Owner of a 16-week-old cocker spaniel here. And no, I wouldn't want anything much bigger.

Puppy socialisation has involved labs, labradoodles, a sharpei and an elkhound. As lovely as most of those dogs were (with the possible exception of the sharpei which was as thick as it was ugly and drooling - it didn't have a nasty personality because it was simply too stupid to have *any* personality!), they were clearly being buggers to train, especially for the female owners, because they were already large animals at 12 weeks and it's harder to keep control over something that can already pull more than you can.

We're considering a lab as a second dog when the spaniel is a bit older, but we'll see how we go with the first one for the moment!

Although she can be a right little madam at times, we were quietly smug when the woman running the puppy socialisation classes asked if anyone wanted to change their puppy after we'd all had a go at handling other people's dogs, and most of the group said they wanted our little Judi. :-) It's all about the big floppy ears, the teddy-bear paws and the silky coat - there's not much cuter than a spaniel puppy.

Graham.