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We've got a lovely working cocker pup coming to us in a couple of weeks. She'll be just over 9 weeks old & all jabs etc are in hand. We live on a farm so she'll be very active and probably working on a shoot too eventually.
I know there are lots of dog lovers on here, so any tips for those early months please? I've had a working cocker before but not as a pup, so I'm open to any advice for the early months please! Obviously house training will be a big issue to tackle, and I'm planning on taking her to puppy classes. We have two children, 3 & 5, who are very good with dogs but obviously their safety and the pup's is all important! We're off to buy all the necessary gubbins for the pup tomorrow, though not quite sure what we need! 😀
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Cheers!
Decide what the rules are before the cutie arrives and stick to them without exception and make sure the whole family is consistent.
I built a simple puppy run that we could move inside/outside as required.
And puppy training is handy.
This is what he'll look like 🙂
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And then later:
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Oooooooodles of patience, but not sure you can buy that 🙂 other than that and lots of time all the rest is trivial but something's to consider.
A socialisation plan or atleast a list of places, sights and sounds you want to accustom them too.
Where will the little one sleep? Have you considered a crate as they help with toilet training a lot but it's a personal choice.
A very cheap collar as they'll soon outgrow it.
IMO don't bother with puppy pads, you're just adding work to your plate
A variety of toys because at first you won't know their preference
Oh and patience 😀
Everytime she wakes up, eats, drinks, finishes playing or every half hour or whatever put her outside to pee and say go pee and praise like hell if she does.
Our puppy cried like hell the first few nights. In the end i slept near her on the sofa bed one night and she didnt make a sound. Two nights later i was back in bed and she was happy on her own.
Newspaper. Lots of newspaper.
Thanks all, useful info. Gorgeous dog there, b r! I picked up a dog crate today that I reckon will be useful, and we've started to stockpile newspaper 😀
5 month old springer here, after the first night of crying we found a ticking clock under his blanket in his crate a big comfort for the first week. Apparently replicates mothers heart beat.
As above, training pads are a waste of time. He just chews them up.
Good luck they're georgous dogs.
Patience, persistence & an open heart.
A big oven
Have a read of Gun Dog Sense and sensibility by Wilson Stevens. Such a good book, beautifully written and full of great knowledge.
A
Plenty toys to chew on.
lots of tesco bags to clear the poo up in the garden
Routine and patience, bags of patience.
We have a cage for ours, it stops them wrecking the house when they're young and controls the mess overnight. They get used to it very quickly and see it as "their" space.
If you don't want the dog to beg, don't let anybody feed it from hand, they are greedy wee things and you will end up being stared at every time you try and eat something!
+1 for crate training. We had a crate for Stanley from the moment we got him - was a refuge for him to begin with, it helped no end with toilet training etc.
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if you can, give the breeder an old jumper, towel or something they can put in with mum for a few days. then bring that back when you pick up the hound. it'll give him/her a comfort.
Plenty toys to chew on.
No more than 3 in use at any one time or they regard [b][u]everything[/u][/b] on the floor as theirs.