A medium-sized, merry sporting spaniel known for its silky coat, long lush ears, expressive eyes, and energetic attitude. Compact and athletic, built for endurance and agility in the field with exceptional abilities as both hunting companion and family dog.
Developed in England from land spaniels as a specialist flushing spaniel for woodcock and other game birds. Officially separated from American Cocker Spaniel in the 1940s by breed standards.
Males typically weigh 13-15.5 kg and stand 41-43 cm at the shoulder; females 12-14.5 kg and 38-41 cm.
“Merry nature with ever- wagging tail shows a typical bustling movement, particularly when following scent, fearless of heavy cover. Gentle and affectionate, yet full of life and exuberance”
Quoted from FCI standard n°5. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Breed reference from The Dog API.
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; UFAW / Cocker Spaniel: Familial Nephropathy. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
FCI standard · English Cocker Spaniel
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible and undesirable.
Flat, silky in texture, never wiry or wavy, not too profuse and never curly.
Well feathered forelegs, body and hind legs above hocks
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Base colour
Black
Shortened from FCI standard n°5 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
FCI divides the English Cocker Spaniel into these varieties, listed in the registry's own words. Depending on the breed they separate colour, coat, size or line — they are not a full list of colours, which no registry we hold publishes. Ask a breeder which variety their line is.
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the English Cocker Spaniel in general; any individual animal can differ.
Known hereditary risks for the English Cocker Spaniel breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
4 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Malformation of the hip joint leading to wear, arthritis and pain over time. A required test in this breed's CHIC protocol.
What to ask for
An OFA hip evaluation on both parents
A raised risk of premature disc degeneration from the same FGF4 retrogene insertion (CDDY) implicated in Dachshunds; testing-lab data show it at high frequency in this breed (allele frequency around 88%), and a survey of 2,654 English Cocker Spaniels found breed-wide IVDD prevalence of 5.7%, higher in show-bred than working-bred dogs.
What to ask for
A CDDY/IVDD-risk DNA test on both parents
An inherited, blinding degeneration of the retina with no treatment, typically diagnosed in adulthood. A required test in the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America's CHIC protocol.
What to ask for
A prcd-PRA DNA test on both parents, plus a current annual ACVO/CAER eye exam
An inherited structural defect in the kidney's filtering membrane, causing progressive protein loss in the urine from before one year of age and kidney failure between six months and two years; the condition is ultimately fatal, usually within weeks of reaching advanced signs. No recognised varieties in this breed.
What to ask for
A familial nephropathy DNA test on both parents, or confirmed clear-by-parentage status
Median survival 13.3 years
95% confidence interval 13.2–13.3 years, from 7,584 recorded deaths among 26,591 dogs
Mortality hazard 0.75 (0.74, 0.77) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.
Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.
McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.
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No English Cocker Spaniel breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.
