After getting Gwen and having Tristan, are you more inclined to like English vs American spaniels more? Also do you like the working line or show line more?
Oh, gosh, I've had Gwyn not even a month now! I can't possibly guess yet 😅 I also can't really make comparisons about American/English and show/working lines, because, well--
Galahad was picked up stray and not claimed. We adopted him at 7-8 months old, about the same age as Gwyn, and he actually had about the same amount of coat at that age. I have always assumed he was an American cocker, but now I wonder. He was an astounding fellow, peerless, but I don't know how to count him.
Yvaine came with questionable papers. I am sure she was... mostly... American cocker spaniel, but, well, she was a health disaster. And she wouldn't have been the unique paragon that she was, without her messed up background. There will never be another Yvaine.
Merlin must have been an English cocker, but again his personality was strongly influenced by neglect and lack of socialization. Marvelous as a pet for us, but we can't generalize anything from him, except his resilience and sweetness despite long mistreatment. Merlin was an unbelievable wonder. But what was he?
We know Tristan is an American cocker bred for the show ring. He's a remarkable young man, with an incredible vocabulary of words and tricks that he understands and dances to show off... but his intensity and attentiveness is much the same as his predecessors. Tristan is everything wonderfully cocker, while simultaneously one in a million.
We also know Guinevere is an English cocker spaniel who was bred to hunt all day every day. Watching Tristan and Gwyn together, they're the same bundle of instincts and inherent personality traits, in two very different-looking cocker packages. (Funny enough, they have almost the same measurements; they look different, but they're very similarly built.)
They follow scent trails, they check in with their person frequently, they slither through brush, they carry toys, they need frequent approval. They need something to do all of the time. Every apparent obstacle is merely a puzzle to solve. Occasionally they have Opinions of their own instead of slavish obedience.
Gwyn is still getting the hang of being a housepet and learning words, but she's got the same attitude. She has a lot in common with Tristan, and Yvaine, and Merlin, and Galahad... and a lot that's all uniquely Guinevere, just like all her colleagues. I have barely started to get to know her.