COCKAPOO CLUB OF AMERICA, INC.
THE AMERICAN COCKAPOO™ AND 
THE ENGLISH COCKAPOO™ 

The Cockapoo Club of America's goal is to help the Cockapoo become a recognized breed by selectively breeding unrelated pairs bred for health and temperament down the generations.  To do this we encourage breeders to breed stock with quality, clear, AKC registration provable backgrounds.  There are three separate breed categories of Cockapoos in the Cockapoo Club of America Registry (to open in the future).  The first is the American Cockapoo™, the second is the English Cockapoo™ and the third is a temporary Cockapoo (non-provable) category that will remain in place for a limited time.

AMERICAN COCKAPOO™

The American Cockapoo™ is a Cockapoo, bred by a breeder-member of the Cockapoo Club of America, that traces back to half AKC clear registered American Cocker Spaniel and half AKC clear registered Poodle (of any size) who before breeding have been CERF'ed annually and found free of inherited eye disease, and who have been OFA certified free of genetic patellar luxation at a minimum.  These "American Cockapoos™" are being selectively bred for health and temperament down the generations of unrelated pairs and are being carefully documented to establish the American Cockapoo™ as a breed of it's own.  

In order for an American Cockapoo™ to be registered in the CCA Registry database (to open in the future) the dam and sire must have the following on file in the CCA office:  

  • A current annual CERF exam 
  • Copies of OFA patellar luxation documents 
  • AKC papers of the originating American Cocker Spaniel and Poodle
  • A current pedigree tracing back to the originating breeds.  A three generation pedigree is preferable or beyond.  
  • Excellent health and temperament
  • Completed CCA Stud Certificate for the American Cockapoo™  if the breeder does not own the sire.
  • The American Cockapoo™  must be half AKC American Cocker Spaniel and half AKC Poodle and the proceeding American Cockapoo™ generations must be from stock that are half and half of the originating breeds.
  • If an American Cockapoo™ is bred, it must only be bred with an unrelated, qualifying, American Cockapoo™ to be included in the CCA Registry database.  It may not be crossed with an English Cockapoo™ or a non-provable Cockapoo nor with a Cocker or a Poodle.
  • All colors and color combinations, and all size categories are acceptable Teacup Toy, Toy, Miniature, Mini Standard and Standard.
  • OFA elbow and hip dysplasia certification is optional.
  • The breeder must be a current member of the CCA in good standing and must have signed and adhere to the breeder code of ethics in order to use the CCA name American Cockapoo™ (we have applied for a trademark).

Either breed can be the dam or sire but usually due to differences in size, the American Cocker Spaniel is the dam and a Toy or Miniature Poodle is the sire.  An annual Canine Eye Registration Foundation (CERF) exam performed by a veterinary ophthalmologist, is required for every dam and sire, and Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) patellar luxation registration is required to certify the dam and sire to be free of this genetic problem..  OFA elbow and hip dysplasia certification is optional.  

ENGLISH COCKAPOO™

The English Cockapoo™ as you may have already guessed, is a Cockapoo, bred by a breeder-member of the Cockapoo Club of America, Inc., that traces back to half AKC clear registered English Cocker Spaniel and half AKC clear registered Poodle (of any size) who before breeding have been CERF'ed annually and found free of inherited eye disease, and who have been OFA certified free of genetic patellar luxation at a minimum.  These "English Cockapoos™" are being selectively bred for health and temperament down the generations of unrelated pairs and are being carefully documented to establish the English Cockapoo™ as a breed of it's own.  

