Good luck with this, it took my husband a while after we lost our spaniel, to be ready for another dog, but like cindy and kym were saying spaniels are alot of upkeep, they get ear infections regularly, sometimes even if you do keep up the ear care, do all of your research like you are saying, just make sure you realize spaniels are wonderful, i have a beagle/spaniel mixed now and i love him dearly, there is still a small part of me that would love another cocker spaniel. i used to keep mine cut short in summer and in winter let them grow out some.
good luck to you, hope it works