The cocker craze

Unscrupulous breeders cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown is bad news for cocker spaniels and their often mismatched new owners, says Ryan Kay

- Ryan Kay KCAI (WG)

Barely a day goes by without someone contacting Mrs Kay or I with regards to purchasing a puppy. At the height of the recent demand for ‘lockdown puppies’, we would regularly receive around half a dozen enquiries a day. The demand is still high and as I write this (presently 11 am on a Saturday), we’ve already received two more emails this morning with regards to buying a puppy. We don’t consider ourselves as breeders… perhaps only having one, maybe two litters a year. Some serious breeders have been receiving over 20 requests a day for puppies!

Mrs Kay is in charge of our infrequent litters and her main goal is to try and breed the perfect working cocker – a neverending pursuit for many a breeder, professional or hobbyist. With the coronavirus situation, we decided not to join in with the trending surge of breeding puppies and have, instead, made plans to have two litters early next year – with the waiting lists already nearly full. Of course, with all the enquires the list could have been filled 10 times over, but just selling puppies to random homes is not what we’re about. Cashing in on the demand, although easy to do, is not on the agenda. I’ll talk about the monetary subject a little later.

They may look cute, but in the wrong homes these little squidgy pups can become a problem.