“The cocker’s exuberance may test novice handlers, but there are springers that are equally challenging” SPRINGER OR cocker? Choosing between our two most popular breeds of spaniel has never been more difficult. According to the Kennel Club’s (KC) figures, cockers are the most popular of the two, with 21,845 registered last year, compared with just 9,837 English springers. However, the KC figures are misleading, as they fail to distinguish between working and show strains of the two breeds, while there are certainly far more pet cockers than springers. And to confuse things, there are a lot of pure-bred working English springers that are not registered either.
My own reckoning, based on the shoots I’ve been on in recent years, is that springers still outnumber cockers, but it seems likely that…
