How to buy a puppy (I know, I know....)

Ms Doubtfire1

I know an awful lot of cockers and their crosses who are absolutely fine off lead so it's a case by case bases re that.

cocker5

PS if your vet recommends the like of Royal Canin avoid - its expensive very low quality dog food (one of the worst)

Or if they recommend a specialised food to help him loose weight.. honestly OP you'd be better off starting him a some decent grain free food with smaller portions bulking up with some veg.. instead of wasting your money

Look at : http://www.zooplus.ie/esearch.htm#q%3Dtaste%20of%20the%20wild

I feed my guy taste of the wild with some veg, i order it from the above link, great food, good quality etc. lasts ages too

avoid all supermarket dog food - full of fillers, and very low quality.

cocker5

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

I know an awful lot of cockers and their crosses who are absolutely fine off lead so it's a case by case bases re that.

yip your right but at aged 3 and never been off lead .... could end up never being ok off lead... its all trial and error but if he's not OK off lead and isnt traffic aware the OP parents will have no option but to keep him on lead thats all.

SarahMollie

cocker5 wrote: »

Fair play op for your mum giving him the best chance she can.

On the off lead thing – as I already mentioned in my previous post my cocker is VERY nose driven so we cannot take him off lead, with the exception of one of our mountain walks. We tried EVERYTHING all sorts of training and he just couldn’t / wouldn’t do it….
He is pretty healthy so don’t worry too much that him being off lead will stop him for losing weight it won’t.
Get a good retraceable lead – only use while in the park - I only use it up the mountains never on a main road just in case it fails. My guys loves to zip around and sniff etc.…

http://www.rosewoodpet.com/dog/walk-time/flexi/flexi-giant-tape-med-8m-neon

Firstly what food was he currently being fed?

Cut out ALL treats with the exception of raw carrots (great for cleaning their teeth), or sugar snap peas etc. NO normal dogs treats – no dentastix or such stuff.
He may turn his nose up at the veg but over time he will learn to love it trust me.

Cut down on his portions, feed him twice a day, small portion in the morning and again in the evening.

NO SCRAPS etc.… honestly in a few weeks you’ll see a big improvement in his weight.

Have you updated his microchip details? If he doesn’t have one yet it’s now required by law id get it done ASAP.
Plus put a ID tag on him with your parents numbers – he doesn’t know his new home can easily get lost if he were to get out.

Not being critical but says a lot about so previous owners if the met strangers in a car park and handed over their dog no offence intended but who does that ???? the poor chap could have ended up anywhere.

Im glad he’s found a home with your parents… give your dad time. Its takes time to bond with any dog it’s not straight love at first sight to be honest.

Is he neutered? Have you looked up pet insurance?

Have you checked he has all up to date vaccinations?

Just to clarify, it was the carpark of the dog rehoming center. We didnt speak to them directly, the rehoming staff did all the inbetween stuff. They call it a "home from home adoption" where the current owners have him listed on the website, but don't want to surrender him to the rehoming center until his new family is lined up.

We don't have the dog yet. His owner has committed to bringing him back to the center on Thurday, and they'll then bring him to my parents house for a home visit/cat test. If that goes well, we'll be collecting him officially on Saturday after attending an adoption talk, so we're not home and dry just yet.

He is nutured (he was born at this particular charity) and they will update his chip with out details. He was choking himself with his collar, so we're going to get him a harness for walking as this worked better with our last spaniel X. They give 6 weeks insurance when you adopt through this particular charity, and I'm assuming my parents will continue this as all our animals have always been insured.

SarahMollie

cocker5 wrote: »

yip your right but at aged 3 and never been off lead .... could end up never being ok off lead... its all trial and error but if he's not OK off lead and isnt traffic aware the OP parents will have no option but to keep him on lead thats all.

True, we'll our local park has a field fenced off as a designated dog park where dogs can safely run around together so we've that at least.

I guess I'm just not sure if he's a lazy dog or if his owners were lazy. I suspect the latter, but we won't really know until we have him. He didnt strike me as as lively as our last guy, but he was on the lead so hard to tell.

