by Keith Erlandson-5-
Bearing in mind that both show and working cockers of today both stem from the same root stock, is it so very strange that a disparity in type sometimes occurs even when the same thing happened with those cockers of a bygone age that were allegedly bred to their breed standard? The situation is further compounded by the various outcrosses which (quite legitimately) have been brought into the gene pool in the past, before the Kennel Club, shortsightedly I think, placed an embargo on this practice circa 1969. I am fortunate to have had as one of my mentors Miss Peggy Brown of the 'Headland' cockers. A notable breed historian, Miss Brown has a vastly extended pedigree of 'Rivington Dazzle' which in its last generation shows outcrosses of field and Sussex spaniels. Miss Brown told me that springer outcrosses were not good as springer blood is so dominant that it masks cocker type and persists over the generations. Apparently she considers Border collie and English setter outcrosses as beneficial with which I would agree but as English springers and English setters both originated from common stock of the land spaniels of Europe about 400 years ago, a far back setter outcross can still produce characteristics which the uninitiated could mistake for recent springer ancestry. Quite recently I discovered, via his daughter, that the great show breeder, Mr.B.S. Lloyd, had used an English setter by the now defunct Class 11 registration, to bring blue roan colouration into his 'Ware ' cockers . Having observed the working and field trial cockers for over 42 years, I can state that the proportion of untypical cockers seen today is less than was the case 30 or 40 years ago. Whereas there were several good cockers present at the 1957 Championship like Commander Collard's double championship winner F.T.Ch Buoy of Elan handled by John Forbes, Frank Fuller's F.T.Ch Stockbury Elizabeth handled by Reg Hill and Tom Ellis's F.T.Ch Deewood Wendy, whose influence is particularly strong even to the present day, thereafter cockers went in to rapid decline. Quality slid away and it was difficult to find sufficient dogs to fill the stakes. This dark period lasted from the late 1950's to the early l970s although a few good cockers still manifested themselves, like the F.T.Ch Simon of Elan, Wilfred of Cromlix and Headland Hazel of Monnow. Commander Collards 1966 Championship winner was more pedestrian but was a brilliant gamefinder and has left a wonderful line behind her through her granddaughter, F.T.Ch Speckle of Ardoon. During this period, cockers were knocked hard in the press as some commentators who lacked long-term breeding experience did not appreciate that livestock production over the decades can fall into troughs, then rise to new heights.