look the draw bellow.
But the right dog isn't ballanced . It doesn't have to much REACH (short front steps) and because of that his foreleg isn't ahead than his nose. On the other hand he has too much DRIVE (large hind steps) and his hind leg goes ahead than the point his foreleg is. He puts his two right legs side by side and to make that possible, he can't go in a streight line. He must twist his body. It is the Mother Nature adjusting the dog's movement to its structure.
It is what Byron Santos (Sherwood Cockers in USA) said: "I guess you have to describe the rear as a "balanced to the front" because no matter how good or bad the front is, God will adjust the rears so the dog can move more adequately"
Believe me, siddle movement is much more common than you can imagine, in special in short back dogs. As I like the short back dogs I already had a couple dogs with this problem in my place. And I had oportunity to watch a Dobermann National Show here in Brazil (I was the judge's assistent) and I can tell you 90% of the dogs on that show (including the ones imported from USA) had the same problem. It is easier to see the problem in a dobermann because there is no coat to cover its legs ...
But sometimes you have a dog (very common on puppies) and it moves streight, but when you put the leash on it he will start to to siddle. Sometimes he is doing that because he dog is pulling away from you and not because it has problems in his structure, ok?
