As per our vet's advice I let my springer come into season after which she would be spayed. She was 9 months old when she came into season but after that died off she then experienced a phantom pregnancy. Her mammary glands swelled as though in milk and she 'nested' around the house, scratching beds for herself under beds and behind furniture. I suspected it was a PP as she had never got with a dog during her heat period and the vet confirmed she wasn't pregnant. Had to wait for the PP to die off before having her spayed otherwise she would have been forever in PP mode if spayed during the PP, according to the vet.

In the end all worked out well, a blessing to get the cone off after the operation. The breeder of my springer has both the mother and father and I had seen the pair out duck hunting over several years. Pure bred but no papers. They produced two litters, one litter of ten pups and the second litter from whence my springer came, 12 pups.

My springer didn't grow the feathering around the legs, tail and neck until she was approximately 18+ months old, and the longer body hair until recent months.