Author Topic: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!  (Read 3786 times)

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Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #30 on: August 11, 2017, 05:13:20 PM »
Ha ha true to form our lovely little boy had a devilish moment while I was typing the last reply .http://cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/Smileys/classic/diablo.gif  (I'm working from home today).  I was only alerted by a strange howling and was greeted by a very apologetic Bad-Barnaby-Brown when went to investigate.

If someone can tell me how to post pics on here now that Photobucket's not playing ball,  I'll upload a pic of the scene that met me:-)))

J

Definitely need to elaborate on this  :D

Thanks for giving me a glimpse into a life with your cocker. What a laid back dude! I wonder if we include little-cocker into our normal lives and socialise early on then they will be used to people coming and going.

Yes, you've got me. Trouble is holding back and letting a but of time pass before we nose dive into a puppy at a chaotic time rather than a wise time... I think...

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #31 on: August 11, 2017, 05:17:25 PM »
Ha ha true to form our lovely little boy had a devilish moment while I was typing the last reply .http://cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/Smileys/classic/diablo.gif  (I'm working from home today).  I was only alerted by a strange howling and was greeted by a very apologetic Bad-Barnaby-Brown when went to investigate.

If someone can tell me how to post pics on here now that Photobucket's not playing ball,  I'll upload a pic of the scene that met me:-)))

J

Definitely need to elaborate on this  :D

Thanks for giving me a glimpse into a life with your cocker. What a laid back dude! I wonder if we include little-cocker into our normal lives and socialise early on then they will be used to people coming and going.

Yes, you've got me. Trouble is holding back and letting a but of time pass before we nose dive into a puppy at a chaotic time rather than a wise time... I think...

One last tip before you take the plunge  - standing in the garden at 3 am in your jimjams waiting for a  "wee wee" is best done in the summer months!!  ;)

Offline TheAdventuresofBarnaby

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #32 on: August 11, 2017, 05:28:12 PM »
Funny Jayne,  I was just thinking that the best advice I could give not to bring a puppy home mid-winter.

It set us back many months in the toilet training department and cost us a couple of carpets and two seriously scraped and chewed doors!


Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #33 on: August 11, 2017, 05:30:05 PM »
Duly noted...  :doh:

Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #34 on: August 11, 2017, 05:33:54 PM »
Ah! Also, any tips on kids playing with toys?! Is it a "if you want a dog it's play/keep toys in your bedroom time "

Offline TheAdventuresofBarnaby

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #35 on: August 11, 2017, 05:53:13 PM »
Our kids flew the nest a long while ago,  but there's one real advantage I can see of having a young cocker in the mix with kids.....   very quickly the kids will learn to tidy up and keep their stuff tidy,  our of sight and reach of the cockerdile :-)

Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #36 on: August 11, 2017, 06:16:58 PM »
Our kids flew the nest a long while ago,  but there's one real advantage I can see of having a young cocker in the mix with kids.....   very quickly the kids will learn to tidy up and keep their stuff tidy,  our of sight and reach of the cockerdile :-)

I see... every cloud!

Offline TheAdventuresofBarnaby

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #37 on: August 11, 2017, 06:18:55 PM »
Not sure this will work,  but here's a link to a couple of pics of our young offender

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131027281@N08/27U2pM

Hopefully you'll be able to see an ashamed Cocker surrounded by the spoils of his handywork on a once lovely little stuffed-dog doorstop.

It was hard to be cross with him with that look on his face :-) 

Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #38 on: August 11, 2017, 06:25:34 PM »
Well... it's hard to tell what it was (note past tense!) from the remains!

He looks a mix of "I'm so guilty" with "it wasn't me"...

Offline bmthmark

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #39 on: August 11, 2017, 07:54:56 PM »
Thanks bmthmark and moneypenny for your experience of family life plus a dog.

They both sound fun.



Slightly nervous about the cockerdile stage. Should I expect the worse and thank God if it's less then I was expecting? Bmthmark - was yours nippy?

Amazing advice about the crate and a puppy pen! What crate do you think would be a good idea to start with? I am confused by 24" or 30" advice! I was hoping to get a cover (I know it's a bit of an unnecessary expense, but I figure the crate will look nicer in the kitchen and provide a cosier den feel for pup!)

With regards to biting he did it a little bit when he was young but we were keen to encourage him to not do it. When he started we stopped playing with him and gave him something to chew on. We also told him no, he is very good now and he is very gentle.
With regards to the crate, I started off with the small one then replaced it at 6 months with a larger one.
I did use just a blanket but I've just replaced it with an actual cover (from argos).

As someone else said if you live near the beach the pup will love it as they seem to love water.

Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #40 on: August 11, 2017, 08:07:45 PM »
Thank you. That's really helpful.

In fact thank you everybody! What a cocker-mad but cocker-lovely community!

We do live by the seaside! I'm afraid it's pebbles though... is this bad? Do dogs like munching stones and shells!? Also SILLY question but when one let's their doggy go a dip in the sea - do they stay within safe distance and come back well?! This petrifies me! Am I gonna be doing a baywatch move to rescue my dog?!

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #41 on: August 11, 2017, 08:09:37 PM »
Not sure this will work,  but here's a link to a couple of pics of our young offender

https://www.flickr.com/gp/131027281@N08/27U2pM

Hopefully you'll be able to see an ashamed Cocker surrounded by the spoils of his handywork on a once lovely little stuffed-dog doorstop.

It was hard to be cross with him with that look on his face :-)

He's looking appropriately apologetic, I reckon he can be forgiven!! He really is a beautiful boy though, you couldn't be cross with him for long anyway!  :luv:

Offline bmthmark

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #42 on: August 11, 2017, 08:27:26 PM »
Thank you. That's really helpful.

In fact thank you everybody! What a cocker-mad but cocker-lovely community!

We do live by the seaside! I'm afraid it's pebbles though... is this bad? Do dogs like munching stones and shells!? Also SILLY question but when one let's their doggy go a dip in the sea - do they stay within safe distance and come back well?! This petrifies me! Am I gonna be doing a baywatch move to rescue my dog?!

From my experience jett was fine with pebbles. He ran perfectly well on them and never ate them. Tissues and rubbish was jetts favourite and when he is tired he is still partial to an old used smelly tissue (yuk)
Jett runs off in to the sea and only swims a little bit then runs back to me then in the sea (this happens probably 100 times :lol2:) he doesn't really go that far

Offline lilgingemama

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #43 on: August 11, 2017, 08:35:32 PM »
Yay! Also on a lazy day (for me!) a walk to the beach followed by dog whipping in and out of the sea sounds like a great plan!

Offline Arrielle

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Re: To cocker or not cocker, that is the question!
« Reply #44 on: August 11, 2017, 10:54:34 PM »
We don't have our ECS yet, but we'll bring one home in mid October.

What I want to say is based on my experience with our current dog. Make sure you decide upon some rules and stick with them. For instance,  if you find later on that you are not happy with the dog sleeping in your bed, will have a much harder time training him to sleep on his mattress than if you did it from the beginning.

In time I realized that I cannot sleep with our dog in bed (allergy and sleeping issues) and now she seems very depressed just because I put her mattress on the ground. I wish she has never gotten used in our bed and now I would not feel so guilty that she is sad.

Just my experience with our dog.
Good luck!