I have found a puppy at last!!

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

Is that Dylan in your pic?  He's absolutely gorgeous!  We have been out today buying a crate, a snuggle puppy, vet bed, a cuddly blanket, bowls and some toys.  I have also bought a clicker but can't make up my mind whether to just use my voice or voice plus clicker as I know I have got to be consistent.  I haven't used a clicker before.  What do other puppy owners do?

Might be worth getting a spare vet bed for when one gets soiled and needs washing. Mine was too big for the crate, so the bit I chopped off is almost big enough as a spare!
The snugglepuppy is Henry's favourite thing in the world - he chews it, plays with it, tries to hump it (grrrr), and then uses it as a pillow at night! The battery on it only lasted about 2-3 days, so don't expect much from the heartbeat...

I've never used a clicker - I use kibble for training, and my own voice plus frankfurter pieces for recall training.

Check out the Dogs Trust training videos for some great easy training tips (especially good for "down").

[maddy74]

I would say a clicker and verbal commands, worked a treat for Willow. Below is a link to a vid (previous thread of mine) of some early clicker work with Willow. 

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=93503.0

[jaybee]

I would say a clicker and verbal commands, worked a treat for Willow. Below is a link to a vid (previous thread of mine) of some early clicker work with Willow. 

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=93503.0

Agree with this. Actually, Maddy's video got me inspired and motivated for early clicker work with Bingley  he never reached Willow's level of success though 

[Joules]

I use a mixture - in fact I don't use a clicker much as I often forget to carry it, but it is brilliant when I do use it  

You do not have to stick to one method though - it is a question of what works best for you and your pup.   I think you can train your pup to understand voice/hand signals, whistle commands and clicker in due course.  I find voice/hand commands good when she is near me, whistle good for recall when we are out and about in the woods etc, and clicker for teaching specific behaviours eg sit, paw, roll over etc    The main thing with training if you ask me is, whatever methods you use, to be consistent  

Happy to show you what I do when you bring Molly up to play - just an excuse to get you here  so I can have a squish  

[CherryT]

Thanks Joules and everyone, that's really useful.  I have bought 2 vet beds, one for spare and I don't think what I have bought is actually a 'snuggle puppy', it is a soft fabric puppy that you heat in the microwave so they can cuddle up to it.  I also bought a puppy handbook by Gwen Bailey just to start me off (I have just ordered Jane's book from Amazon).    I was surprised at one bit I read: "the best age to take a puppy home is at about six to seven weeks.  If you leave it any later than nine weeks, the puppy will get less of the vital one-to-one interaction with humans....etc". Isn't that far too young to take a puppy away from its litter mates?  None o f the breeders I have spoken to would allow their pups to leave home before 8 weeks.  What do other people think of her book?  Molly will be nine weeks when I collect her so I will obviously have to a be a bit quick with the socialisation bit otherwise I will fail!

[piph]

Thanks Joules and everyone, that's really useful.  I have bought 2 vet beds, one for spare and I don't think what I have bought is actually a 'snuggle puppy', it is a soft fabric puppy that you heat in the microwave so they can cuddle up to it.  I also bought a puppy handbook by Gwen Bailey just to start me off (I have just ordered Jane's book from Amazon).    I was surprised at one bit I read: "the best age to take a puppy home is at about six to seven weeks.  If you leave it any later than nine weeks, the puppy will get less of the vital one-to-one interaction with humans....etc". Isn't that far too young to take a puppy away from its litter mates?  None o f the breeders I have spoken to would allow their pups to leave home before 8 weeks.  What do other people think of her book?  Molly will be nine weeks when I collect her so I will obviously have to a be a bit quick with the socialisation bit otherwise I will fail!

You won't fail with the socialisation - at 9 weeks there is certainly plenty of time left.  Your pup will carry on experiencing new things and people for a long time after that.  The only time it might become a problem is if the pup hasn't been in contact with any humans (puppy farm puppies might be a problem) but most good breeders socialise their litters from day 1. 

[CherryT]

Hi piphh - thanks for that. How's sweet Ozzy?

[piph]

Hi piphh - thanks for that. How's sweet Ozzy?

Sweet Ozzy is absolutely fine, he's as much a hooligan as he ever was!  We have taken to calling him ASBO Ozzy sometimes!  Losing an eye hasn't fazed him one bit! I still look at him sometimes and think what a shame he hasn't got two eyes to look at me lovingly (or otherwise!) with, but we've got over all the trauma now and are just getting on with things.  He was spoiled rotten in those first couple of weeks afterwards, and we sure are paying for it now!! 

[debbiedaywalker]

Is that Dylan in your pic?  He's absolutely gorgeous!  We have been out today buying a crate, a snuggle puppy, vet bed, a cuddly blanket, bowls and some toys.  I have also bought a clicker but can't make up my mind whether to just use my voice or voice plus clicker as I know I have got to be consistent.  I haven't used a clicker before.  What do other puppy owners do?

Yes that's Dylan in my pic, thank you, I love him to bits, I'm absolutely smitten. We got him at 11 weeks and he hasn't been phased by anything at all, taken absolutely everything in his stride. 
Can't wait to see pics of your little girl 

[Enzos Mum]

Congratulations! Such an exciting time - I remember counting the sleeps until Enzo came home! I went to see the litter at 6 weeks when he picked me out by barging through his brothers and sisters and snuggling up on my knee! 
His markings changed a little bit but I was sent lots of photos in between too!
Enzo is a blue roan - his coat got darker as it grew (and grew!!) but after his first cut at 8 months his white bits were back - his head markings, including a love heart shape on his top knot have stayed the same, just longer!
Can't wait to see your pictures!!

[CherryT]

Oh piph, just shows how deceptive some pics are!  He looks such a poppet, butter wouldn't melt etc!! I am longing to post a picture of Molly but we are both struggling on how to do it!  I went into the Help section, read the instructions and still didn't understand how to do it.  We must be really really stupid - if anyone can give me some idiot proof instructions, pls pm me! As I love seeing other people's pictures, they are such fun.  April (the breeder) says she is growing by the minute!

[piph]

Oh piph, just shows how deceptive some pics are!  He looks such a poppet, butter wouldn't melt etc!! I am longing to post a picture of Molly but we are both struggling on how to do it!  I went into the Help section, read the instructions and still didn't understand how to do it.  We must be really really stupid - if anyone can give me some idiot proof instructions, pls pm me! As I love seeing other people's pictures, they are such fun.  April (the breeder) says she is growing by the minute!

Ok, here goes!  You need to register with a photo hosting service like Photobucket - here's the link   http://photobucket.com/

Then you upload your photo/s to that. When you've done that, hover over the photo that you want to post and a white box will appear around the photo with codes underneath the photo.

Click on the one titled IMG code and the word 'Copied' will appear briefly in it's place. 

Now paste this code into your post on CoL. 

You can only do one photo at a time, and remember to put a line space between the photo codes otherwise your photos will end up joined at the hip!!  Try it in the Test Posts section first to be sure it works.

Hope this has made it a bit clearer for you

[CherryT]

Bless you piph, will try that!  (You were up late! - puppy watch?)

[piph]

Bless you piph, will try that!  (You were up late! - puppy watch?)

I hope it made sense - yes it was a bit late!  Not puppy watch, dicky tummy!  Felt a bit sick and knew I wouldn't sleep so got up for about an hour and a half.  Still took ages to get to sleep when I eventually went back to bed, so knackered today!

[CherryT]

Hope you feeling better today!  One and a bit weeks to go before we collect Mollie!  Thanks to your help we have (hurrah!) posted a picture at last.