Thank you! They're delightful, and I am so glad to share their silly faces with everyone.

Tristan is a 3-yr-old American cocker spaniel, bred for the conformation ring. Guinevere is a 1-yr-old English cocker spaniel, bred to hunt in the field all day. They're not just different breeds of cocker, they're as far apart as they can get and still both be "cocker spaniels." But it's so fun to watch them, because the brains inside those skulls still have essentially the same set of instincts.

Because they're both pets, and I teach mostly fun tricks, all their scent behaviors are pretty much instinct and their own practice. They catch the same scents, they move with the same bouncy trot, they follow trails with the same amount of assuredness, together or independently following the same paths.

They enjoy tricks, they like to carry toys and fetch, they want to play, they want to cuddle, they have the most unbelievable ability to get into things they should not be able to get into.

Here's a post I wrote briefly comparing all my cockers, though I don't know much (if anything) about the backgrounds of my three previous cockers.

And I wrote this comparison of Tristan and Gwyn after watching them together for two months.

I have loved the attentive, playful mischief brains of all our cockers. It's very enjoyable to see these two together, so different but so the same. I'm looking forward to Guinevere as an adult, with a little less undirected puppy fidgets and a little more attention span.

Guinevere has been here for two months today, and I have been asked a few times about how our various cockers compare. Now, the environment might have a lot to do with how they express themselves; we have lots of space, lots of varying scents, long scent trails to follow, and brush encouraging these two to express their inner cocker. So Tristan is probably not your typical show-bred American cocker spaniel. But then, how many English cocker spaniels live on a farm, either?

But look at these two: they move like a set of same-model recolors. I took all of these pictures in about 10 minutes this morning, and didn't have to hunt to find the comparison pics. They're just *like* that, all of the time. It's so much fun to watch Tristan and Gwyn together, because they're moving so similarly and with the same general reactions.

There's one thing I have seen Gwyn do that our other cockers have not. Sometimes she catches a scent, and she runs for a distance before slowing to a trot or walk. I have only seen all the other cockers follow scents at a trot or walk, whether they picked it up on the ground or in the air. Gwyn's nearly 10 months old; this could just be overconfidence/inexperience, or possibly her wocker breeding makes her a little better tracker than the others have been.

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.