New GSP pup

[smashie]

After having lost our Border Collie, Flint, of 6 1/2 yrs to Epilepsy back in July, we have finally got ourselves a new puppy. We went for a German Shorthaired Pointer.
We picked him up yesterday and we are having fun and games with the toilet training. Meet Fletcher.

Sorry too much hassle to make the pics smaller, so shared them on Amazon. Not sure if I can do thumbs.

Yesterday
Fletcher Sleeping
Fletcher running around Garden
Fletcher in the Garden

Today
Fletcher getting comfy for a snooze
Fast Asleep

Just got to sort out his insurance now, but it seems petplan want £59 a month. From experience, despite others being cheaper, they will eventually all rise to as much or more to this within a couple of years. Oh well. What must be done, must be done.

[ChunkyloverSV]

Smashing looking pup. What are they like energy levels wise when fully grown? every time I have met one in the wild their owners keep warning me off them telling me stories of how they need far too much exercise. Happens with Vizsla owners too.

Maybe its just lazy owners but it's happened a few times now.

[smashie]

They are a fairly high energy breed, but he is replacing a Collie (also high energy) and his companion is a 6 year old Springer (high energy, but you wouldn't think so seeing her).
We have plenty planned for him when he is old enough to keep him subdued. Canicross, Agility and gun dog training. We are however only looking at gun dog training with dummies rather than birds etc.
I will say one thing for the breed...... The positions they sleep in seem to defy belief. How on earth can they be comfortable?

[bronze kneecap]

ChunkyloverSV said:

Smashing looking pup. What are they like energy levels wise when fully grown? every time I have met one in the wild their owners keep warning me off them telling me stories of how they need far too much exercise. Happens with Vizsla owners too.

Maybe its just lazy owners but it's happened a few times now.

hi, i think your right on the lazy owner front or maybe they have just made a poor choice.

i had a GSP for 13 glorious years and he suited me and my family's lifestyle perfectly.

but my perfect dog was according to some of my work mates a nightmare, purely because they thought it was a chore to get up 45 minutes earlier before work etc to walk him.

he went everywhere i asked of him, up mountains across rivers but was also happy to chill in a beer garden..

he was infact my best mate who like i said fitted our family.

so on reflection i would say very poor choice of breed by the people who then moan!

Edited by bronze kneecap on Friday 30th September 15:23

[monoloco]

ChunkyloverSV said:

Smashing looking pup. What are they like energy levels wise when fully grown? every time I have met one in the wild their owners keep warning me off them telling me stories of how they need far too much exercise. Happens with Vizsla owners too.

Maybe its just lazy owners but it's happened a few times now.

we're on our second GSP -fantastic dogs (last one went on to 13, new one now 15months old) but they can be a real handfull if you don't know what you're doing and/or don't have the time to exercise them properly -a least 45-60 minutes walk <u>every</u> day where they can be let off the lead to run and run and run.]

Here's the new boy as a pup -scrumping blackberries
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and again nearly fully grown doing his Devil Dog impression having nicked something from the bird table....
|http://thumbsnap.com/kqGckEBt[/url]

[ChunkyloverSV]

Thanks for the advice and pictures, they are stunning dogs.

If you read the dog picture thread you will see our oldest Jay was put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. She was only a X, we think Labrador x whippet. But up until Christmas she has getting 30 mins walk+ in the morning and over an hour at night walking. Not to mention walks during the day. Come rain or shine, she loved the outdoors.

So I think a high energy dog like this would fit in well.

[smashie]

Well we have had him for nearly 2 weeks and boy is he hard work. He sure does pee a lot. If we tell him off for something he will pee. If there are fog beds out, he will pee on them. Good job I go a portable bissell and a George.
He had hist 1st Jab on the 29th, get his 2nd next Thursday and then his 3rd the week after that and then he can finally be taken on a walk rather than being carried for 1 walk by the other half. He's growing like a weed and he's starting to get heavy.
Once he has had his jabs he can also start going to training classes as well, although we are doing a bit every day.
I am sure my Collie was never this difficult in his first few weeks.

Our Springer is finally starting to tolerate him. He desperately want to be friends with the springer, but it is still at the I will tolerate you stage.
At nighttime he can go through until about 4:30/5 until we have to take him toilet, so he is getting better in that respect. When the other half is out walking the other dogs he gets crated as otherwise there will be pee everywhere by the time she gets back. He is also crated at night. I think he will be crated for at least the first couple of years of his life. My collie was crated until the day he left us (6 1/2 yrs) and our springer (6yrs) is also still crated (sometimes).

