About

Hello, my name is Emily, but my dogs know me as gurl! I have been in love with the Cocker breed my whole life. They are the only dog I have ever had. We have been a cocker family for decades. My dream is to one day create and develop my own line aka breed cockers.

I have been mentored for over 20 years. With the last few years focusing more learning on the ins and outs of breeding. I’m learning all I can before someday starting my own line.

One of the big things I want to focus on as a breeder is taking all the good qualities that I have experienced with my own pet cockers and create amazing Cocker Spaniels. I want my dogs to be able to be used as service dogs, therapy dogs, hunting dogs, conformation/showing dogs, agility, obedience, and overall companion dogs.

My first cocker spaniel I got at 10 years old. She was a female buff named Clara, yes she was named after Clara Barton. We were Civil War reenactors. She was amazing! The first time we took her to one of our Civil War events she was social with the thousands of people who were there that weekend and she would often sleep right through the reenactment of the battles with cannons roaring, guns firing, men yelling, swords clinking, and black powder smoke filling the air. She was an amazing companion!

Then at 14 I was in a car accident which left me with a traumatic brain injury. She almost immediately became my “self-trained” service dog. She was able to read me like a book, paying attention the change in body language and stress hormones when I was panicking, she did her best to calm me down. She would sleep with me for the hours and hours that I slept trying to heal my brain. She could “read” me when I was getting frustrated and helped me get through so much of the healing process. It was because of her sweet constant companionship and ability to “read” what I needed each moment that made me want to make sure that my line can and will be used to help others with TBI’s, PTSD, autism, and other medical conditions.

My desire is to focus on the breed standard creating a line of strong, well built, good temperment, stable dogs. One of my mentores shared with me that it is easier to breed confirmation (this is the looks of a dog) into a line, then it is to breed bad temperament out of the line. She advised to find the best temperament dogs that have great confirmation and start with them vs finding the best looking dog and then trying to breed a good temperment into it.

I share all this so that you understand that I know the good and the bad of this breed. I have experienced being around amazing confirmation dogs, with not so amazing temperaments. So this line that I want to build will be just as focused on the temperment of the dog, as on the structure. I want my line to be known as they were hundreds of years ago as “strong, lusty and nimble rangers, of active feet, wanton tails and busy nostrils” all while keeping the build of the dogs nice and sturdy to go all day in the field without losing breath – key for any real hunting dog!

Until then, I will keep building this website to share my knowledge, tips and tricks, and love for the breed. Hopefully to the benefit of those who also love the cocker and for those who are falling in love with the American Cocker Spaniel!