I want a cocker spaniel puppy .Are they good with children?

Answer 1

I have a cocker spaniel and she is the love of my life. She is 12 years old, black with just a touch of white under her chin. She is the sweetest little pup. Now dogs will be dogs and when we first brought her home, she would like to bite because she was teething. All puppies will do this, just have plenty of bones and things for her to chew on (no rawhides!). Also, don't let your children rough play with her, this will make any dog more aggressive. Be gentle, pet and play with them, but no roughhousing. Also, buy from a reputable breeder. These dogs do tend to have eye problems, so check the puppies eyes to make sure they are clear from discharge. I made a mistake a bought a pup that had an ulcer in her eye come to find out. It was pretty expensive to treat, not to meantion, I was scared she was going to have to have surgery after just having her a few days. Get a pet health guarantee, I didn't and wish I had of. Good luck these are great dogs, life-long friends and make great pets! Plus, mine has been relatively healthy (she is 12 years old and no major problems) and she loves to play with toys!

Answer 2

I have a cocker spaniel now she is really good with small children she just wants to play most of the time... and she especially loves babies. I am still very watchful because she is very possessive about her toys and at times if she wants to play alone she will walk away but if the kids continue to aggravate her she can get aggressive(and not in a good way). She will start off running away from them but after a while of being bothered she will chase them away.

I personally don't have a problem with her and children, and I feel they are great dogs with kids and very protective of them. You will love your cocker spaniel and so will your kids.

Answer 3

Cocker Spaniels are proven to be less dangerous than other breed ONLY speculatively. All dogs, in the right environment, are capable of attacking ANYONE.

What does this mean, exactly?

It means, if one of the "dangerous" breeds is raised in an environment that you KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT has not been harmful to the dog (noone hits it or "trains" it to fight other dogs, etc.) it SHOULD be as safe as a Cocker Spaniel that was raised in the same environment. The problem is that breeds like Dobies, Pits, Rotts, etc. are usually the offspring of an abused dog, or the offspring of the offspring of an abused dog, etc. So these puppies MIGHT be "hard-wired" so to speak, or inclined, toward aggressive behavior.

Cocker Spaniels do not fall into the dangerous breed category, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be a safe dog for your children. Unless you get the puppy ALMOST IMMEDIATELY after it was weaned, you run the risk of ending up with an abused dog, even if it is a documented pooch. In fact, it has been AT LEAST speculated that purebred dogs that you purchase 100% legally in the U.S. may still have been abused or, as animal rights groups call it, "farmed" or "harvested"

That said, here is my advice: If I were YOU and it was my child, I would take the following precautions:
1) Buy the dog from a trusted source (NOT a humane/adoption society and NOT someone who ran an ad in a newspaper or stuck up a poster somewhere advertising cheap/free Cockers).
2)Monitor the dog when my child plays with it for AT LEAST one month, preferably longer.
3)Realize that, no matter how safe someone says a dog is, whether it's a toy poodle or a Mastiff, all dogs are capable of attacking, no matter how docile/gentle they may seem.
4)If the dog ever SERIOUSLY attacked my child, sell it.(I would not encourage destroying a dog that bites my child once, but rather sell or give it to a household that I trust will take care of it. Dropping a dog off at a humane society would be a LAST RESORT for me.)
5)After purchasing the dog, take it to the vet and get all its shots taken care of BEFORE bringing it home.

I hope this helps you in making your decision

Answer 4

A Cocker Spaniel should be fine if brought up with children & the children are taught how to behave with a puppy. As with any breed, you should make sure you buy from a reputable breeder who has health & temperament as their first consideration. This will mean doing plenty of research - starting with the Breed Clubs who are the best source of information on responsible breeders.

Answer 5

if u raise the puppy 2 be good with children then yes it will be fine and u need 2 be persistent and loving to ensure it
i think cocker spaniels r 1 of the few dogs that r great with children
good luck

Answer 6

Cockers, like just about any dog, can be excellent with kids. The key is supervision and groundwork. No dog will just be great with kids while you put in no effort. You will have to socialize the dog and supervise the child-all the time. This means constantly showing the child how to behave around the puppy (gentle pats, soft rubs-no pulling on the puppy). You should take puppy with you as much as possible (to the park, on errands, to pick up the kids at school) the more they see people and have good experiences with various people, the better they will be. Plan on a puppy class-have your kids go with you for this.

I picked out my pup last summer-I thought about a Cocker, but the grooming was more than I wanted to deal with. So we got a Brittany (Spaniel). A bit bigger than a cocker, but she is a dream with our son. She arrived at 12 weeks old and two weeks before my son's 1st birthday. She housebroke fairly soon, she was a fast study in puppy class (which my son attended with us), and she was a fairly calm puppy from day one. She is still learning and growing, but she is very good with my son. She allows him to touch her toys and food (because I worked with her on this and she knows hands on food/toys is ok). He can now give simple commands like calling her to him, telling her "no" if she gets a toy of his, and when asked he will let Katie out of her crate when we get home so she can potty. To be honest-for all the extra work she makes for me (feeding, cleaning the yard, baths, laundry for her bedding, brushing/nail clipping) she is worth it because she is so good to my son and he is learing a lot from her. I hope that your family is blessed to find a wonderful dog-whatever the breed. And if you don't want a puppy-try breed rescue, they can often give a good bit of info on the personality of the dog based on observations of the foster home.

Answer 7

cocker spaniels will tolerate children if well socialized!

i would consider getting the cavalier king Charles spaniel as they are playful and good natured

Answer 8

any book ive ever read on cockers say they have dr. jeckle mr hyde syndrome. my father in law used to "raise" cockers and says theyr the best. he got a new one and was raised with my daughter and there has been instances where one minute the dog is good and the next min hes snapping. for a while my f-inlaw defended lady but now he even keeps an i on her.i do not trust her with my daughter at all.(my daughter is gentle with pets). they now have a new puppy and this one is worse.not gonna stereotype on the two i now but i would not have one with my child. but it culd be like the pit bull thing where it has to do with blood lines also, and not just how theyre raised. i would get a pit befor a cocker

Answer 9

Cockers are renowned for their friendly, faithful, playful, and affectionate natures. They are easily trained and make a good medium-sized family pet. Very few Cockers have temperament problems; in a 2002 survey consisting of 487 cockers, only 1% of the dogs were aggressive to people and 2% were aggressive to other dogs. (good choice your kids will love him/her)

Answer 10

I have a Cocker spanial. He is great with Kids, I was told that he was an exception? I think if you socialize most dogs with children when they are puppies, they'll be fine