Cocker Spaniel Puppies Information about our puppies, our future breeding plans, and all about the process of getting a Cocker Spaniel puppy

For the first time in quite a long time, we won't be having any litters of puppies this year at all!  We're taking the year off from breeding in order to make some changes in our breeding program...  retiring several dogs and waiting for several new ones to be old enough to breed.  Our next litter isn't expected until somewhere around May of 2010.

Please don't write asking to be put on our waiting list for a puppy.  Our next litter is so far away that there's literally no point in us starting a list yet.  Sometime in 2010 we'll start thinking about who should get the pups from our next litter.  I'll tell you right now that they will all be going to members of our online Cocker forum...  since when we place puppies with our forum members, we end up staying up-to-date on everything that happens with the pups as they grow up.  We're not one of those breeders that wants to sell you a puppy and then never wants to hear from you again!  We want to place our puppies with people that plan to keep us "in the loop"...  and the best way we've found to do that is to place our pups with members of our Cocker forum.  By staying "in the loop", we can be aware of any health problems that crop up in our puppies...  and make appropriate changes in our breeding program, if necessary.  When breeders don't stay in touch with the owners of their puppies, they get a false sense of security about the health of their breeding lines...  since most health problems happen long after the puppies go to their new homes.  I had to snicker a bit at a breeder I know who once told me that it was unnecessary to do genetic health testing to her adult dogs because she "knows her lines are healthy".  How would she know?  Does she call the owners of her puppies every year to check and see if the pups have developed health problems?  Of course not.  With our Cocker forum, we're able to monitor the health of a very large percentage of the puppies from our previous litters.

Our litter in May of 2010 will be a repeat of our 2008 and 2006 litters from our red & white girl, Joanna, and Vicki Wallace's sable & white boy, Merlin.  In their two previous litters, we've seen red & white, sable & white, chocolate & white puppies from Joanna and Merlin.  Here are pictures to help you visualize what might be expected in our 2010 litter:

Joanna and Merlin's 2008 litter at one month old.  See more still pictures of them here and a short video here.
If you'd like to find out how these pups are doing at their new homes, be sure to visit this section of our Cocker forum.

Joanna & Merlin's 2006 litter, featuring three red & whites and
one of the most beautiful pups we've ever created: a chocolate & white tri color.

Breeding puppies is our hobby, not a business for us, so that's why our litters are normally pretty few and far between.  We just had one litter in 2008, won't have any in 2009, and only expect one in 2010.  So, you can see that we're far from running a puppy mill here!

If you're interested in a Zim Family pup...  be advised that there are some very specific things we look for when choosing new homes for our pups:

First, we only sell our puppies to folks within driving distance of our home on the central coast of California.  We have very strong feelings that it's cruel to ship puppies by air, so we insist that all of our new owners be able to drive here to pick up their puppy.  While we realize that some people are willing to drive from Utah, Arizona, or Texas to get a good dog, we prefer that our pups don't have to spend days in the car on the way home...  so we're looking for folks here in California, OK?  Most of our puppies go to homes in the Los Angeles, San Joaquin Valley, and San Francisco Bay areas.

Second, we look for homes where there is someone with the dog during most of the day.  We love placing our puppies with retired people, people who work out of their homes, people who take their dogs to work, or families with stay-at-home moms.  Cockers thrive in these situations, and we love seeing our puppies in homes like these.  If you are the typical working family where everyone goes off to work or school during the day and the dog sits alone in the back yard...  we're sorry, but that's a situation we just don't like to place our puppies in.  Cockers tend to be very unhappy when left alone like that.

Cockers love kids, but we have found that it works out best if the kids are at least five or six years old.  So we only place our puppies with families whose youngest child is at least five...  or with older people with no kids around the house anymore.

We generally prefer to place our puppies with people who have had a Cocker before.  They know exactly what to expect, as opposed to people who are looking to get their first Cocker...  who sometimes have an unrealistic view of what Cockers are all about.  For example, people that have had a Cocker before know about all the grooming that has to be done:  frequent brushing, and monthly hair cuts.  They also understand the activity level of a Cocker, and have already dealt with some of the typical Cocker problems like ear infections.

We don't keep a traditional "waiting list" like many breeders do.  Almost all of our puppies go to people that we know from from our Cocker forum and who we've met at our Pupapalooza social events.  People that like to be part of an online Cocker community and who would travel hundreds of miles to spend a weekend with a bunch of Cockers and their owners...  those are Cocker FANATICS...  and that's the kind of people our puppies end up with.

If you were to join us at one of our Pupapalooza events, you did get involved in our Cocker forum, and you generally fit the profile I outlined above...  I might be able to set you up with a pup from one of our future litters.  You would have to be patient, though, because we just don't have puppies that often!  You can see we're a little different than all those breeders out there who are cranking out a constant stream of puppies and who will do anything to sell one.

We are definitely looking for the type of people who will stay in touch after we send them home with a new puppy.  We want to hear about all the good and bad, and see lots of pictures over the years.  If you're looking for a quick transaction where you never talk to the breeder again after you bring the dog home...  we're probably not the breeder for you.  To understand us even better, please read about our breeding philosophy so you get a good idea of who we are and what makes us different from a lot of dog breeders.  You might also find some interesting information in my list of frequently asked questions.

If you're interested in a Cocker Spaniel puppy but you don't want to wait for one of ours or don't fit the profile we're looking for...  you should read my tips on buying a Cocker puppy because it has suggestions on how to locate other Cocker Spaniel breeders that may have puppies available.  Most Cocker breeders are not quite as restrictive about who they will sell a puppy to as we are.  We just have such infrequent litters and get such a huge response from this web site that we have the luxury of being able to be a little more choosey.  Our pups tend to do very well at their new homes because we are careful about only placing them in the types of situations where Cockers thrive.  You might also consider rescuing an adult Cocker.

If you live in the Southern California area, you're looking for a puppy, and you don't want to wait for one of our upcoming litters...  check out the web site of a breeder friend of mine that has much more frequent litters than we do.

If you're getting serious about adding a puppy to your family, you should probably also read my tips on potty training a puppy, and my tips on raising a Cocker puppy.  There are over 30 different Cocker related pages here on our web site, with dozens of pictures of beautiful Cocker Spaniels, so if you're a Cocker lover be sure to explore it fully!

There is a LOT more to this web site than just this page!
Please explore the rest of the site by viewing our table of contents,
or by clicking on one of the quick links below.

All About Our Cockers       About the Zim Family         Meet Jim Zim        Cocker Spaniel Forum

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