In order for an English Cockapoo™ to be registered in the CCA Registry database (to open in the future) the dam and sire must have the following on file in the CCA office:  

  • A current annual CERF exam 
  • Copies of OFA patellar luxation documents 
  • AKC papers of the originating English Cocker Spaniel and Poodle
  • A current pedigree tracing back to the originating breeds.  A three generation pedigree is preferable or beyond.  
  • Excellent health and temperament
  • Completed CCA Stud Certificate for The English Cockapoo if the breeder does not own the sire.
  • The English Cockapoo™  must be half AKC English Cocker Spaniel and half AKC Poodle and the proceeding English Cockapoo™ generations must be from stock that are half and half of the originating breeds.
  • If an English Cockapoo™ is bred, it must only be bred with an unrelated, qualifying, English Cockapoo™ to be included in the CCA Registry database.  It may not be crossed with an American Cockapoo™ or a non-provable Cockapoo nor with a Cocker or a Poodle.
  • All colors and color combinations, and all size categories are acceptable Teacup Toy, Toy, Miniature, Mini Standard & Standard.
  • OFA elbow and hip dysplasia certification is optional.
  • The breeder must be a current member of the CCA in good standing and must have signed and adhere to the breeder code of ethics in order to use the CCA name English Cockapoo™ (we have applied for a trademark).

Either breed can be the dam or sire but usually due to differences in size, the English Cocker Spaniel is the dam and a Toy or Miniature Poodle is the sire.  An annual Canine Eye Registration Foundation (CERF) exam performed by a veterinary ophthalmologist, is required for every dam and sire, and Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) patellar luxation registration is required to certify the dam and sire to be free of this genetic problem..  OFA elbow and hip dysplasia certification is optional.  

The CCA created this category for those who are interested in breeding English Cocker Spaniels with Poodles.  After much thought and discussion, the two breeds were separated due to the physical differences between the American and the English Cocker Spaniel.  After all they are two separate breeds.  In order to establish the Cockapoo as a breed, we need to breed to a predictable physical breed standard.  If the gene pool included three separate breeds (the American Cocker Spaniel, the English Cocker Spaniel and the Poodle) the gene pool could be too diverse to get a predictable physical breed standard.  We will be keeping meticulous records down the generations and will require a three generation pedigree for each dog to be registered in the CCA registry.

COCKAPOO (NON-PROVABLE)

The CCA conducted extensive research across the nation, and communicated with hundreds of Cockapoo breeders.  We discovered that for decades Cockapoo breeders had no common breed standard to breed to, so each individual breeder did his or her "own thing".  As we struggled to create categories in our CCA Registry database, we found great diversity among the breeders.  Here are some of the observations we made that we would like to share with you. 

  • Some breeders were breeding first generation Cockapoos using non registered Cocker and Poodle without knowing their backgrounds or the health and temperament of the line.
  • Some breeders used one AKC registered dog with a non registered dog.
  • Some breeders bred a Cockapoo to a Poodle producing a "Cock-a-poo-poo" that is 3/4 Poodle.
  • Some breeders bred a Cockapoo to an American Cocker Spaniel or an English Cocker Spaniel producing what we affectionately call a "Cock-a-doodle-poo" that is 3/4 American Cocker or 3/4 English Cocker.
  • We found every combination you can imagine and all of these dogs were being called "Cockapoos"!
  • Only a handful of the breeders were doing any genetic testing and many were adamantly opposed to any genetic testing at all, even though the cost for a CERF exam is only $33.00 per dog and an OFA patellar luxation exam is included in the cost of an annual health exam, which costs about $32.00 for the first dog and usually discounts are given for multiple dogs!

We created this temporary "Cockapoo" (non-provable) category in the registry for these breed dogs since as you can see they were too diverse to categorize.  The temporary category was created to provide an opportunity for breeders who are breeding these dogs to register their present breed dogs, and  to register their offspring with spay and neuter contracts.  When these breed dogs are beyond their breeding age (eight years old) the CCA recommends replacing them with only AKC registration provable CERF'ed and OFA certified stock who will qualify as CCA American or English Cockapoos™.  If the offspring of the non-provable Cockapoos who were sold with spay and neuter contracts are bred, the puppies will NOT be registrable in the CCA Registry. These dogs are not recommended for breeding by the CCA.

The CCA recommends only breeding American Cockapoos™ or English Cockapoos™ down the generations who have been selectively chosen for health and temperament and who have passed annual CERF exams and OFA patellar luxation exam (at a minimum) and that meet the breed standard for American or English Cockapoo™. 

Copyright, 2000, Cockapoo Club of America, Inc.