The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Now that I am fostering Mozart and he has a field coat, are there any particular tips/hints/directions on grooming him? Do I still need to clip the ears? What about his legs? On one of his front legs is a big area where Mindy (the lady who transported) cut out some nasty mats. Is the back legs supposed to have as much feathering as the front? Right now there is none. Just wondering if maybe she clipped all of the hair off back there because of mats also.
Any help and instruction would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

I believe the back legs would have feathering like the front, only with the hair on the front of the hind leg, maybe? Good question about the ear, but I can't imagine it would do any harm to trim the ears like a full coated cocker.

I'm curious to read the responses from those with a field coat or Julie.

Looking at the pics from your other post, they might have trimmed some at the top of his back legs if that was matted, but otherwise that's probably about all the feathering to expect. You can trim it into a tidier line, both back and front legs, and the skirt, and trim around the feet, between the toes which looks quite hairy and might get knots, and under the pads. Personally I would clip the tops of the ears but it's entirely up to you, and of course whether he will tolerate all that if he's not used to it. If you have a Coat King it might be useful to tidy some of that slight ruff round his neck, but really there's not a lot of major work there. Oh, and he's still gorgeous!!

Georgi has a field coat and I do some grooming on her. We've had her for 1-1/2 years and her coat really filled in as her body adjusted to being spayed. Mozart may not get as much coat as Georgi so he may not need much of anything.

Georgi from the side


I do the cocker shave on Georgi's head and neck


And I do a little sanitary clip. You can see from this photo that Georgi has feathers on the rear of her hind legs


And here's a shot of the front of her hind legs. More feathers.


I also trim her feet to round them out and run a tool like the coat king over her back to keep down the loose fur. Already plenty of furballs running around this house!

Julie, why do you think Georgi is field coated? I don't see it? Based on the texture of her coat and the appearance of fur on the front or top of the legs I don't think she is not a fieldie.

Brenda, feathering on a fieldie should be missing from the top or front of the leg and long on the back, so yes it has been trimmed that way to eliminate mats. I don't see a picture of Mozart so I can't say more.

Julie, Georgi does not look field coated to me.

Thanks everyone for your help. I will try today to get some close-up pics of Mozart's coat and post them. Grooming day is fast approaching and I want to have a plan of action.

Georgi has a very thin, light coat but I don't think she is field coated either. (I almost wish my Hannah were, she grows so fast she needs groomed every four weeks or she can't even see.)

I think since there doesn't seem to be an "inbetween" name for coats (at least that I know of) many of us with dogs that have lighter coates assume they must be field coated.
I think Reesie is an "inbetween" as well...... but when she was a pup, i beleived she was a field coat. Now that she is 2, i notice that her legs are thicker than the pictures I've seen of fieldies, but not as thick on the back and sides as the pictures of full coated cockers.

When I adopted Georgi I was told she was field coated and she never gets any longer than she is now. I've never trimmed any more than her feet and neck.

close up of Mozart's right front leg. you can see where an area has been cut out

Mozart's left front leg

rear legs

another view of rear legs

it's a little hard to see, but he has had mats cut out on his ear

left ear

I have a red/white rescue girl Jennie with very similair hair. I just usually trim up the feathers until I think they look neat and tidy and trim around her feet and between her pads. I trim her ears and head just like any other cocker. Her topknot is thinner than my other dogs but it still turns out pretty good. I personally think the ears always look nicer when trimmed correctly. As far as the back and sides his hair looks like it really doesn't need much done. Just trim up the scraggly hairs and he will look good!

Here is a picture of Jennie.

Jennie and Mozart are field coated but I would say Georgie is not. Perhaps she had less coat before her spay. George was 'in between' coated with his natural coat, but after being neutered it fluffed out into a proper coat, though rather cottony.

Charlie's coat is a LOT like George's pre-neuter isn't it! Is Charlie entire? If you got him done at 6 months and that's what his coat is like a year on, it probably won't get too much thicker, I would guess not anyway. But if he's entire now, I'd say neutering might well thicken it up a fair bit.