Beagle / Springer Spaniel puppy

maggie110

bargainbird wrote: »

As for rescue dogs, have your ever tried when you have children. Well i can tell you the answer will be a big fat NO.

Sorry but this simply is not true,
Different rescues home in different ways, 1 of my springers is a rescue and she was homed to me with 3 kids and working part time it depends on what is best for the dog.

[/quote]Hence why people buy from other sources, when if the rescue homes actually bothered to do a home visit etc etc they would see who was/was not capable of having a rescue dog.[/quote]

I am sorry if you have had a bad experience with home checks but......
As a home checker for various rescues i take great offence at this sweeping statement we in the main volunteer home checkers go out of our way to attend homes to find the correct forever home for a dog we very hardly ever if ever claim our fuel costs back, complain about the time spend traveling back and forth, the fact alot of spare time is given up as it is our way of giving to the animals in need.

Yes, you absolutely need to limit how much forced activity a pup is getting until it's around a year, especially working breeds such as springers and labs which can end up suffering with hip dysplasia.

I agree 5 mins per each month of the dogs life is what i have always been told.
5 mins of mental exercise = 30 of walking there are plenty of things you can do to keep dogs mentally tired searching for items in the home is great fun as is making the dog search for its food (instead of feeding in a bowl scatter around the garden so it has to seek its food out) Also training basic sit stay etc mentally tires a dog.



IMHO all i was trying to do was to educate the OP on the pros and cons of owning a Springer pup and the various health and behaviour problems that can go with it (which the BYB never informed her of)

suki1964

bargainbird wrote: »

Nicki I would walk your dogs how long and how ever often you feel neccesary, ie lots of energy longer walk or i am being thick

We have 3 dogs, English Bull Terrier, JRT and Patterdale Terrier who all gone on a 2hr walk every day, However my brother who is a game keeper and yes he's got working gun dogs, keeps them locked in their kennels 24/7 and only come out during the shooting season.....

So Nikki your treat your dog how you see fit and enjoy him

That is such bad advice that it borders on dangerous !!!

Forced walking on young joints leave the pup at high risk of severe and expensive joint problems in later life with many dogs being destroyed because of the pain and suffering

And if noting, do not let your pup up and down the stairs as their hip joints are just not built for stairs


Your brother has working dogs, completely different kettle of fish. Here working dogs are also kept in outside kennels and are only ever worked,they arent pets and they are shot when no longer required (or given to the pound where they are put to sleep as they are never going to make pets)

suki1964

1sue23 wrote: »

If I had limited the amount of walking my springers got they would have gone insane ,how on earth do you limit the activity of a springer my youngest would have been bouncing off the walls, limited walking of a springer until one, no chance.

Its easy - you mentally stimulate them.10mins mental activity is worth an hours walking any day of the week

adandem

1sue23 wrote: »

If I had limited the amount of walking my springers got they would have gone insane ,how on earth do you limit the activity of a springer my youngest would have been bouncing off the walls, limited walking of a springer until one, no chance.

Sorry, I have to disagree with this. Perhaps this is why when the OP asked about Springers, she was advised that they aren't a breed to be taken on lightly

Playing games and mentally stimulating a pup can wear them out far more than physical excercise in my opinion, it also alleviates boredom so that they are calmer dogs.

Our dog does agility now and really has to think about what he's doing, he's more worn out after that than if we'd walked him for hours.

Milford_Cubicle

1sue23 wrote: »

If I had limited the amount of walking my springers got they would have gone insane ,how on earth do you limit the activity of a springer my youngest would have been bouncing off the walls, limited walking of a springer until one, no chance.

As I said, it's limited forced walking. For example, we're lucky to have the beach 5 minutes away, so when our pup is 12 weeks and able to go out, we'll use two of the 5 mins to get her to and from the beach. When she's at the beach, it'll no longer be forced exercise as she'll be free to run, stop, rest, walk etc. There's nothing to stop a puppy owner who doesn't have a large area a short walk away from hopping into the car/onto the bus and going down the beach, to the park, to a large grassy area etc. If someone isn't able to do this and can only go for walks around the block then perhaps taking a puppy on was a bad idea?

We do daily training with our puppy. It only needs to be 10 minutes per day, but already at 10 weeks she can sit, give paw, give other paw, lie down, stay and fetch. She understands her toilet command and also her recall command. Admittedly, some are more finely tuned than others, but the mental stimulation is stopping both her and us going insane while we wait for her to be allowed out on walks! She also has a Kong which gets stuffed with her normal food, another good mental and physical exercise.