Our last spaniel x was very nose led so we never would have had him off the lead on footpaths etc, only in wide open spaces. He did always look back at us every 30 seconds or so and never went too far. If we can get the same from this fella, that'd be a great success.

cocker5

SarahMollie wrote: »

Just to clarify, it was the carpark of the dog rehoming center. We didnt speak to them directly, the rehoming staff did all the inbetween stuff. They call it a "home from home adoption" where the current owners have him listed on the website, but don't want to surrender him to the rehoming center until his new family is lined up.

We don't have the dog yet. His owner has committed to bringing him back to the center on Thurday, and they'll then bring him to my parents house for a home visit/cat test. If that goes well, we'll be collecting him officially on Saturday after attending an adoption talk, so we're not home and dry just yet.

He is nutured (he was born at this particular charity) and they will update his chip with out details. He was choking himself with his collar, so we're going to get him a harness for walking as this worked better with our last spaniel X. They give 6 weeks insurance when you adopt through this particular charity, and I'm assuming my parents will continue this as all our animals have always been insured.

ahh ok thats for the update - makes alot more sense!

Just on the pulling again my cocker was a dreadful puller - for him a harness didnt work at all it gave him more leverage to pull. but try a harness first but if it doesn't work try a head collar.

we used the the dogmatic head collar for years its great...

http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/contents/en-uk/d2.html

cocker5

SarahMollie wrote: »

True, we'll our local park has a field fenced off as a designated dog park where dogs can safely run around together so we've that at least.

I guess I'm just not sure if he's a lazy dog or if his owners were lazy. I suspect the latter, but we won't really know until we have him. He didnt strike me as as lively as our last guy, but he was on the lead so hard to tell.

Our last spaniel x was very nose led so we never would have had him off the lead on footpaths etc, only in wide open spaces. He did always look back at us every 30 seconds or so and never went too far. If we can get the same from this fella, that'd be a great success.

Dont worry OP a new homes for this guy you will see a HUGE improvement... spaniels by their nature arent lazy.. give him a few weeks and he will be flying around!! Its brilliant you have a dog park near by that will be a great benefit to him!

Choc Chip

I just wanted to be supportive on the weight issue OP: We've had a few fosters recently and 2 were a tad portly (nothing as bad as what you've described, but they could stand to lose a bit). They were both really successful with weight loss - your mum and dad are in charge of the food so as long as they're careful with portions and treats it'll come off fairly easily. Unlike people, dogs don't have to battle their willpower when someone refills the biscuit jar. Sigh.

You're probably already aware, but I'd just be careful with exercise and build it up slowly if he's not used to it. That extra weight will put more stress on his joints and cardiovascular system if he's that heavy.

SarahMollie

Thanks everyone Once again I feel a bit more heartened.

I think part of my Dads reluctance is that no dog will measure up to our last dog in his eyes. They were very attached, so I think he would find fault with any dog. Unfortunately with this guy, the flaw is pretty obvious, but hopefully we improve it pretty quickly.

It actually makes me sad that such a young dog, energetic breed etc was allowed to get so overweight.

He'll be getting carrots etc for treats (saw that on the supervet) and carefully measured high quality food.

Ms Doubtfire1

do know that a 'special needs dog' tends to rob our hearts very quickly..your dad will be no different.. :-)

muddypaws

Fair play OP. Did your Dad like the dog? Do you think he will grow to love the dog? I know your Mam is trying to do a good thing, getting a rescue dog, but as the pair of them will be responsible for him, and at 3, he has a long life ahead of him, they both need to be on board with the decision. If his only worry is the weight reduction, that can happen no problem, as long as there isn't an underlying medical reason for it. Exercise and the right amount of food, just like ourselves The exercise will need to be built up over time though, if the poor lad isn't used to it. Swimming would be great, hopefully with the spaniel in the mix, he will enjoy water.

Harnesses are better than collars, whether a dog pulls or not, just reduces the impact on the neck. I'm not a fan of head collars, they're a training aid, but pulling the head around if the dog pulls can still have an impact on their neck etc. and they should never be a long term solution. If you go with a harness though, please don't buy one like the Julius K9 ones, they go across the chest, which restricts the shoulder muscles as the dog moves - its amazing how popular they are, but you can stick pretty labels on the side

Best of luck to your family with their decision.

JamboMac

All puppies are boustrious to some degree stealing socks and the like, but as they grow up some dogs go with the flow better. Basset hound rates highly on what you require.

Easily one of the best dogs from experience.

