Words of Wisdom for a new Sprollie Owner

grumpybear wrote: »

I've known Springers and Collies before but never even heard about a sprollie until she got one

That's because it doesn't exist as a breed and is yet another example of people making up silly names for dogs in order to charge a higher price for what is a crossbred dog - I really hope she didn't pay a huge sum of money for it!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crossbred dogs - just they shouldn't be dressed up with silly names and people shouldn't pay a premium for them thinking they're getting a new kind of breed of dog

Anyway, I am sure it will be a handful and will certainly need a lot of mental stimulation and exercise ..... something like agility once it's old enough would be ideal.

He will need to know who's boss from the start or you will run into problems later - I'd be looking at puppy classes as soon as he's old enough.

Best of luck

I've not got a collie or a springer, I have a 9 week old ridgeback, pups are hard work no matter what the breed (I also have a toddler and I am shattered) Only advise I really have is get plenty of sleep before the pups comes home. Loads of toys but not all at once rotate them so they seem more exciting and find a hypo allergenic food with no colourings or anything that could add to how hyper pups can be. Pups sleep alot but when you have a toddler too it feels like I am up and down all day long. Good luck ;-)

Congrats to your sister on her new addition

As others have said, stimulation is vital for dogs with the energy and brains that these two breeds will have. However, the amount of exercise given needs to be weighed up against the risk of joint damage from overexercising or certain activities. For a growing puppy, you're far better limiting exercise and focusing on "brain training" to wear him out. The general rule of thumb is 5 minutes per month - so at 8 weeks, it'd be 10 minutes, 12 weeks that'd go up to 15, and so on. This doesn't mean one 10 minute walk a day, you can offer a few, and be a little flexible. A 5 minute walk to the park, then 10 minutes of intermittant play on a soft, grassy area with several rest breaks, before the 5 minute walk home would probably be fine for example, but 20 minutes 'pavement pounding' on hard pavements is more likely to cause problems. You also want to avoid certain activities, like climbing stairs, jumping on and off things, and so on as they put more strain on the joints. Something like agility should be kept for a while in the future - at a minimum, 12 months, if not a bit longer. Some trainers offer "pre-agility" classes where they will teach the basics without the jumps etc., so that could be an option for when he's a little bit older.

While mental stimulation is great, also bear in mind the short attention span of a puppy. You wouldn't expect a toddler to sit down and paint the Mona Lisa, so don't expect a puppy to sit through a half hour training session and have completely grasped several concepts in one go. Little and often, 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there, keep switching up what you're teaching (don't try 10 things at once, but pick a few things so he doesn't get bored of the one trick/command), and always end the training session on a positive note. If you miss the signs of a bored/distracted puppy and he starts getting frustrated with the training, switch to a command he grasps better so you end on a success, and then end the session. Make note that he didn't do so well and make the next session shorter or easier.
You can provide mental stimulation in the form of dinnertime too. I rarely feed my dogs from a bowl nowadays, they get challenges such as dinner frozen inside a Kong, in a treat dispensing ball, or scattered over the house/garden for them to sniff out. There's lots of interactive food dispensors on the market that will make pup use his brain, as well as his body, and help to tire him out.
http://pawsitivedawgs.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/enrichments/

As mentioned, take care in selecting a food, it can play a huge role in behaviour. Don't be tempted to go for convenience, generally if it's available in a supermarket, it's not the best food (a few exceptions, but generally Bakers, Butchers, Pdeigree, etc. are no good), but a petshop should stock a good range, and ordering online can get good deals. Don't be fooled by price either, expensive doesn't always mean good, and cheap doesn't always mean economical. You could buy a sack of "cheap" food at £20 but find it more expensive to feed than a sack of £40 food because you're having to feed more than twice as much, due to the amount of cheap fillers in the food.
There's lots of threads on food brands in the pet section so worth a search to see recommendations

