Jim Karlovec's English Cocker Spaniels

Oscar (in left foreground under mirror) after the shoot at Federal Valley near Amesville, Ohio

I've noticed several queries on my blog tracker of late for "Jim Karlovec's English Cocker Spaniels, and so I thought I'd post a report on Oscar's progress. Yesterday, we took Leo the Lab  and Oscar the eight month old Cocker to Federal Valley for a shoot (his second at that location.)  Oscar is bold and biddable, and isn't afraid of brush at all.  It was warm yesterday, and he got into some tall grass early. As a result, he found birds well but didn't have the steam to get a full sized farm raised bird all the way back to hand without some coaxing (he had no trouble on an earlier shoot at the same location.)  That was my fault and not his.  We shot three marked birds for him and he found them all quickly, marked them well, and went straight to where they fell.  He had been playing with feathered bumpers a bit on retrieves during drills, but did not chew up the birds at all on this shoot. 

Last week, I had him on the streams at a local state park and he did a great job in the water when we flushed wood duck walking up the stream.  If the season had been in, we would have eaten duck that night.  He handles full sized Dokken dummies well in water and on land, and has retrieved hen pheasants, doves, and pigeon cleanly to hand. 

He is very sociable and gets on well with other dogs and people.  He quarters naturally, will retrieve left and right, or forward and to the side to placed feathered bumpers and bring the first back before waiting to be sent for the second.  He hunts close and fast.  He hups to voice, whistle, and hand sign, and recalls to whistle and hand sign.  He learns quickly, and I don't anticipate any real trouble getting him to hup to shot and flush.  He is very birdy, and loves to pick up the odd rabbit as well.

Oscar on the back porch

If anyone is looking for an English Cocker Spaniel, I would highly recommend Jim Karlovec's dogs from Flushing Star Kennel  http://www.flushingstar.com/.  Oscar is a joy in the house and works well in the field.  I'm looking forward to many great hunts with this little guy.  Oh yes, I took Oscar up to Jim for about a month and a half to get ready for his first season, and Jim is a great help when it comes to answering questions about Oscar's ongoing training and working the dog.