I want a puppy but don't know when

[aloneinthenight]

I have wanted a puppy for years finally DH has agreed.

Our son died a year ago.

I thought it would be foolish to rush into anything but now feels like the right time. However I want to make sure we plan things properly, I'm not in a hurry.

My younger son is 12. I would like a cocker spaniel or something of a similar size. I had a Cavalier King Charles when I was a child/teenager but haven't had a dog as an adult.

We have a week away booked at May half term, and another week booked in early August. My husband also wants to see if we can go abroad in October half term. I also imagine we will want to go places for daytrips etc over the summer once lockdown is lifted.

So it would make sense to get a puppy in November to give us a clear run at home - but will I regret that when trying to toilet train him in the cold and dark.

If I am planning on the autumn, what do I need to be doing now? Can I put my name down with breeder now? I'm hoping the puppy madness will have ended by then and prices will have come down a little.

Research breeds and contact breeders. Many reputable ones may already have full waiting lists for this year so it may be next year before you can get a pup.

OK.. I've had a look at breeders on the Kennel Club website. Is that the best place to start? I'm very wary of scammers.

I asked a friend who got a puppy last year if her breeder was planning another litter but she isn't.

Yep start on the Kennel Club and contact breed clubs via the Kennel Club too.

If you're looking at Spaniels they are extreeeeeeeeeeeeemely popular so you may have your work cut out.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I can't comment on breeders, but would second your reservation about toilet training in winter! We got our pup (a rescue) in November, and the mess, cold, washing etc. was bloody awful! I guess it depends on your home setup though - we live in a terraced house with no utility area and have 2 very young children. The chaos is unreal, and in hindsight it was a rash decision to adopt a pup! It's all much easier now though, so things do improve!

What is going to be your plan in future years when you want a week (or weekend) away?

Do have a think about whether you might be a good fit for one of the vulnerable native breeds of spaniel

www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getting-a-dog/are-you-ready/vulnerable-native-breeds/

I'm sorry for your loss

I'd get on the waiting lists now - they're currently veeeery long and you could easily be waiting until November and beyond anyway

I've never toilet trained a dog (one of the few things rescue DDog already knew!) but winter seems to make everything about dog ownership harder (especially the lack of daylight hours for walkies) and even DDog seems to have a new spring in his step come the Spring.

Would you be willing to consider a young adult rescue dog? There's likely to be a fair few perfectly nice lockdown puppies coming into rescue over the next year or so. You could contact the breed rescue(s) for your chosen breed. It may provide a quicker and cheaper way of obtaining a young dog that's already house trained.

I'm so sorry about your son.
I'd spend this year thinking about what dog you would like, and if you want a puppy, then the vunerable breeds are a great place to start as you are reasonably safe from puppy farms/unscrupulous breeders/scammers with KC breeders of these.
Toilet training in the winter isn't that bad tbh, so I wouldn't worry about it - but a small puppy is a big tie and in some ways its easier to deal with that in the winter.

@wetotter In future when we go away, a relative has offered to have it, and also a friend has said she would. I'll have a look at the vulnerable breeds -thank you!

The relative has two small children and the friend has another dog so I would want the puppy to be older and familiar with them before I left it for any length of time.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages Young adult rescue dog is a good shout. I agree I think lots of people will have puppy remorse!

Sussex spaniels are on the vulnerable breed list if you want to stick with a spaniel , if you want to go slightly smaller Norwich terriers and soft coated wheatons are also vulnerable . Slightly larger and you get what I always recommend which is a clumber spaniel . Sorry for your loss 💐

Research your breed and contact breeders. The breeder I have found won't be having a litter until next year as she only breeds to get a show dog for herself. She also hasn't put her prices up and she told me that true reputable breeders have kept their pre covid prices.

Agree re contacting breeders now to get onto a waiting list.

Another perspective on getting a pup in winter - we bought ours home in November and although toilet training wasnt fun, cocker spaniels are quick to learn and when they are small their walks are quite short. Ours is 7 months now so just starting to do longer ones as the weather is improving so its swings and round abouts

@Sprockerdilerock that makes a lot of sense, thank you.

I've started to contact some breeders. What's the general opinion on hybrids?

I had a CKC spaniel had heart problems and I read that hybrids can have less issues - but also they seem to be the more dodgy breeders!

Our village is overrunning with cockerpoos (which I don't want)

It's a bit of a toss up what a crossbreed will be like (nightmare scenario is that you get the worst bits of both breed traits!)

But having said that, I think crossing cavs is a good idea, because of the horrible scale of health problems the breed now had. Both cavapoos and cavapoochons seem to be fairly unproblematic dogs (based on the few I've met)

(PS: I asked asbout holiday care, because I wondered if you could use it even with a young puppy, but I think you're making the right call on taking time to introduce to their other households)

I've had a look at Bockers and Beagliers. Although there seem to be a lot of beagle puppies available for rehoming which makes me suspect that might be quite hard work!