Incidentally, this post isn't meant as a dig at the OP or anyone else, it's just generalised info for 'larger' puppy owners

GracieP

MrsTine wrote: »

Am I worried about my baby? No... I've spent the last 2 1/2 years training Kira and we have just the one issue still to overcome - dog aggression........................
As for the baby - the dog doesn't go upstairs so there will always be an area to get away from her - especially in the beginning whilst she acclimatises to the new baby in the house. I don't doubt it will be hard work but she'll be fine as will the baby Interestingly she adores kids, the younger the better and the younger they are the gentler she is. We have 2 god daughters and many of my friends have young kids so she's used to kids around the place and other than wanting to wriggle her way as close as possible she's lovely and calm.

I didn't mean worried so much in the sense that the dog would be aggressive toward the baby. I think only an idiot would plan a baby if they had reason to fear aggression from their dog. And I don't think you are an idiot.;)

When I was pregnant (for the whole 3 days I knew it) my husband was constantly worried about how I'd walk the dogs once I start resembling a bus, shortly after the birth and with the baby. I wasn't hugely worried as the dogs are actually much better behaved with me than they are with him, as they see me all day everyday and he is more of a novelty as he works such long hours. But while I was miscarrying I definitely couldn't physically manage them for several days, though luckily my husband was able to take time off work. So it's made me a tiny bit more apprehensive about what I'll be like in late pregnancy or post-birth.

Milford_Cubicle

GracieP wrote: »

I think only an idiot would plan a baby if they had reason to fear aggression from their dog. And I think you are an idiot.;)

Look!! Did you all see that?? GracieP called MrsTine an idiot



(just trying to inject some humour into this thread...)

MRSCARNEY

suki1964 wrote: »

Your brother has working dogs, completely different kettle of fish. Here working dogs are also kept in outside kennels and are only ever worked,they arent pets and they are shot when no longer required (or given to the pound where they are put to sleep as they are never going to make pets)

That is outrageous :mad: Our dogs are working dogs and many of our friends have working dogs but they are also members of the family.

I do feel that while posters on here are trying their best to give good advice and have the best interests of dogs at heart, some of the posts come across as very negative and that will only result in the OP ignoring them.

Springers are brilliant family members who love to be loved and will give you loads of love in return. As a Springer owner you need to have a good pair of wellies and lots of old towels and some good fields and woods near by where they can run off the lead safely (once you have taught them to recall).

Puppies bring their own set of requirements regardless of breed and time, love and patience will be required.

MrsTinks

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

Look!! Did you all see that?? GracieP called MrsTine an idiot



(just trying to inject some humour into this thread...)

LOL well I often am in fairness But usually a well meaning one

As for Gracie - I appreciate why you asked and I can see your points (and no I didn't think you were calling me an idiot ). When I get big enough to resemble a house (which will no doubt happen!) I won't be able to fence hop and it's a 10 min walk to and from the field - muddy and slippery.
I've already looked into what we'll do then and have a couple of back up plans which includes an additional short walk with the dog walker (DH doesn't do walks as he is usually away from home more than 12 hours a day... and in fairness this was always MY dog ) and thankfully I have nice neighbours. 3 of which will be happy to help me out should I need a hand One of which is a police dog handler so Kira would probably benefit from that!

We still need a few more sessions with our trainer before I get too big, but it's definitely not been a lightly taken decision and when we adopted her we always knew we wanted kids one day so knew the issues she had needed to be addressed from day one.

Bearing in mind that my parents have had dogs for long periods of my life, I used to walk friends dogs when we didn't and then ended up doing a lot of work with Rescues. DH grew up on a farm with working collies and his aunt bred Rotties which he used to fall asleep on in front of the fire... They'd just stay there till he either fell off or woke up and then toddle off if they were bored with him... So hence why one day when we have a big enough house and garden a Rottie is next on the list of additions to the family.
All responcibly trained Rotties I've met have been a joy. Including one owned by a little old lady... I swear that dog was bigger than her! But her kids bought it for her when she retired and her last working collied passed away... Much to her dismay... but having had collies she found the Rottie very easy to train if a little dim at times
It used to warm my heart seeing that little lady at training with a massive Rottie basically showing the rest of us how it should be done And I bet no-one would ever try and nick HER handbag :rotfl:

Big breeds are often much better suited to homes with kids in my view (so long as they are trained!!!). At one point I lived next door to 2 Old English Mastiffs.... one weighing in at 100kgs so not a small dog... And when they brought home their infant son NO-ONE was allowed near that baby unless they had been "approved" of... including the grandparents! Watching those 2 giants on the floor next to the baby keeing an eye on everyone else in the room was lovely... nothing aggressive, just clear body language that this was THEIR charge and until you got security clearance you weren't touching the bairn... But again, they had been trained very well because you can't control 2 80+ kg dogs if they decide not to listen, so you make sure they ALWAYS listen