Cocker Spaniel is the name for two dog breeds of the Spaniel type: The English Cocker Spaniel and the American Cocker Spaniel. Originally, these dogs were bred in England for hunting Eurasian Woodcock. Cocker spaniels are popular family pets. The English version is usually brown and ginger in color. Their fur is very soft and their noses are big. They have very big floppy ears. There are two version of cocker spaniels, show dogs and hunters. They are the smallest of the sporting dogs. They are bred from an earlier 19th century dog called field spaniels. The smallest dogs in litters were called "cockers". This was because They were small enough to go under hedgerows where larger dogs could not go. They could also move through brambles and bushes to flush woodcocks into the open. The smaller dogs became the American cockers while the larger dogs became the English variety.