[monoloco]

both our GSP's (emphasis on 'pee's!) were a bit slow to toilet train -believe its a breed trait but persevere as they are so well worth it. As for growing, our latest one pictured above put on literally a kilo a week for the first six months. He's now 30kg of absolute fun, affection and energy -unbelievable stamina and able to run every other dog we meet into the ground. He played with a lurcher a while back that was a bit faster over short distances but collapsed in a heap after a few minutes so ours went off to romp with a couple of other dogs, wearing them out too before returning for another go with the lurcher. Only problem we have with our boy now is he chases deer -if he spots one he just gets the red mist and he's off -he'll run them into the ground too but at least doesn't hurt them when they do fall over!

[bronze kneecap]

monoloco said:

both our GSP's (emphasis on 'pee's!) were a bit slow to toilet train -believe its a breed trait but persevere as they are so well worth it. As for growing, our latest one pictured above put on literally a kilo a week for the first six months. He's now 30kg of absolute fun, affection and energy -unbelievable stamina and able to run every other dog we meet into the ground. He played with a lurcher a while back that was a bit faster over short distances but collapsed in a heap after a few minutes so ours went off to romp with a couple of other dogs, wearing them out too before returning for another go with the lurcher. Only problem we have with our boy now is he chases deer -if he spots one he just gets the red mist and he's off -he'll run them into the ground too but at least doesn't hurt them when they do fall over!

this^^^^^

made me laugh, especially the part about the lurcher.

Our GSP 'Scout' used to have a couple of lurcher friends that he used to have a great time with, with exactly the same results as yours.

Amazing dogs, people were often amazed at our dogs age given the general condition he was in, fit as a fiddle and only ever went the vets for a gash in his webbed toes (apart from his vaccinations).

Here he is aged about 12, only used head harness when our daughter was walking him.

[monoloco]

and anyone doubting the speed/energy/strength.... clearing a 4 foot stone wall? Hah -no problem!

[smashie]

He will be 12 weeks on Monday and he already weight 10.3Kg. It seems is the biggest out of his litter (when we picked him out he was the smallest)
He is learning his wait, sit etc and he will be allowed out next Thursday. Can't wait. He can burn off his energy. He does have some mad moments, but as he is a pup, he also like to sleep.
We still cant leave any dog beds out as he will just go an pee on them. He still pees inside, but not when in his crate which is good. Had to put away the puppy pen today as he managed to knock it over. Thankfully it I was at home and did not collapse on him, but I think he is just a bit too heavy for it now, certainly when unsupervised.
He is still desperately trying to be friends with our springer and she is starting to tolerate him more, but I think it will be a while until she is friends with him. He is now pretty much the same size as her (she weighs 12kg).

[monoloco]

smashie said:

He will be 12 weeks on Monday and he already weight 10.3Kg. It seems is the biggest out of his litter (when we picked him out he was the smallest)
He is learning his wait, sit etc and he will be allowed out next Thursday. Can't wait. He can burn off his energy. He does have some mad moments, but as he is a pup, he also like to sleep.
We still cant leave any dog beds out as he will just go an pee on them. He still pees inside, but not when in his crate which is good. Had to put away the puppy pen today as he managed to knock it over. Thankfully it I was at home and did not collapse on him, but I think he is just a bit too heavy for it now, certainly when unsupervised.
He is still desperately trying to be friends with our springer and she is starting to tolerate him more, but I think it will be a while until she is friends with him. He is now pretty much the same size as her (she weighs 12kg).

soo cute! He'll be a bruiser in a few months so make the most of it while he's small and cuddly. Mind you, ours is now 30kg and he still thinks he's a lap dog! We also gave up on the puppy play-pen idea at about 12weeks as ours very quickly learned how to climb over. Crate is great though -definite convert to crates -ours loved his until he grew too big for it (he now has a standard dog bed)

[smashie]

We have plenty of crates here in the house and he sleeps in one at night time and before the puppy pen he was left in a crate whilst the 2nd walk was taking place.
The other half is a dog walker/boarder/day carer, so loads of walks for him when he can go on them and plenty of dogs to play with. Also means we have crates of all sizes. He is slowly outgrowing the intermediate size crate and he will soon need to go to in the XL crate. We have a divider in case it is a bit big for him.