arwen3513

if a spaniel rules your heart, and it suits your shooting type, then get the spanner, you have to live with it for a lot of years, so best to go for something you really love and enjoy, if going for an older dog look at part trained, hopefully all its energies will be directed to working and not craziness around the house, as you will be training it too - its mind will be utilised again calming the dog whilst at home with you, good luck jan

find a local club near you, with a trainer you can get along with, then you can pick his brains over the phone about any queries with your pup. don't get stresses with the pup any incidents or accidents are you fault for not being vigilent enough. and always take items from the pup with praise, call him into you and don't chase him to take items a good book will put you right on the day to day stuff. a crate is good for keeping both the house and the pup safe. jan

have a look at some of the results, this will give you an idea of names and breeders that are trailing. you can then look these up see if any are near you that you could go along and chat to. you will need to be a member of lots of clubs and societies, then you will get to hear whats going on and where. buying a pup now you will be looking at the following season so will have plenty of opportunities to attend a few, good luck jan

i would get them all docked, docked puppies can still be shown, unless the public are charged, this currently excludes only a handful of shows, unless you have a buyer in line that specifically asks for a full tail i would get them docked. jan

if the dog is microchipped and registered with petlog or similar, they will also assist with the search for the missing dog jan

it is a habit you have allowed him to do and now he thinks this is how to behave. change your normal behavour such as don't allow him out till commanded as suggested above, and he will break this habit of running about on arrival. jan

yes, probably much the same as he would if in the house and left for any period or at night. so long as he has his comforts, he will soon learn this is his safe place, and your routine and quiet times. remember to work on bonding with him, so he doesn't become an independant little tyke maybe get him a kong to keep him occupied filled with wetted and frozen biscuit or similar. jan

also the game and country fairs throughout the summer will have some good offers. jan

we have professional dog sitter comes in, lives in the house, with the dogs, so their routine doesnt change apart from the training. sitters also look after house and garden and feeds fish. much cheaper than kennels for 3 jan

maybe leave any retrieving for a week or so, concentrate on heel and stops, when you start again he will be likely be much keener, this way whilst he is young you dont give him an option to fail. and you don't get stressed with him. take this time to have some fun session, run around with him, hide, run opposite direction, blow a couple of stops and reward him. I am sure he will come back on track, jan

if a pet stay away from rabbitty ground, or else on a lead, their recall is not usually great... teach from an early age. but i agree nice looking mid size dog,

Like your post Paul T. i am not a fan of cross dogs, though i have met some quite nice ones, I do agree that if you were looking to change a characteristics within a breed to improve its funtion, and another breed had that desired characteristic then crossing is the answer, however it is a long term project and any that didnt have the desired trait need to be removed from the future breeding line. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and ones mans WHV is soft and fluffy, but who will prevent this from going forward? and only true wire coats being bred from. there is such a diverse quality of breeds out there, why not do their homework and buy the type of dog that they hope and pray to achieve by crossing... ( i will leave the lurcher out of this argument...) accidents happen, and i am glad someone will give the strange little dogs a home, and maybe work, but to plan them as designer / fashion for now dogs is cruel. Esp when they are shipped off just cos next seasons dog is ...green... jan

http://www.gundogtrainingforum.co.uk/phpbb/index.php this forum may help, lots of spaniel folk on there and some pups due jan

put the bowl down empty and sit on the floor next to it, place small amounts of food in the bowl and allow him to eat. ask him to sit again and put another small amount in the bowl, allow him to eat, and reapeat 5-6 times at each meal time, the pup will learn you are the giver of the food and only gets fed when you put your hand in the bowl to replenish the food. on No account try to remove the food from the dog, otherwise you are reinforcing its need to guard. if the pup concerns you that it is eating too quickly try scatter feeding the food on the floor, or place a toy in the bowl so it has to eat around it. silly things never think to take it out of the bowl jan

keep working at the distances on land that she will go back, this will build her confidence and trust in you and your commands. with water increase the seen distances, then when confident try shorter memory retrieves, the distance you move away and also the time scale before sending her, if she appears to have forgotton the dummy in the water then you have left it too long and need to reduce the time angle of the exercise. you can also try putting 2 dummies in the water, send her straight in again after the first retreive, she may be reluctant as she may not remember the 2nd dummy but with practice this will build her trust to enter the water without having seen / heard initial splash. build it up over a period of weeks and if you keep a record you will see how far you have progressed. jan

you can buy a normal rope type lead with a clip end, and you can buy either slip ended or clip ended for collars to clip them on then you can clip on as many as you like or even join a few together to make it as long as you want. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Twin-sets-Brace-Leads-Gundog-Training-/200392642244?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item2ea8550ec4#ht_500wt_969 twin brace set jan

if it is a once in a blue moon type bath then likely any mild shampoo would suffice, but if you need to bathe them more often better to stick to a doggie shampoo as our will tend to strip the coat of oils, and may irritate the skin. usually a regular dip in a clean lake or the sea is good enough to keep the doggie smells at bay, jan

she is a cracking looking dog, and with regards training a HPR against a lab approx 2yrs the basics they learn quickly but you also need to work on the H and the P as well as the R such as a lab only having a R jan

mine have kibble breakfast and tea, but i do liven it up every now again with raw egg, plain yoghurt, or tinned sardines in tomato. they do get tidbits and treats but they have to earn them. also have raw food sometimes at weekend in place of the kibble, jan

sounds like he is lacking in confidence, maybe reduce the off lead time, and ensure it always has an enjoyable time when out to build up confidence dont make the walks too long maybe do 4 or 5 15mins walk rather than 1 hr one if poss. jan

hi my puppy lab had demodex mite and the advocate spot on was rubbish taking forever. we used the aludex baths once a week and it cleared up in no time, she now has a lovely coat and is 2yrs old. it may be different with an older dog with a thyroid problem but i think get the initial problem solved quickly, then maybe use a spot on treatment monthly once the number of mites is at a controllable quantity. jan

you may be right with the spaniel as it will take a lot to reel him in to close hunting ranges, but no reason why he cant have a good recall and a stop to whistle training. sounds like the lab is worth redeeming, where possible give the lab extra 121 time, when you can do some training, try and encourage him to walk at heel either on or off lead, with only controlled training retrieves as his free time, such as walking at heel reach a place to do a few retrieves, then back to heel and change location, then do a few more retrieves possibly building in some long memory retrieves so he can really stretch his legs and run out and back. i tend to take all 3 of mine for a quick blast together then go out again 121 with each of them. even if it is only 20mins each one you'll be suprised what you can fit into 20mins the discipline of the heel work will have him focusing on you in no time, and he will also love the dummy work. jan

they eat the lot, raw chicken bones are fine to feed, some use the whole carcass when feeding Bones and Raw Food diets. just dont give cooked ones due to splintering and brittleness. i order my barking heads with G W Titmuss as they often have deals on, so do Viovet, and it usually there next day. jan

Hi i use barking heads for my Vizzies but the bad hair days lamb and rice flavour and they both love it, i do add the odd tin of sardines in tomato or raw egg or veg oil to sparkle it up a bit every now and again, and also if they are going out early for the day, cos they always wolf it down then and at least i know they have had something to eat before working or counting. one of mine doesnt enjoy chicken flavoured stuff but she does like the fuss pot salmon variety. someday mainly at weekends they get raw meat chicken wings and tripe, but one of the viz is a bit slow eating this seems to prefer the kibble jan

he looks like a real pal. sorry you've a lost a friend. my first own dog was a broken coat GSD and she was my BF. never to be forgotton or replaced, I feel for the people who never knew her, they missed out. remembering the good times jan