POPPY
Breed: English Cocker Spaniel
Colour: Red/Gold
Name: Poppy
Dog/Bitch: Bitch
Age: 9 April 2007
Neutered: No (spaying clause in release agreement)
Vaccinated: Yes
Chipped: Yes
Other Dogs: Good but a little boisterous sometimes
Cats: Inquisitive; possibly with careful introduction
Rabbits: Unknown
Sheep: Needs to be kept on lead until trained
Equines: Ignores (except barks at braying donkeys)
Children: Good with children over 10 years
House Trained: Yes goes to the door to get out
Lead Trained: Working on this.
Recall: Very good, attentive, comes to the whistle or voice, will sit/stay.
HISTORYPoppy is a puppy farm cocker, she was not KC registered. Poppy was due to be PTS for aggression by the latest in a long line of novice dog-owners at the tender age of 7 months (nipped a 4yo). She seems to have been sold or passed on many times, has been in 7 homes, had been undernourished for some time with a resultant lack of coat and bone growth; which was entirely due to the wrong type of food and being fed too few meals a day for a puppy her age.
ASSESSMENTPoppy is a typical puppy, mouthing and nipping as they all do, and probably also teething at the moment. Her aggression was due entirely to fear, a total lack of training, socialisation and a number of inexperienced or novice owners. Resource guarding ceased within a few days, I could remove toys, dishes and kongs without any challenge. Territorial aggression is only seen now with 1 of my own dogs and then only in relation to her crate. She didn't like anything being put over the crate at first or anything overhead (eg people walking on the upper deck of the ferry terrified her) but she seems to be less frightened of the unknown now, and I can stand over her crate without reaction. She is still a little frightened of shadows, but is learning not to be, again, from my own dogs.
Additional NotesShe is extremely fast, athletic, strong and agile, therefore I believe, ideally she would be best placed with someone for flyball, agility or obedience, as I think she will excel at one of these disciplines and would enjoy the active lifestyle and training. She has gained over 2kgs in weight since she arrived, has substantially bodied up, her coat is slowly developing and she now has good muscle development. She is very clever and quick to understand a command. Poppy has not had a season yet and will require to be spayed midway between her first and second seasons. She has been wormed (full course) and will be vet checked again before rehoming.
Poppy has been with the Spaniel Trust (Scottish charity registration SC038987) Isle of Mull, Scotland for a month of rehabilitation. Please pm or email me if you would like to offer Poppy a forever home and an active, challenging future.
