# Advice for Lab/Cocker mix...



## zipbags

I am getting a lab/cocker puppy next week from Mustard Sandwich adoption. She is 8 weeks old and is supposedly have begun some house breaking and crate training. I just have a few questions....

-Is anyone familiar with lab/cocker (Spanador) mixes? Size? Temperment? Shedding?

-Any suggestions for training and feeding? 

-I also can take the puppy to my office. Should I bring the crate? Or just keep a small area confined for her to hang out?

Thanks!


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## Dulce

I'm sure the dog will be medium size, and will be very high energy, and be very smart.
I'm sure there will be a fair amount of shedding

Bring the crate to your office. Have a bed, and water and toys in there. Take the dog out frequently to potty. Even 30 min or so.


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## Keno's Mom

Is this a rescue group or shelter you are getting the dog from? Or a delibert cross to create one of the "designer" dogs. I hope its a rescue group!

Anyway I agree it should be a medium size when grown, but he/she could take after the larger lab too - its a 50/50 chance unless you saw the parents.

Labs are notorious shedders (only drawback ) and again, its a 50/50 chance on the type of coat you get.

I'd take a crate to work (safest) and take pup out every few hours for potty and to stretch - you are lucky you can take your pup to work  Just do basic training like you would do for any dog - start with puppy classes and work up.


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## zipbags

She is not a from a "designer" breeder. She is being adopted from "Mustard Sandwich" in South Carolina. She rescues litters of dogs and begins training and then adopts them out. Has anyone heard of them?

Here is her site... www.mustardsandwich.net


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## cshellenberger

Good on you for adopting from rescue I would take a crate so she has a place to 'get away from it all' while you're at work.


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## atldoglover

mustardsandwich.net- how sweet...what a nice idea.


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## Keno's Mom

Neat concept - totally different. Is it my computer (brand new - so I don't think so) but can't they take some NATURAL pictures of the pups available - those puppies look "weird" and out of proportion?

Whoever did the pictures should be fired - I know you can take a lot better


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## zipbags

Spoke to the woman from the adoption place. The puppy's mother is pure bred Cocker Spaniel. The father is a lab (not sure if she is a mix or pure bred).


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## jersanter

*Great Dog!!!*

My brother rescued an all black male Lab/Cocker mix from a family that abused him. At first my dad was dead against another dog as we had just put down our pure bred cocker spaniel with a cancerous tumor, but this dog was special. Sweetest dog I've ever been around. At first he was very afraid of men. My guess is because it was men who used to abuse him. He has the lab head and body structure, the cocker ears and fur, and the lab tail. I would put him in the medium category at about 40-45 lbs. Perfect size dog and his shedding isn't that bad. They keep him pretty short in the warmer months and you barely notice the shedding. Very, very hyper dog and very intelligent. You picked a winner in my opinion.


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## zipbags

jersanter said:


> He has the lab head and body structure, the cocker ears and fur, and the lab tail. I would put him in the medium category at about 40-45 lbs. Perfect size dog and his shedding isn't that bad. They keep him pretty short in the warmer months and you barely notice the shedding. Very, very hyper dog and very intelligent. You picked a winner in my opinion.


Sounds like mine. His head and body look like a lab. Yet his hears and the fur are cocker. Do you have a pic?


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## britishbandit

With any mix, you'll never know exactly what to expect. They don't all end up the same size, you can't pre-determine anything. They may take the best quailities of each breed, the worst, a bit of each.......same with size, there is a big difference between a full grow lab and a full grown cocker. Could be the size of a cocker, a lab, or anywhere inbetween.
You'll just have to wait and see!

As for suggestions on training and feeding, can you be a bit more specific? 

And yes, if you are taking her to the office, a crate is a good idea. You'll likely not be able to keep a close eye on her 24/7, and she could get into trouble and even injure herself. A friend of mine lost her puppy a few months ago. She went downstairs for 2 minutes to do laundry, and the puppy chewed through an electrical cord.  She was once a person who thought crate training was cruel, and realizes now that a crate would have prevented her dog from leaving this world too soon.


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## willie athill

I have a cocker /Black lab cross bitch of two years old. She is brilliant. She is a trained gun dog who had her first shooting season this year. Mouth is soft and she is really fast. It is very important to teach her early on in her life to do things. We trained her in simple basics as a puppy to sit, to walk at heel , to stop, to hunt and to retreive. She is a really keen learner. If you let her get away she is to fast and will careen about and behave foolishly like crashing int wire fences and cutting her legs open and slashing her ear. Now after three sets of stitches she has learnt! The other problem was pulling hard at her lead. This I stopped early on by using a choke lead and when she pulled pulling her over on her back with a hard yank which hurt her feelings more than hurting her but it still made her think and now she feels the lead getting tighter and stops pulling. She relly is a lovely little dog very freindly and pretty as anything. I will be breeding from her next year


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## Linzy1985

First of all, I would like to say how very lucky you are to be getting a dog like this. I had a black cocker spaniel/lab mix named Onix for 13 years that just died a few weeks ago. I had no problem whatsover potty training her. She just already knew some how. A crate is something I never even needed to use. She grew to be a medium size dog, no more than 20lbs. She was a very, very smart dog. A lot smarter than most dog's. She was a jelous dog that alway's wanted my attention so I couldn't have any other dogs. She was never real crazy about other dogs. She was alway's weird when it came to meeting new people so I had to always be cautious the first time, but once she got to knew the person she loved them. She was very good, loyal, and close to our family. Your very lucky to get this dog. I wish I could find another dog like my Onix.


