Year 1 of owning a dog

[m0therofdragons]

We got a puppy in August. This was after a number of years considering it, a year of looking at rescues and finally coming to the decision that a working cocker spaniel puppy was right for us with our 3dc aged 8-12.

He is the absolute best boy ever! Don’t get me wrong, life would be easier without him but my goodness we love him. Dh has been working from home since March and will be long term so having to walk a dog each day gets dh out the house and away from his stressful job.

He just needs one walk a day then he chills with us in the evening. His recall is spot on, greets other dogs with permission from us and does so appropriately and loves cuddles. He’s 8 months old and the absolute best

Meant to finish asking others to share their year 1 experience of dog ownership...

Wow.Your experience seems blissful in comparison
to ours! We will have had ours a year in July. We love her dearly but she is a bloody nightmare at times! Get a poodle mix they said and we thought it was a good idea over a soppy spaniel! Wrong! Batshit crazy dog who is too clever and neurotic for her own good. To start we have fussy eating and are on literally 6th brand of kibble and she just wont eat it, and didnt like 3 types of different wet food.Ongoing battle. Probably having too many training treats, but these are essential at the moment as she ignores us most of the time and her recall....well....great when just us, but as soon as she sees another person or dog she takes off and I end up running round like an ejit trying to catch her. We dont let her off her newly purchased 8 metre lead for now, which is a shame, but hoping to find some further classes once lockdown is lifted. At least she is small....we regularly see a massive lurcher doing the same and the owners dont have a chance of catching him. Oh and we also have just started ' the floor is lava' with our laminate flooring down stairs .Fine for months then it started. I've watched so many traing videos on all topics and we are making some progress, but she still blanks us when she feels like it. As I said we wouldn't do without her and she's a real Mummy's girl but I can understand why so many people give up at this age. (We are not as shes part of the family).
We've also had some big vet bills for teeth removal due to baby teeth not falling out and her looking like something from Avatar, and her spaying,
which in itself went well, but was followed by a week of V&D and subsequent vet trips blood tests and meds. She's also got dew claws on her back legs which we have to keep an eye on. They can be removed for another £200 but would be a big deal as they are joined by bone. Hopefully people will read this if they are thinking of getting a puppy and have a reality check! It's not all roses.

Meant to add my sister has 2 soppy Spaniels so not a slight on yours!

Ours is 8 months too - not quite as blissful! He is gorgeous and I love him and he's very good in the house but walks are still very hit and miss - his recall has dropped off massively since he hit adolescence and he is really into other dogs so we have to walk him early or late in the day and keep him on a longline and away from other dogs.
I really hope it gets better as he's a lovely boy and really want him to be able to ramble off lead more as it makes him so happy!

The first year was the worst for us

Mine is three now, but the first year was hard. Lots of mouthing/biting, very little recall, pulling on the lead, barking and severe separation anxiety!

Saying all that, he's fantastic now and I have no trouble with him, but that first year was definitely a big test on our patience!

Fabulous !
But you know he’s just about to hit his teens don’t you

We're at the 8-month stage too and have definitely turned lots of corners recently. She's great walking on the lead now, has ok recall (but that's a work in progress) and she can be with us or not anywhere in the house (not upstairs) without being a PITA. She adores people and all other dogs, even mean ones and is so sweet-natured.

The mouthing stage did pass for us and she is very gentle now. However, I did go zero tolerance with it because it was driving me mad. I also stopped tugging games as all it seemed to do was induce uncontrolled frenzy. She has toys to rag on but I don't encourage it.

Overall it has been resoundingly positive and I think we've all benefitted greatly by having her in our lives. It's probably the highlight of the last year with all the terrible stuff going on (we lost 3 family members to COVID).

Here she is as a baby and a bigger baby

18 month old here, just to say it's not a given than teenagers are nightmares, he has been a star.
I think it's like children, there's a definite positive feedback loop of having an easy well-behaved dog creates relaxed owners, a low stress home environment & fun interactions which then makes the dog easier & better behaved.
I think getting onto that positive feedback loop is largely down to good luck, & perhaps a tad of good judgement. But mostly luck.

