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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
208
A
short
time
ago
black
Cockers
were
decidedly
more
fashionable
than
their
parti-coloured
relatives,
but
now
the
reverse
is
the
case,
and
the
various
roans
and
tricolours
have
overtaken
and
passed
the
others,
both
in
general
quality
and
in
the
public
esteem.
The
reason
for
this
popularity
of
the
breed
as
a
whole
is
not
far
to
seek.
The
affectionate
and
merry
disposition
of
the
Cocker
and
his
small
size
compared
with
that
of
the
other
breeds
pre-eminently
fit
him
for
a
companion
in
the
house
as
well
as
in
the
field,
and
he
ranks
among
his
admirers
quite
as
many
of
the
fairer
sex
as
he
does
men--a
fact
which
is
not
without
a
certain
element
of
danger,
since
it
should
never
be
lost
sight
of
that
the
breed
is
a
sporting
one,
which
should
on
no
account
be
allowed
to
degenerate
into
a
race
of
mere
house
companions
or
toys.
Small-sized
Spaniels,
usually
called
Cockers,
from
their
being
more
especially
used
in
woodcock
shooting,
have
been
indigenous
to
Wales
and
Devonshire
for
many
years,
and
it
is
most
likely
from
one
or
both
of
these
sources
that
the
modern
type
has
been
evolved.
It
is
probable
too
that
the
type
in
favour
to-day,
of
a
short
coupled,
rather
"cobby"
dog,
fairly
high
on
the
leg,
is
more
like
that
of
these
old-fashioned
Cockers
than
that
which
obtained
a
decade
or
two
ago,
when
they
were
scarcely
recognised
as
a
separate
breed,
and
the
Spaniel
classes
were
usually
divided
into
"Field
Spaniels
over
25
lb."
and
"Field
Spaniels
under
25
lb."
In
those
days
a
large
proportion
of
the
prizes
fell
to
miniature
Field
Spaniels.
The
breed
was
not
given
official
recognition
on
the
Kennel
Club's
register
till
1893,
nor
a
section
to
itself
in
the
Stud
Book;
and
up
to
that
date
the
only
real
qualification
a
dog
required
to
be
enabled
to
compete
as
a
Cocker
was
that
he
should
be
under
the
weight
of
25
lb.,
a
limit
arbitrarily
and
somewhat
irrationally
fixed,
since
in
the
case
of
an
animal
just
on
the
border-line
he
might
very
well
have
been
a
Cocker
before
and
a
Field
Spaniel
after
breakfast.
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