Just came back from a visit to family with a young English Cocker... beautiful sweet dog that they got from a breeder they'd really researched, took him through quite a bit of pro training, leave him at doggie day care 3x/week where she can watch for him on the webcam from work....

This cute-as-a-button little dog tried to bite our daughter no less than 3 times, including one solid hit where we were lucky it didn't break the skin, with ZERO provication. Fortunately we stayed calm and just moved things along so she did too without much fuss.

We have 3 GSPs that sometimes eat poop (one offender in particular), dig craters, run into furniture, scavange the counters (1 main offender there, 1 opportunist, 1 mostly doesn't but....), would gladly kill cats/rabbits/mice/whatever's small and moves if we let them (ALL), and are otherwise what I call 'real animals'. But they don't bite people- short or tall- out of the blue. In fact, while I'm a believer that ANY dog can bite, you'd have to press this crew pretty rediculously hard to get there.

Here's to tough, steady, field bred GSPs that will take a skillet bounced off their head without holding it against anyone. They may need some help burning off that extra gas in the tank, and they may knock a kid over in a rush to get from point A to B, and they may test our mettle periodically... but at least they're bred to handle a whole lot of stress without flaking out completely.

The kid came home and played with Los Tres Horribles without a hint of fear, which after an adventure like that was a relief.

I whole heartedly second that 1000% percent Meg! I would not have any other breed with kids. Mine have never bitten a human EVER, but it especially never occurs to them to use teeth on little ones. Even ones I would bite myself.

When Willow was hit by a car at age 8 months (long story, I didn't know her brother had broken the gate latch and let everyone out), our school nurse saw it all and called me. She said "Hurry, the injury shouldn't kill her, but she's in shock." So of course I made it there at lightning speed and found a dog with a badly mangled leg, but one that showed no signs of being shocky to me. I asked her why she thought she was in shock. Her response - "Well I assumed she must be. Look at how bad her leg is. It has to hurt, but three people she doesn't know are handling her and holding her down on the ground so she can't walk on it. She should have bitten all of us, but she didn't so much as growl."

I love this breed.

Jean

This post makes me smile. I have lots of little nephews and nieces and I always bring my dogs to family functions. I always get the questions can we really trust your dogs with our little kids. I simply look at them smile and say your lucky I am trusting your kids with my dogs.... Or can I trust your kids with my dogs... and It is so true. Bailey will let my two year old nephew just rag on her and she just lays there and takes it like a champ. I do love this breed and I love our dogs.

This is totally true, which is why I pointed out that every dog has SOME biting point... one just hopes their fuse is really long.

When Anya's leg was broke she screamed every time we moved her, but she actually never even tried to snap at ANYONE all through that horrible ordeal- including the strangers at the vet's. Honestly if she'd have taken a nip I wouldn't have held it against her. But she didn't. I'm still kind of surprised at that.

Oh man... my husband was on a stunt kite team before we were married, and they practiced 1-2 times week plus flying in competitions up and down the Pacific coast on weekends (mostly Oregon). One of the other single guys on the team had a truly sweet old black lab who's ONLY vice was food. He and this dog were so tight we used to joke that they were married.

Husband said one weekend they were down at the beach flying with the old duffer dog sauntering around when a little kid walked through holding an ice cream cone. Before his buddy could get his kite down, the dog had snuck up behind the kid and sucked cone and all out of the kid's hand... it was such a stealth attack that the kid didn't even realize it had been stolen for a few moments and just kept walking. Until he finally looked down and realized it was gone. Followed by a predictable outburst, lol.

The owner felt so bad he apologized a million times to the parents (who fortunately thought it was all pretty funny) and paid them generously for a new ice cream for the kid.

Ok guys, I have to jump in here when the discussion turns to Cockers.  I had Cockers before I had GSPs.  They are still a hunting dog (shown in the Sporting group) and hunting instincts still exist in some lines.  Do not kid yourself about Cockers being foofoo lap dogs, mine hiked with me in Colorado up to 14000 feet and never missed a beat, and they were not happy just sitting around the house.  They also swam and ran with the best of them.  They are tough little dogs with a happy disposition if they are bred right.  They also make great pets around children.  There are quite a few breeders that have been working for a while to undo the mishaps of breeding in the 40s and 50s.  They do however have long hair that must be maintained, and they do have more health issues than GSPs. There are also some out there with temperament issues.  All the results of a dog being too popular.  The hair and health issues were the two reasons I moved away from Cockers, and if I had to weigh the two it was mostly the grooming.  My back couldn't take it any more.  By the way, my Cockers were all sweet and happy dogs, no problems with biting.  The only exception was when I would comb out my last Cocker, she hated to be combed out and had very sensitive skin.  I had to be very careful not to pull or she would look at me and growl.  She never bit me, just let me know hey mom that hurts.

lauralee, you are right about wash and wear GSP.this is Rocky wet. Not alot difference as Rocky dry

Yes I do love the wash and wear dogs.  Dremel their toenails and you are done.