costing and finding a dog - just a rant really

[Fifer2020]

hi everyone

I have worked full time for 39 years , OH now has taken early retirement and I have moved down to part time.
So time for us now, as in long held plans of dog and caravan

Yup both in short supply, both high prices

We after long hours going over things concluded our active life would suit a working cocker - dont want a back street breeder etc however all the good breeders want to dock. Dont want a docked dog, I do understand why but ours will spend more time on our local beaches and the working working dogs are in the thick bracken every day therefore the risk is higher

so basically my rant is I cant find a breeder who will undock , cant find a caravan

The end of the rant

forgot to add , the price of dogs is so high

so basically my timing is rubbish

Rescue cocker, second hand caravan?

Would definitely recommend rescue - Spaniel Aid UK might be worth a look.

have tried rescue places but because I have a cat they are not able to

some because I have not owned the breed wont allocate me a dog and some when I registered said it would be about two years and there list was full . And some just didnt get back to me

OH wants a caravan from a dealer and where we are in Scotland there are not many. there are two dealers nearby and they have one old caravan each for sale. One dealer said they expect it to be worse next years and the trade in caravans are not there as the new caravans which people buy are not coming of the line

I appreciate what you are experiencing trying to get a rescue dog. We have younger kids and were shot down quite a bit by rescue centres, and the few dogs we did get to see were snapped up by the staff within the centres. Eventually we found a dog online-I know, not ideal. We struck gold. Lockdown worked for us as it meant that some trainee rescue dogs couldn't travel and the trainer had 2 starting their training journey.
Best dog in the whole world😍 I have been to the families home, I met their other dogs and the trainer offered to take our dog back at any stage if required. He still checks in on us.
Have a look and see if there are any trainers (rescue, support, police etc) who have any dog for whatever reason extra.

The caravan I have no advice 🤣 Apparently sales of vans has increased exponentially with folk trying to turn them into campers... Give them a year 🤣

I did find a breeder that did not dock but that's because they breed them to be pets even though they were a working line.

Of the breeders that explicitly breed to work they would have provided an undocked puppy but I would have had to put down a big deposit prior to them being born.

thank you it gives me hope that I might get one . I know its only a 1/3 off the end but I would like its full tail

the search goes on , I just send my last email to a breeder, if this doesnt come back positive them I am leaving it at least 6 months or until the CVd situation resolves at bit

I walk several undocked working cockers - they do exist but I think you'll need to find someone who breeds them as pets as opposed to as working dogs. Be prepared to travel!

I totally get your frustration with regards to rescues - we couldn't rescue because we have cats and our garden is too small...ignoring the fact that we live in the Lakes and have miles and miles of countryside right on our doorstep

We went via a breeder and we got a fantastic dog - don't give up!

I would consider a docked dog actually, our working cocker is docked and he would defiantly have split his tail a lot if he wasn't. Our Dalmatian split her tail and it took months to heal and she nearly ended up having to be docked because she just kept splitting it. Both dogs are always exploring no matter where we are and also such happy waggy tailed dogs that they catch them on everything,

I don't know if we have just been lucky but despite waking in forests he has never split his tail.

We have had numerous other accidents but not that. If he gets thick bramble stuck to it he freaks a bit until we unravel it from his tail but then we clip him short so he doesn't have his full coat which might help.

I've known 2 dogs who would traditionally have been docked end up with tail amputations (one pet, one worker), have met the owner of another (pet) and have heard of more (pets and workers). I and also know a lot of pet spaniels with chronic tail injuries. Some dogs are lucky and some are not. Your call.

Cockers are fab lite dogs but 100% full-on.

*lite?
Little

Would you consider a show cocker Instead?

Docking is barbaric
Well done for not succumbing @Fifer2020

There are definitely plenty of cocker lines that don't routinely dick - have you contacted the breed club?

I have looked for show cockers also and they are like gold dust, I am mainly using Champdogs but nothing

I got offered an undocked male cocker today from a hobby home breader for £3k !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Personally I would wait a bit longer. A lot of these lockdown and Christmas puppies will be given to rescues come February. As for the caravan I would hold off for that too. Sites will be closing soon for a month , many also close for a few weeks in winter. I'm after a static Im putting it on hold for now til after Christmas.

Can’t help with the dog, not my breed, but I would say don’t worry about not being able to buy a caravan yet.
We have a motorhome & it’s hardly been used this year despite most years being used all year round, away at least once a month. We’ve only done trips to a friend’s small site, usually we go to the very north of Scotland or the islands.All the sites were closed all through the last lockdown then when they did open the club sites only opened some of them, many have been closed since March. The ones that did open were fully booked for most of the time even though all the facilities were either closed or only very restricted use. Many people take their caravans or campers abroad in summer but haven’t been able to with the travel restrictions so U.K. sites have been packed. The two big U.K. clubs close all but a few sites every winter usually from the end of October till March so any private sites that are open will be busy. So if you bought a van you’d get little use if it till at least spring.

There's a gun dog rescue charity in Perth that's maybe worth a look. Smaller rescues can be more flexible, but it's a case of building up a relationship till they find the right dog for your situation.

I would ask around local Vets incase they know of anyone having to get rid of a dog for a good reason, I would also drive around and put letters through peoples doors who have a caravan sat on the drive looking unused, we have bought a couple that way over the years.

When we’ve looked at breeders of the puppy we want (gun dog) a lot of them seem to legally dock. We’re very against it, and a few breeders have said they could leave us a puppy with it’s full tail. Only issue is they’d have to just allocate us a puppy within the first couple of days.

hi the breeders I spoke to said if they dont dock then they are stuck with finding a home home for them.

I totally understand the reasoning for docking , but the working dogs full time job is to be bracken etc.

personal choice. I have found one but waiting list is full until 2022

I am on the reserve reserve list but no doubt over time I will move up

everything comes to those who wait lol