In terms of housetraining, my approach to it is to ditch the puppypads and newspapers. I went down the route of presenting more than enough opportunities to toilet outside and avoid accidents. I feel that puppypads and paper encourage a dog to pee inside, even if it's only on those, which is a mixed message. Offer plenty of toilet breaks around the clock and chances are, the few accidents that happen will be exactly that, rare accidents, but the dog will quickly learn that it is meant to toilet outside rather than inside. At least every hour during the day to start with, perhaps even more often, and then at least every 2 hours overnight. Work out a rota with everyone in the house so they can get a bit of kip, but pup gets its 2 hour pee breaks regardless. Even if pup is asleep, get him up and offer the break, because he might wake up 15 minutes later and need the toilet, then be forced to toilet indoors. Make sure toilet breaks remain just that - toilet breaks. If needs be, use a lead (I'd recommend a Halti training lead, as you can extend it to be a bit longer than a regular lead which gives pup a bit more freedom to potter around and find a spot to use) so pup doesn't get distracted. Don't start games or fuss, just stand and keep an eye on pup, and as soon as he 'goes', make loads and loads of fuss (you may want to keep some treats to hand at all times, if he's food-y). You may be able to ditch the lead during the day, but again, try to keep him focused on toileting, don't let a toilet break turn into a play break, keep them separate. If pup gets too unfocused and starts playing around, go back indoors, but ensure you offer a second toilet break very shortly after - within the next 5 minutes. It won't take long for him to calm down from the distractions and remember he needed the loo, and if you're not careful it will lead to an accident. Common issue with puppies, having accidents as soon as they're brought back indoors, because of their short attention span.
Not really a worry at this time of year but just incase - try to keep outdoors and indoors separate by closing the door, don't be tempted to leave the door open so pup has the chance to go outside and toilet, at least not until you're sure he's grasped the difference by having been taken outside specifically. Otherwise, the garden just becomes another part of the house, albeit a cold one with a spookily tall ceiling! Also, make sure someone always goes out with him for toilet breaks, in this weather don't be tempted to just open the door and let him out then shut yourself in the warm. You need to be watching to make sure you spot the moment he toilets, and be there to administer praise ASAP.
You may also want to introduce a cue word for toileting. You pick a word or short phrase and repeat this every time he toilets. You could use different words for peeing and pooing but I didn't bother. Make sure it's something you're not embarrassed to say outloud - we picked "well done" as we didn't mind the neighbours hearing it (over and over - puppies toilet a lot!), so eventually we could tell her to "do a well done" and if she needed the loo, she'd do her business on command.
Never punish a puppy for an accident. You wouldn't tell off a child for peeing in its nappy during potty training, they're limited by the physical capabilities of holding it in, and an accident is just that. A dog doesn't toilet indoors to spite you, they do it because they don't know otherwise, or because they're unable to hold it any longer. Simply offer the pup another chance to toilet outside (incase they're not finished) and clean up the mess without a fuss. You may want to invest in a specific product for cleaning up toileting accidents, like the Simple Solution range, because some household cleaners won't clean up all traces and this can encourage a pup to repeat the accident because they smell some traces of urine in the same spot.

I agree with looking at training sooner rather than later, but do ensure you pick a class carefully. Undoing poor training is far harder than doing homework and getting it right first time. There's no legal requirements for certification or anything for trainers so anyone can be one. I'd recommend finding someone via the APDT website as it's a governing body of sorts, that poor trainers can be reported to. They have a code of practice that members must adhere to, which includes things like not using fear/intimidation to train, or using physical punishment like shock collars or choke chains. http://www.apdt.co.uk
Also on a similar note, be wary of puppy parties. Some are carefully arranged, others can be free-for-alls and can cause longterm issues for your puppy if he had a bad experience. Puppies lack social skills because they have not yet learnt how to behave appropriately, so chucking together 10 or 20 puppies without doggy etiquette can be a recipe for disaster. It's like expecting a toddler to learn manners from other toddlers - they won't, they'll bicker and squabble, and without an adult to teach appropriate manners, it'll end in tears! You may find it better to approach a trainer who arranges puppy walks, for example my local trainer will put together a carefully chosen group of adult dogs and then allow only 2 puppies per group. She takes you to a local country park where she'll intercept dogs belonging to the general public and assess whether they're suitable for the puppies to meet. The puppies get experience of mixing with other dogs - the carefully chosen adults in the group, and then learn how to greet strange dogs without the risk of them being unsociable/rude dogs which may upset the pup and cause future problems. I think these are far, far better than out-of-control puppy parties. Sadly I didn't know this when I had a pup and I'm sure her puppy party caused part of her problems (though she was from poor breeding which I think caused the majority of her issues) as she was ganged up on by some rather rough-playing Akita puppies that weren't controlled by their owners or by the vet staff in charge.

You'll notice several references/comparisons to toddlers/kids in my post - it's a good way to think of a puppy IMO. Not that they're a child replacement, and they shouldn't be treated as such, but I think many aspects of training do fall in line with the way you would teach a child things. You don't have to stick a shock collar on a toddler or push their nose into their nappy if they have an accident and I think puppies deserve, and flourish with, the same kind of respect. I wouldn't use a dog trainer who felt otherwise and I wouldn't allow my family members to use punishment like that either.


Just thought of a resource that's semi-recent and may be of some use to you - the Dogs Trust and Kennel Club came together to produce the Puppy Plan, which includes a chart of what kind of things you should be teaching the puppy, what things you should be exposing it to, etc. and at what stage, a good guideline to follow The page "The Science" explains why it is so important, in regards to the stages a puppy goes through in terms of physically developing certain parts of the brain that affect how it perceives the outside world, and how it reaches a more naturally suspicious/wary stage as it gets older (so it is very important to expose it to things before that stage to prevent future problems)
http://www.thepuppyplan.com/

I do agree with you Caroline - (and yes, I do call mine a Sprollie, because I am always being asked what she is, and I am lazy! But she is a mongrel, and not a posh breed.) - but equally, there are lots of common factors that at least make them a general type, as the two parent breeds tend to have very defined characteristics.

As young dogs go, they are particularly hard work, being a combination of two high-energy, high intelligence breeds, with different oddities, which are quite often combined in a Sprollie.

Mine has had numerous trainers rolling around in despair and hilarity because she is truly the most crackers dog any of them have ever met (and all of the trainers at the club we go to have both collies and springers between them), and has a spectacularly short attention span

I love my dog, she is wonderful in so many ways, but equally she has been the most challenging pup/adolescent I could have ever imagined, bar none - and I have owned numerous breeds.