The English Cocker Spaniel is a breed

Breed

A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 of gun dog

Gun dog

thumb|right|A group of Gun dogs as printed in Dogs of All Nations by W.E. Mason in 1915Gun dogs, also gundogs or bird dogs, are types of dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually birds. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: Retrievers, flushing dogs, and...

. The English Cocker Spaniel is an active, good-natured, sporting dog, standing well up at the withers

Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

 and compactly built. There are "field" or "working" cockers and "show" cockers. It is one of several varieties of spaniel

Spaniel

A spaniel is a type of gun dog. It is assumed spaniels originated from Spain as the word spaniel may be derived from Hispania or possibly from the French phrase "Chiens de l’Espagnol" . Spaniels were especially bred to flush game out of dense brush. By the late 17th century spaniels had become...

 and somewhat resembles its American cousin, the American Cocker Spaniel

American Cocker Spaniel

The American Cocker Spaniel is a breed of sporting dog. It is a spaniel type dog that is closely related to the English Cocker Spaniel; the two breeds diverged during the 20th century due to differing breed standards in America and the UK...

, although it is closer to the working-dog form of the Field Spaniel

Field Spaniel

The Field Spaniel is a medium-sized breed dog of the spaniel type. They were originally developed to be all black show dogs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were unpopular for work as a hunting dog. However during the mid 20th century they were redeveloped as a longer legged dog that...

 and the Springer Spaniel

Springer Spaniel

Springer Spaniel refers to two different breeds of dogs, both of which are commonly called simply Springer Spaniel:*English Springer Spaniel*Welsh Springer Spaniel...

.

Outside the US, the breed is usually known simply as the Cocker Spaniel, as is the American Cocker Spaniel within the US.