Collecting puppy today

[groovejet]

After years and years of wanting a dog DH & I have decided that this is the right point in our life to add one to our family.

Have researched breeds and visited puppies before finding our match.

So today we are picking up Flynn a black & tan cavalier. He is 14 weeks old and has already been using a crate and he is lovely.

Have read many threads on here about how difficult it can and likely will be so am prepared for the worst :)

So this will be my thread for Flynn and a place for me to come to to ask questions and to share our experiences of adding a puppy to the mix.

I have a 19mth old cav who has a tendency to mouth when I come home, so she is either given a piece of beef jerky (after sitting) or told to get her toy...or both !

Might be worth thinking about ?

Our pup didn't get the hang of toileting outside until we abandoned the paper. It's too confusing for them. It's more mess to clean up, but things improved immensely within a week or two.

We may have cracked the toileting, yesterday afternoon we had no accidents at all and so far today all has been outside. We say potty when he is going so hopefully that will sink in and now he is twigging outside is where to go put some bells up as per Housewifefromheaven good idea.

Walking on the lead is improving in a roundabout way, but looking into puppy training classes and hopefully that will help.

Mouthing is improving been following the advice in the Gwen Bailey book.

So all in all we are doing well and it feels like Flynn has been with us for ages.

We have had a rough week poor Flynn managed to scratch his eyeball and the vets had some real concern that he was at a risk of losing it, very scary stuff.

Thankfully was not as serious as they had feared, with eye drops, anti inflammatory medicine and having to avoid bright light for a week is much improved.

He has got what should be his final check-up tomorrow so hopefully all will be back to normal.

Doesn't seem to have affected Flynn that much, he is still happy and bouncy,

He was a daft mutt at the vets as he happily had all the eye stuff done with a wagging tail and trying to lick the vet, but the injection, which should have been the easy bit sent him loopy. He was declared wimp of the day as a result.

What a lovely time of year to get a puppy! We have a cavalier (7 months old) and she is adorable. With the mouthing, the main thing is to have a toy (soft toy or tuggy-type toy) which you can put in your pup's mouth when he starts mouthing. He does need to chew so make sure you have lots of things for him to get his jaws around, then he won't need to use your shoes or hands. Enjoy him!

Mouthing is much much better, only time he has done it recently is to a lady who kept her hand near his mouth letting him lick it and wiggling her fingers which Flynn took as an invite. He is learning a leave command, when it comes to licking so should be able to prevent any further incidents like the above.

He does have a tendancy to jump up towards people for fuss, but I am being more proactive in getting him to sit first and in telling the person how best to approach him to give him a stroke which is helping. Yesterday I was very proud as he ran over to my friend and before asking sat at her feet ready for some fuss.

He is over excited around other dogs, but we met up with a lovely lady and her fab Staffie puppy, and he and Flynn had great fun together, it was nice to give him a chance of some puppy play that adult dogs are less tolerant of. We did discuss swapping pups, she fell in love with Flynns softness and fell in love with her pups grin :)

As for walking nicely on lead, that is an ongoing process, but we have found a great sounding training group that he is going to on Monday so hopefully with time, that and recall when outside, will improve

I do adore him, it has been an adjustment to our lives and have to admit there have been times in the early days when I thought what have we done but sitting here with him curled up next to my feet can't imagine our house without him. Yes he has some faults, mainly down to over excitement and hopefully with the training classes which will be for for us just as much as for as for him these can be sorted.

Well we have had Flynn for almost 2 months now so thought I would update, most of my friends are non doggy people so don't like to bore them too much

He is a sweetie he is very calm inside the house but still always up for a play or a snuggle, and he is very good with our girls as they are with him. And he has managed to charm quite a few local residents who are getting to know him.

He is enjoying his training group, maybe a bit too much as he does get excited around other dogs and is desperate to play but it is giving us lots of opportunity to socialise him and give us some good tips.

Walking without pulling is his main downfall, but he now fits into his front attached harness which has made a difference. His recall is fairly good, I don't trust him if there are other dogs around as he would leg it over to them but we have found a lovely woodland walk for him where there doesn't seem to be any dogs about in the evening, so he can have a good explore whilst the girls go down mud slides - they come back more muddy than Flynn!

He is a bit of a wimp and refuses to go out in the rain so may have to invest in a dog coat for him as he really does detest it.

Somedays I can't believe we have finally got a dog, a very much longed for wish, in fact I once wrote to Jim'll Fix It asking for one!