English Cocker Spaniel, todays featured dog breed.

The English Cocker Spaniel is a breed of gun dog. It is one of several varieties of spaniel and somewhat resembles its American cousin, the American Cocker Spaniel, although it's closer to the working-dog form of the Field Spaniel and the Springer Spaniel. Outside the US, the breed is usually known simply as the Cocker Spaniel, as is the American Cocker Spaniel within the US. Due to the breed's happy disposition and continuously wagging tail, it has been given the nickname "merry cocker". The Cocker is a sturdy, compact, well-balanced dog. It has a characteristic expression showing intelligence and alertness. Its eyes should be dark and its lobular ears should reach the tip of the nose when pulled forward. Today, a significant difference in appearance exists between field-bred and conformation show-bred dogs. The Cocker's tail is customarily docked in North America. In countries where docking is legal, the tail is generally docked at about 4–5 inch (10–13 cm) in field-bred dogs while show dogs generally are docked closer to the body.

Size

Height at withers:

• Dogs: 15–17 inches (38–43 cm)


• Bitches: 15–16 inches (38–41 cm)

Weight:

• Dogs: 28–34 lb (13–15 kg)


• Bitches: 27–32 lb (12–15 kg)

Colour
Show dogs are restricted to certain colours dependent on country, whereas working Cockers can be any of a wide variety of colours. They come in solid (or "self"), where white is restricted to only the chest in show dogs, parti-colour and roan.
The colours in the breed consist of black, black and tan, black and white, black white and tan, blue roan, blue tick, blue roan and tan, silver, chocolate, chocolate and tan, chocolate and white, chocolate white and tan, chocolate roan, chocolate roan and tan, sable, copper red, red, gold, red roan, red and white, apricot, orange, orange and white, orange roan, lemon, lemon and white, lemon roan.
Although field-bred and show dogs are found in largely the same colours, some hunters prefer to have white in the coat to make the dog more visible to gunners.