@Ihaventgottimeforthis and having some collie genes in your dog. What a stunning looking dog

We have had dpuppy a year... Sadly no classes or socialising.. She is a bit nervy and barky out but recall is amazing.
As are her wallpaper stripping skills

Thank you Polly Dennis is handsome 😍

He's half collie with bull lurcher, rescue litter.
I think the collie side has been the key to his good recall and attentiveness to us.

@Chocolateandamaretto Glad I'm not the only one!
@Snowymcsnowsony I guess you cant win at everything

I have a little spaniel too, almost 6 months old. He is a sprocker but he definitely is more cocker like in colouring and size.

I am absolutely besotted with him. Seeing his happy little face in the morning just sets me up for the day and I absolutely cant imagine life without him now! It was tricky in the early days especially having to get up for the middle of the night wees when he was tiny, and my god he was a bitey little fecker, but we are now seeing more of the lovely gentle dog he is becoming and I couldn't love him more.

Of course, he is now entering teenageville so that'll come with a fresh set of challenges (I posted last week about his previously fantastic recall disappearing on a walk and embarrassing me!) so I may live to regret this soppy post

He gets two short walks a day, 30 mins morning and evening and loves nothing more than chasing his ball and sniffing around in the hedges. He still sleeps quite a lot in the day, and pretty much sleeps all evening on the sofa with us too. In fact, I'm off to give him a big cuddle right now!

@TheOriginalMrsMoss we have a 6 month old retriever and his mouthing is ridiculous and we are really struggling with him. What did you do? Taking advice from where I can get it as kids are fed up with it. He’s really stubborn at the moment too not recalling etc all fun and games...your girl is stunning.

Our boy is one on the 11thMarch. We were very lucky to get him before the prices went crazy.

He is a black mini schnauzer called Wilf and has been brilliant from day one- only issue is recall when there are other dogs around.

We love him so much!

@Crappyfridays7

I hated the mouthing and so did not want to play with her when she did it. She would also leap up like a wild thing and made holes in loads of DS's clothes.

Our first trainer was all about positive reinforcement and treats for absolutely everything which was great for training good behavior but really didn't work for us eliminating bad habits. Half the time I think she just associated mouthing = treats.

I did 3 things that worked (which some people probably won't agree with). I would hold a treat in my closed hand and only treat her when she didn't mouth and moved her head away. If she tried to mouth my hand I would move it away. Then I moved on to an open hand. She really picked this up quickly.

If she mouthed me or youngest DS, I would say 'ah ah' firmly and we would put her outside on the patio or get up and move away/leave the room. I didn't use her crate, just withdrew attention. It was the only time I spoke firmly to her and she soon caught on.

I also stopped playing growly games and tugging games because it was making her worse. DH and one of my DS's were the worst for playing with her like his so I had to train them too!

My second trainer subscribed more to 'no teeth on human skin' which I felt much more comfortable with. We had been told to allow it to train bite inhibition by the first trainer but I wish we'd just gone with no teeth on skin from the start. I feed her by hand lots and I think this helps too.

Eventually she stopped - it wasn't instant though as I think she'd got into bad habits. I do think it's a phase that seems to be more pronounced in some breeds than others though.

I much prefer 8 months to 4 months. He looked cute but ouch he was a bitey monster cockerdile. About two hours after I posted dpup started vomited and diarrhoea from probable Ivy poisoning. Dh was clearing ivy and dpup picked a piece up, I said “leave it” and he dropped it instantly. Apparently that’s enough to cause sickness, shivers and lethargy. He’s back to being full of beans with his wagging tail now so all good but we did have a trip to the vet with me questioning if evolution exists because I give understand how dogs are so easily poisoned but also eat every bloody thing that they shouldn’t!

It’s not all been blissful and we had about 4 months thinking we’ll never sit and watch a film in the evening again but that’s happened and he’s much calmer in the evenings.

Lovely, is he a retriever?