grooming a cocker spaniel

Question
I have two questions. One is how do you trime the back feet of the cocker to make them look great from behind and the second is how do you strip the back of a cocker that has hair that tends to curl up and back. It's very thick but I do not want to use the clippers on his back. Thanks

Answer
I LOVE cockers- my first professional foray and start of my business was through Rufus - my Black American cocker. You didn't say what kind of cocker you had- English/American full coated short???  What kind of coat it is. I went to youtube to find you a good 'how to' video and this is it for a long haired cocker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6N-HNzNUxA

If you are looking to keep the hair short then you would probably need to have a clipper and the right size blades in order to get an attractive finished look. Scissors are soooooo important as well. Curved, straight, bent shank - I think these were all designed for dog like cockers.  Snap on body blades  are the best way to sculpt the full coau ted breeds. They snap on (hence the name) over a high# blade and have different lengths what ever your prefence. Then you can just trim around the bottom of the feet following the line of the foot and using a bevel type finish shown on the youtube video.

As far as stripping the back of your cocker there are several ways to control that if it is not too thick and cottony- a tool called a Mars rake comes in many sizes to fit your needs or there is the Classic Spaniel stripping knife- a very wide almost serrated knife. Spaniels are difficult to strip if not started early but it is possible with constant maintenance to get that beautiful shiny smooth back- just by spending a short session on a weekly basis to get it down and manageable. I really didn't see any good video but try searching some more or go to some dog shows and watch what goes into prepping that breed.
Have fun and good luck