Cocker puppy on the way

[Never you mind]

cerbfan said:

Thanks again for all the advice, its great and I'm taking note. I've ordered a crate and also ordered some food samples from Millie's Wolfheart after speaking to them for both the puppy and the kittens. Decided against raw feeding as to many scare stories about Ecoli and nutrient deficiencies if you get it wrong at all even though loads of people seem to do it successfully.

Also ordered the training book you recommended 'Never you mind' so can hopefully start off on the right foot and not get him into any bad habits...

Back onshore on the 30th and then picking him up the day after, can't wait....

Photos to follow then.

Also do they generally like swimming?

It's a spaniel they are born with bad habits and can learn more of them quicker than you can train it out of them Best dogs ever IMHO.

Just make any training you do fun for both of you and don't over do it.

Yes they love swimming. Don't start it off on a cold winters day though and make sure it has easy access in and out. Once they get comfortable though most spaniels will pile into a river/stream/pond with reckless abandonment.

Do you know what line it is?

[LordHaveMurci]

cerbfan said:

Thanks again for all the advice, its great and I'm taking note. I've ordered a crate and also ordered some food samples from Millie's Wolfheart after speaking to them for both the puppy and the kittens. Decided against raw feeding as to many scare stories about Ecoli and nutrient deficiencies if you get it wrong at all even though loads of people seem to do it successfully.

Also ordered the training book you recommended 'Never you mind' so can hopefully start off on the right foot and not get him into any bad habits...

Back onshore on the 30th and then picking him up the day after, can't wait....

Photos to follow then.

Also do they generally like swimming?

Top man.

Mine have never really been swimmers unless they've needed too, quite happy to splash around but not swam unless they were chasing a bird or retrieving. Not had one that's scared of water, they have all been quite happy & confident around it.

[Rh14n]

Same here really. He loves water of all kind but prefers to paddle/splash about in streams, rivers or shallow sea water rather than actually swim in it. This afternoon we took him for a walk through empty fields and he did his usual trick of jumping and splashing around in livestock drinking troughs

[LordHaveMurci]

Rh14n said:

Same here really. He loves water of all kind but prefers to paddle/splash about in streams, rivers or shallow sea water rather than actually swim in it. This afternoon we took him for a walk through empty fields and he did his usual trick of jumping and splashing around in livestock drinking troughs

Current one hasn't worked troughs out yet, my old one lived in them pretty much all year round - he skidded across the top of one when he tried jumping in & it had iced over!

[Rh14n]

LordHaveMurci said:

Rh14n said:

Same here really. He loves water of all kind but prefers to paddle/splash about in streams, rivers or shallow sea water rather than actually swim in it. This afternoon we took him for a walk through empty fields and he did his usual trick of jumping and splashing around in livestock drinking troughs

Current one hasn't worked troughs out yet, my old one lived in them pretty much all year round - he skidded across the top of one when he tried jumping in & it had iced over!

Every day we'd walk here and Alfie would jump up on that parapet on the bridge. One day he mis-judged it and fell over the side, about 25 feet into the river below. Luckily we had the foresight to let go of the lead and he just swam to the edge, shook himself off and looked as though he meant to do it all along.

[cerbfan]

Thought its about time I gave you a quick update on Jet, he's been home now for 3 weeks and is doing great and completely part of the family already. The kittens were initially wary but now they all seem to get on fairly well although Jet plays a bit to rough with them and thinks they are just like his brothers and sisters and not less than half the weight and size of him.

Sleeping arrangements we have gone with a crate and put that inside a large play pen which has worked great. the crate door is never shut and he just goes in there when he wants quiet time and to sleep. At night and when we go out we just close the door of the play pen so he still has quite a lot of room to move about in. We only had 15 mins of crying the first night then 5 mins the second and that's been it so very lucky.

Food wise we went down the Millies Wolfheart route and he seems to like it and thriving and we have also swapped the kittens onto the cat version as well and they also seem to like it.

Toilet wise he's still having a few pee accidents inside but generally he's going to the door and telling us he's wanting out. Through the night he's clean probably 75% of the time which seems pretty good. Most of his accidents seem to when the weather is crap and he does not want to go out into the cold!

Other than that training has not been as regimented as I first hoped as we're all being to soft with him but find it hard to resist but we have got his recall pretty good now and sitting no problem.

I'm offshore now so 3 weeks away and gutted to be, also missed his first walk now his inoculations are all done but that's life I suppose but can't wait to get back that's if he remembers who I am..

A few photos of him below:

[Never you mind]

Cute! Looks like he could be trouble, just like all cocker spaniel pups

Wouldn't worry too much about the training. Make it too regimented and they get bored of it. Playing fetch is a good one for recall and sit plus they find it great fun.

[The Moose]

cerbfan said:

Thought its about time I gave you a quick update on Jet, he's been home now for 3 weeks and is doing great and completely part of the family already. The kittens were initially wary but now they all seem to get on fairly well although Jet plays a bit to rough with them and thinks they are just like his brothers and sisters and not less than half the weight and size of him.

Sleeping arrangements we have gone with a crate and put that inside a large play pen which has worked great. the crate door is never shut and he just goes in there when he wants quiet time and to sleep. At night and when we go out we just close the door of the play pen so he still has quite a lot of room to move about in. We only had 15 mins of crying the first night then 5 mins the second and that's been it so very lucky.