Just to throw another option into the mix. Our local rescues prefer to use foster homes over kennels. They are desperate for foster homes as already have so many dogs being given up and this is likely to escalate through the summer. We have recently adopted a dog we fostered, after her new home didn’t work out. We adopted a puppy from abroad through a UK charity last year and it didn’t work out for us so were very nervous about the prospect of trying again, so fostering gave us the best of both worlds - a chance to help out whilst also testing if we were actually cut out for dog ownership. We only had a handful through the door before the rescue asked if we wanted to adopt our dog, but they can range in stays from a few hours to months or ultimately years if there are health or behaviour problems which mean they can’t be permanently rehomed

@aloneinthenight

I've had a look at Bockers and Beagliers. Although there seem to be a lot of beagle puppies available for rehoming which makes me suspect that might be quite hard work!

Beagles aren't for the faint-hearted. They are hounds and you need to be prepared for the houndy lifestyle - so that's noise and scent work. They have terrible recall, if they sniff something good they're gone, so off-lead in unenclosed places is very risky. And if you have close neighbours - they can be quite noisy! Best for detached houses with big very secure gardens and nice long walks every single day.

Unfortunately they're cute, which is why so may end up in rescue :(

Their crosses are likely to adopt some of this Houndy behaviour. Crossing a Hound with a Spaniel (Bocker) sounds like a recipe for an extremely energetic dog which can never be off lead.

So sorry about your son OP
We picked up our Sprocker (cocker x springer) at the end of November and had no issues toilet training, spaniels are smart, ours caught on very quickly. They can’t go for long walks when tiny either so the short days weren’t too much of an issue.

Whatever time of year you get a puppy it will be disruptive and a big upheaval so planning for a time when you’ll be able to be at home a lot is a good idea

I'm so sorry about your son. That's really tough.

Champdogs is another place you could try - you put your details in about the kind of dog you are looking for and then you get emails about upcoming or planned litters (only for purebreeds though, no mixes).

Definitely agree on champ dogs. They will also list the health tests you need for your breed. I had an August born, October arrived puppy. Perfect. Annoying having a fortnight of cold dark nighttime wake ups but then puppy was dry and by the time it was summer she could go for much longer walks (you are limited to walks of 5 mins x age in months for first year). So better to have short winter walks IMO. And very very sorry for your loss

I've added myself to the waiting list on champ dogs. That's a great site.

I've emailed a few breeders too.

Is it worth asking them about hybrids or is that very poor form?

The breeders I have met and alot of the owners I know are fairly snotty about cross breeds, especially the fashionable ones. Some of that is snobbery, some maybe more well founded. Either way I would be careful who you asked as they may be not be as inclined to sell one of their purebreds to you. I had to write essays (how we lived, what kind of experience we had, how we would raise the dog) to be allowed to go on waiting lists and this was pre pandemic.

I walk with someone who will point out the various problems some badly bred crosses show as they run/limp past us. Some have fused back leg bones IIRC etc. She was in charge of herd health at an organisation with many cross breeds so she is not against them per se, but she says a lot of badly planned ones go wrong for the dogs. Sometimes there are gorgeous “mistakes” from breeders (near us a breeder has kept one vizla x labrador from a litter that wasn’t planned in any way, but I don’t know how you would find out about those. You would want to check health tests for all hereditary conditions for both breeds too.

Haha. I asked one breeder tentatively about hybrids and got short shrift. She was very nice about it though.

But yes, said exactly the same thing about problems bred in.

I've spoken to a breeder via Champdogs and she sounds lovely. She breeds show type cockers

• all her dogs live at home
• she doesn’t let puppies leave until at least 11 weeks
• she expects weekly visits from prospective owners when the pups are four weeks
• she lets all of them play with you and assesses which puppy is the best dog for you
• she doesn’t ask for deposits until ‘the puppy chooses you’
• she offers home boarding to all her puppies for holidays.

She has a litter due in 4 weeks so we could potentially pick one up after our August holiday, and then let him or her board with them if we go away later in the year.

All of the hybrid dogs I've seem look suspiciously like puppy farms and a world away from this breeder, so this looks like a good option.

I'm sorry about your son 💐

August is a great time of year to get a puppy, that's when we got our puppy and it was still warm enough to spend lots of time outside. We'd cracked toilet training before it started getting colder and the nights started drawing in.

Don't fall in love with a beagle. Yes, they are pretty and look a manageable size. But they are hounds, and are totally driven by food and sex. They are really really hard work.