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## spanielorbust

cshellenberger said:


> Good on you for adopting from rescue I would take a crate so she has a place to 'get away from it all' while you're at work.


Has anyone looked to see where this rescue gets their pups from? They don't specify anywhere on the site that I have found and they currently have 58 pups on Nextdaypets and as well advertise on other puppy sites. They specialize in 8-12 week old pups . . . . I know this posters intentions are wonderful and supporting rescue is great but my 'suspicious' senses are tingling . . . . 

http://www.nextdaypets.com/directory/dogs/uid/672181.aspx

This is all I've found on their source for pups. "We specialize in a limited number of puppies between 8-12 weeks, allowing us to maintain an accurate focus on proper care and training. . . .The puppies arrive at Mustard Sandwich for various reasons, mostly in need of routine medical care, good homes and training."

They could be arriving from a regular 'source' that is being compensated - you never know as their puppys sources are glazed over. I've not ever seen an entire Peke x poo puppy litter up for 'rescue'. 

Heather, NC, is also listed on the prodog breeder site under mustard sandwich, same phone number - 910 238 9936 

http://www.mydogbreeders.com/dog-breeders-by-location/north-carolina/

http://www.mydogbreeders.com/mixed-breed/mustard-sandwich/

For the poster, sorry for my skepticism if it is not warranted. I wish you all the best with your new puppy. The pups I've known of this mix have been higher energy and goofy . . . . but absolutely loving and lovely. There is a breeder that markets them as 'Comfort Retrievers' and it looks like you've already found the 'Spanador' handle.

SOB


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## Trixie

I definitely got bad vibes from their website since they don't really say where the pups come from. But that's just me.

And I'm a skeptic, too.

I though comfort retrievers were cocker spaniel/golden retrievers. Or cocker/flat coat. I guess they can be whatever you want, really!


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## Dog_Shrink

The thing about mixed breeds is they will tend to act mostly like the breed they most resemble so if this little one looks more cocker then it should act more cocker with lab overtones. I don't know HOW that momma cocker survived the pregnancy if she was bred by a dog almost 3x her size. GOOD momma. 

As far as teh taking to work thing, that can be a double edged sword. You could make her codependant spending so much time with you, never learning to be comfortable on her own. I would certinaly not make it an everyday thing because there are gonna be times she has to tolerate being alone say if you go on vacation and can't take her along. I would make the time she goes to the office sporatic, like taker her a day, leave her home 2 days, take her for 3 days, leave her home for 2 days... no rhyme or reason, just very sporatic. Also at work I wouldn't want to use a crate, I would want to either isolate her in a confined area so that she can learn self control on her own with close supervision in a larger area than her crate affords or an xpen for the same reason. She needs to be able to have more physical movement than a properly sized crate will allow for proper growth and development at that young age. I find that dogs that are confinement trained (baby gates in a dog safe area) rather than crate trained acclimate to the entire house a lot quicker, they tend to be more calm, and learn at a young age what is appropriate to assault in the house and what isn't. This also permits the crate to be used properly with only positive associaons if it's needed at all. I never crate any of my pups and none are destructive in the house (but not getting into this again... there are plenty of other threads with my views on crating if you wish to search for more reasons behind my train of thought). 

For SOB, actually a comfort retriever is a mix of cocker and golden retriever, not lab. I also have my suspicions about a"rescue" that only deals in dogs that age and has access to entire mixed litters. Sorry but designer breeders don't just turn over entire litters to rescue for adoption. 

There are a few "rescues" out there that I see on petfinder and the like that ALWAYS have a good selection of pups. What to look for is to see if they have their 501(c)3 1st (not that it always proves a place is honest but they do have stricter financial requirements that they have to prove to the feds), also I know places like the Dane (large breed rescue) in Cali that burt ward runs also has a lot of questionable things going on there, also a rescue in Ohio (they say a lot of puppy mill rescue. IMO more like a lot of auction dogs purchased which I don't support as that only provieds an oout for unethical breeders. Let's dump our dogs at auction.) that always has puppies of mixed origin (last I saw on their site was irish wolfhound/shep mix and the pups wern't any bigger than a 16 week old JRT. Be careful, do your research on the group.


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## spanielorbust

Trixie and DogShrink - yes about the Comfort Retrievers - I had that mixed up. Just noticed how old this thread is!

SOB


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## Dog_Shrink

How old is it??? I didn't even notice... oi vey... 2006... geesh that IS old.


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## spanielorbust

. . . . And in 2010 this broker?/breeder?/'rescue?' is still marketting oodles of pups - as rescues - all over the internet. .....sigh.....

SOB


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## jcdyd4u

I have a black lab/cocker spaniel mix. I named him buddy. The best dog choice ever in my opinion. He is calm inside when he should be and playful outside. He has short legs and cocker ears but mostly looks like the lab. He's great indoor dog. I adopted him from a shelter. He is Great with kids and other dogs. He is very lovable. Never seen him mean. Which if you are looking for a guard dog... not the best option. He is pretty much full grown he's 10 months old... I love my puppy.. He's the black one in the back. Duke is the one who tries to look like Elvis who we also adopted from a pound.


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## cst1201

Can anyone tell me where I can buy a Spanador? I have been searching the internet and cant find any breeders or any pups for sale. I live in the New York area but I am wiling to travel out of the area to purchase one. Thanks!!


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## hanksimon

I love the look - He really looks like a mini-Lab....


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