The American Cocker Spaniel

The first Cocker in America is said to have arrived with the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower in 1620. Settlers in subsequent centuries brought more with them to help explore and exploit the country's wildernesses.

American Cockers were developed from the English Cocker in the 19th century, to retrieve quail and woodcock. The English and American Cocker Spaniel had identical histories up until around the 1930's. They were considered one breed of spaniel.

Originally they were divided from the English Cocker solely on the basis of size, but over the years they were bred for specific traits and the differences grew greater. By the 1940s the American Cocker differed so much in type from the English Cocker that it became impossible to judge them together and in 1945 the two breeds were separated and each officially recognised with their own standards.

As with the other Spaniel breeds, American and English Cocker Spaniels were classified by size. Thus several different types of spaniels could come from the same litter. Cockers and toys were the smaller types, and, as the toy spaniels were bred as ladies' companions and Cockers were kept for hunting, were further divided into two groups. Later, spaniels were divided according to their method of hunting: Crouching or setting spaniels, and springing or finding spaniels. The Cockers were crouchers, and they were used particularly to hunt woodcock a game bird these spaniels flushed particularly well. The name "Cocker" comes from the woodcock.