Appearance
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 some countries the tail is generally docked at about four or five inches in field-bred dogs while show dogs generally are docked closer to the body.
The average Cocker stands 15 to 17 inches high at the shoulder and weighs between 26 to 34 pounds.
Coat and Color
Show dogs are restricted to certain colors dependent on country, whereas working Cockers can be any of a wide variety of colors. They come in solid, or "self", where white is restricted to only the chest in show dogs, parti-color and roan.
The colors 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 colors, some hunters prefer to have white in the coat to make the dog more visible to gunners.