cocoa had to go to the vet

I never ever once said that a well bred cocker spaniel will have ear and eye issues.

And unfortunately, the cocker is known for a bad rep of being aggressive, especially with children. It is a breed stereotype that is hard to convince people otherwise. Notice I had the word typical with quotations around it. Unfortunately, people stereotype breeds. Pits are man-eaters, cockers are child biters in uneducated people's eyes.

ALL of course caused by bad breeding. I never once said ALL cockers will have these issues.

The funny thing is my sister tried to get away from the health problems by going with a different breed (springer) and instead she's got a dog with rage syndrome, not uncommon in poorly bred springers, and even seen in some well bred ones. She didn't know any better at the time. My former trainers (the abusive ones) had her convinced they were reputable breeders, and I couldn't convince her otherwise.

[Brattina88]

Originally Posted by MafiaPrincess

I have a poorly bred cocker and a well bred cocker. We don't have eye, ear or child eating issues. Either dog. Seems that poorly bred is the common theme of people complaining about health problems in cockers. While eye and ear issues can be a problem they AREN'T in well bred dogs. You get what you buy. But I'm sick of people writing about it being the breed as a whole. A poorly bred anything can have a mountain of issues.

I'm sorry Cocoa is having problems. But if she came from somewhere shady it sucks, but it's not unusual. I hope she and you find some relief.

This.

But, even a well bred dog can have child eating issues (or just bad manners lol), if not properly trained or socialized by their owner

[elegy]

our byb cocker when i was a kid didn't have ear, eye, skin, or biting problems. we were exceedingly lucky, i think, based on the cockers i see at work (every last one of them poorly bred iirc).