I have an English Cocker Spaniel, somewhat different from American Cockers but also similar. She is now 2 years old. She was "crated" (in our bathroom, she never liked her crate) for about the amount of time you are doing, and seemed to do fine with it. She was always happy when I came home, and she still chooses to sleep in the bathroom if she is not on our bed. She was definately more difficult to housetrain than my Golden Retriever, and in fact was not reliable until about 10 months old (I thought she was trained at 6 months, but had a couple "accidents"). She is now excellent, and will let us know when she needs to go out.

Good luck!

Jake's mom