SarahMollie

muddypaws wrote: »

Fair play OP. Did your Dad like the dog? Do you think he will grow to love the dog? I know your Mam is trying to do a good thing, getting a rescue dog, but as the pair of them will be responsible for him, and at 3, he has a long life ahead of him, they both need to be on board with the decision. If his only worry is the weight reduction, that can happen no problem, as long as there isn't an underlying medical reason for it. Exercise and the right amount of food, just like ourselves The exercise will need to be built up over time though, if the poor lad isn't used to it. Swimming would be great, hopefully with the spaniel in the mix, he will enjoy water.

Erm, to be honest my Dad isnt the most enthusiastic person with new animals ever, they tend to grow on him over time. He thought we were mad when we got the last one at first also, but that obviously changed. I think the weight issue here has just given him something really obvious to grumble about.
The irony is that he's the one who benefits the most from having a dog in the house, even though he'll never admit it.

Gael23

I wouldn't put any sort of Spaniel with an older person. Cockers are probably the only breed I will ever have but they are hard work. That is repaid with so much loyalty and affection but they just have so much energy and twit takes a couple of years to wear down.

Bunnyslippers

The weight should come off pretty quick with the right diet and exercise.
If this dog doesn't work out have you thought about a cavalier King Charles, obviously if you get a pup make sure it is from fully health tested parents, or rescue an older one, they seldom bother with cats and are more laid back than most other spaniels.

We got our springer spaniel from tescos, he had been wandering the car park there for 3 weeks according to staff who had done nothing! I think we must be one of the few people who can go out to buy bog rolls and cereal and come back with a dog!;). He was probably about 8 yrs old when we found him, he was covered in matted fur and poo, but he cleaned up well, we couldn't find an owner despite ringing all the rescues and posting on lost sites. He was fine with our cats too thank goodness, if they'd been pheasant shaped I think it would be a different matter!
He's very high energy despite being about 10 now but is happy to run about himself sniffing everything, he only has 2 speeds - stop and drool at the prospect of a ball being thrown and flat out - often into trees/fences as he doesn't look where he's going! We just kept him on a lead for the first month or so and then just let him off in enclosed areas just to make sure he didn't run off, we also had to train him to walk to heal off the lead as to start with he liked to chase sheep, he doesn't now and walks to heal with no lead very well, so it is doable to train an older dog with unknown past training. Just be mindful that overweight animals can be very different once lean and fit!
Good luck with your meeting fingers crossed for you, and well done for rescuing!!:)

SarahMollie

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd check in one final time since so many of you were so good to take the time to respond here and send me lots of PM's.

Long story short, we had the cat test last Thursday as planned and it didn't go well. Mutually agreed with the charity that the dog was unfortunately not a good fit.

Later that afternoon we got a call from our vets, who obviously had been through all the heartache of our last dog with us and knew we were looking. She said that a small puppy had just been handed in and they thought he could be a good fit for us.

We collected him the next morning. He's only had his first vaccinations so can't go anywhere yet so its a lot of work but he's very lovely Cats are a bit put out (as they always are) but he's not aggressive so they'll get used to it!

Pic attached

Angel2016

SarahMollie wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd check in one final time since so many of you were so good to take the time to respond here and send me lots of PM's.

Long story short, we had the cat test last Thursday as planned and it didn't go well. Mutually agreed with the charity that the dog was unfortunately not a good fit.

Later that afternoon we got a call from our vets, who obviously had been through all the heartache of our last dog with us and knew we were looking. She said that a small puppy had just been handed in and they thought he could be a good fit for us.

We collected him the next morning. He's only had his first vaccinations so can't go anywhere yet so its a lot of work but he's very lovely Cats are a bit put out (as they always are) but he's not aggressive so they'll get used to it!

Pic attached

He's gorgeous and at least your vets knows you and your situations, cats always do be put out I have 8 of them and when I brought my old girl Lola home from the rescue they blanked me for about 2 weeks but then gradually came around, in regards to the rescues I run a small one in Dublin and we take alot of time with potential owners chatting about their needs, their lifestyle and what other animals they have and we do this for cats also but its to insure that we get the right dog / cat for that family or the person.
Some people might think we go overboard with the process but if you dont take all the steps then we would end up with the dog back in our care and as a back up we have a rule that we will always take the animal back if it does not work out it gives people peace of mind.