Coat, Ears & Tail

AKC Sporting Group · No. 33 in 2025

How to identify a Cocker Spaniel

The Cocker Spaniel (the American Cocker in AKC terms) is the smallest member of the AKC Sporting Group, ranked No. 33 by the AKC in 2025. Look for a rounded skull with a pronounced stop and long, feathered ears set low. Silky feathering covers the ears, chest, belly and legs.

Photo of a Cocker Spaniel
Photo: OKJaguar · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Field marks

These four marks are the ones the game gives you as clues. They paraphrase or briefly quote the AKC Cocker Spaniel standard.

  1. Rounded skull with “clearly defined” eyebrows and a “pronounced stop”
  2. Broad, deep muzzle: stop to nose is half the distance from stop to back of skull
  3. Long, well-feathered ears set no higher than the lower part of the eye
  4. Docked tail carried level with the back, or slightly higher; silky feathering on ears, chest, belly, and legs

Tell them apart

Cocker Spaniel or Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?

Check the head and the ear set. A Cocker Spaniel has a rounded skull with a pronounced stop and ears set low, no higher than the lower part of the eye. A Cavalier’s ears are set high, so the skull looks flat. The Cavalier also comes in just four colors: Blenheim, Tricolor, Ruby and Black and Tan.

Cocker Spaniel

Cocker Spaniel

  1. Rounded skull with “clearly defined” eyebrows and a “pronounced stop”
  2. Broad, deep muzzle: stop to nose is half the distance from stop to back of skull
  3. Long, well-feathered ears set no higher than the lower part of the eye
  4. Docked tail carried level with the back, or slightly higher; silky feathering on ears, chest, belly, and legs
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

  1. Long, feathered ears set high, framing the face when alert
  2. Blenheim, Tricolor, Ruby, or Black and Tan only
  3. Skull slightly rounded with no dome; looks flat because of the high ear set
  4. “Large, round, but not prominent” very dark eyes; full muzzle

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