Food wise we went down the Millies Wolfheart route and he seems to like it and thriving and we have also swapped the kittens onto the cat version as well and they also seem to like it.

Toilet wise he's still having a few pee accidents inside but generally he's going to the door and telling us he's wanting out. Through the night he's clean probably 75% of the time which seems pretty good. Most of his accidents seem to when the weather is crap and he does not want to go out into the cold!

Other than that training has not been as regimented as I first hoped as we're all being to soft with him but find it hard to resist but we have got his recall pretty good now and sitting no problem.

I'm offshore now so 3 weeks away and gutted to be, also missed his first walk now his inoculations are all done but that's life I suppose but can't wait to get back that's if he remembers who I am..

A few photos of him below:

What are you using for the play pen inside? Do you have any photos?

[cerbfan]

This is the one that we bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MU2F1BY/ref... although it is now saying out of stock however there are others on Amazon that look very similar.

We are really pleased with it, very robust and bigger than I expected. We just have it set up permanently in the kitchen with his crate in one corner and water and food bowl in another. His crate door is always open and he comes and goes as he wants. When we go out and at night we just close the door of the playpen and he has plenty of space to play and cannot get to anything outside to chew or make a mess. Unless you have a fairly big room though you might find it a bit big with all the panels set up but you can easily remove and add panels as required to get it the right size for you.

I'll get a photo of it up next week as offshore just now and don't have one handy.

[The Moose]

cerbfan said:

This is the one that we bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MU2F1BY/ref... although it is now saying out of stock however there are others on Amazon that look very similar.

We are really pleased with it, very robust and bigger than I expected. We just have it set up permanently in the kitchen with his crate in one corner and water and food bowl in another. His crate door is always open and he comes and goes as he wants. When we go out and at night we just close the door of the playpen and he has plenty of space to play and cannot get to anything outside to chew or make a mess. Unless you have a fairly big room though you might find it a bit big with all the panels set up but you can easily remove and add panels as required to get it the right size for you.

I'll get a photo of it up next week as offshore just now and don't have one handy.

Thank you. Our puppy will be here in a couple of months and a similar sounding setup sounds perfect. Just a matter of where to put it

[cerbfan]

The Moose said:

cerbfan said:

This is the one that we bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MU2F1BY/ref... although it is now saying out of stock however there are others on Amazon that look very similar.

We are really pleased with it, very robust and bigger than I expected. We just have it set up permanently in the kitchen with his crate in one corner and water and food bowl in another. His crate door is always open and he comes and goes as he wants. When we go out and at night we just close the door of the playpen and he has plenty of space to play and cannot get to anything outside to chew or make a mess. Unless you have a fairly big room though you might find it a bit big with all the panels set up but you can easily remove and add panels as required to get it the right size for you.

I'll get a photo of it up next week as offshore just now and don't have one handy.

Thank you. Our puppy will be here in a couple of months and a similar sounding setup sounds perfect. Just a matter of where to put it

Here's the pic of the pen set up complete with Jet and 2 kittens, they're in it as much as him.

[Zed Ed]

Hi cerbfan,

I have a springer pup arriving in 2 weeks and am planning to follow something similar to your set up.

Just a couple of questions if I may; how long is you dog in the pen at night and how are you managing little accidents then and more generally?

During the day, I was planning to combine pen/crate time with regular toilet trips to the garden, as i’ll be at home with the dog most of the time. Is this the right approach?

Thanks

[cerbfan]

Zed Ed said:

Hi cerbfan,

I have a springer pup arriving in 2 weeks and am planning to follow something similar to your set up.

Just a couple of questions if I may; how long is you dog in the pen at night and how are you managing little accidents then and more generally?

During the day, I was planning to combine pen/crate time with regular toilet trips to the garden, as i’ll be at home with the dog most of the time. Is this the right approach?

Thanks

Hi Zed,

I'm far from an expert as this is our first dog but this is what we've found. At night initially when we first got him at 8 weeks old we put him into his bed at around 9 ish as he was wanting to settle down at that time and sleep anyway. We did get him up and take him out for a pee before we went to bed but it was a struggle to get him up some of the times. We were then up sharp at 6ish to let him out although he would have often done a pee. We put a pee pad down in his pen at night and he was good most of the times and pee'd onto that (you can get boxes of 100 from Costco for a good price).

During the day he did pee in the house quite a lot at first although he was good from day one and would go to the door when he felt he needed the toilet but a lot of the times I think he just did not realise or got too excited. We are lucky that we have all hard floors in our house, not sure how you would get on with a puppy if you had carpet as I think it would just get ruined! We also had a fair few poo accidents however these did not last long, maybe the first 2 weeks only.

He's now 13 weeks old and he's a lot better, has hardly and pee accidents at all and no poo so we are very pleased. We only ever put a pad down now if my wife is working and he's going to be left for 4 hours or so otherwise he does not need them or over night now. We tend to let him out last thing at 10:30 and then up by 7:00.

Good luck with the puppy, it will be a fun, full on time!

[LordHaveMurci]

I can't remember what we did during the night with our WCS pup but he was a dirty bugger up to 12wks, the day he was allowed out into the wider world he stopped messing indoors.