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

Our most recent litter of pups...  born August 12, 2007

2007 was the only year in the history of our breeding program where we had three litters in one year!  We had litters from Reese + Dodger and Morgan + Merlin and from Joanna + Dodger.  Three litters in one year made a lot of work for us...  so right now we're taking a nice break and relaxing until our next litter of puppies, which is not due until sometime this summer.

Our plan is to breed Joanna and to try to find a nice female puppy in the litter that we can keep for use in our breeding program in a few years.  We'll be breeding her with the same stud she had puppies with two years ago, and hoping for similar results.  Here's a picture of that litter...  weren't they cute?

Joanna's 2006 litter

As you can see, there was a chocolate tri colored pup in that 2006 litter.  If she has a female like that in this upcoming litter, that would probably be the pup we would keep for later use in our breeding program.

So, that's our plan for 2008...  just one litter of puppies.  Breeding puppies is our hobby, not a business for us, so that's why our litters are normally pretty few and far between.  The three litters we had in 2007 was definitely unusual for us...  and one or two litters a year is what you can expect for the next several years.

One of the most common questions I get is "Can I please get on your waiting list for a puppy?!?"  I'm afraid that the answer is "no".  Since Joanna has had two litters already, and each time there were only four pups in the litter...  it's certainly reasonable to expect she would have four pups again this time.  With us probably keeping one of the puppies, that would only leave three puppies available...  and we've got WAY more people than that waiting for puppies already.  So, there's absolutely no way I can consider adding any new names to our waiting list right now.  Sorry!  So many people that already have one of our puppies want to get a second one, and so many people that I know from our forum and our Pupapalooza events want to get a puppy, I just don't anticipate having any puppies available to the general public until at least the second half of 2009.  So, please don't write asking to be placed on our waiting list.  At this time, we're just not looking to add any more names.

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.

Finally, these last few things are not absolute requirements, but we prefer people who have had Cockers before (they tend to know what to expect), people who are active members of our forum, and people who own a digital camera.  When we place our puppies with people who are active on our forum, we tend to be able to see lots of pictures of them as they grow up!

In any case, we definitely are 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.

We don't keep a traditional "waiting list" like many breeders do.  In other words, just because you are the first to write and ask about a puppy doesn't mean you're necessarily going to be the first to get one, or that you'll get one at all.  Because we do not crank out a constant stream of puppies, the availability of our puppies is very limited.  We give first crack at our puppies to people who already have one of our pups from a previous litter, to people we've met at one of our Pupapalooza events, and to people we know from our Cocker forum.  This generally leaves no puppies left over for people that we know only from an email contact.

If you were to join us at our next Pupapalooza event, 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 litters in 2008 or 2009.  You would have to be patient!  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.

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

If you've enjoyed this web site, please take a moment to let me know!
Click here to send me an email
I'd love it if you'd send me pictures of your Cocker Spaniel, too.

Have a web site of your own?  Please link to us!  Just copy this code to your site:
<a href="http://www.zimfamilycockers.com">Zim Family Cockers</a>
(you can modify the text of the link, of course)
Click here for a banner that you can use on your site.