Luca Has Turned Into A Little Devil

[Jane S]

Do any of you leave your cockers for a full day, next week i will be doing and I'm dreading it, how do you cope...... or your cockers cope?

You can't really leave a 6 month old puppy all day, especially one that is not used to being left & is still adjusting to his new home. Is there no-one you can ask to come in a couple of times during the day to take Luka out, play with him for a while eg a friend or neighbour? You need to build him up gradually to being left alone, short periods to begin with, then for longer periods but never for more than 3-4 hours at a time. He won't be able to hold his bladder for long periods & will get very bored and/or upset if left for long periods - remember he is still a puppy. Apologies if you have already made arrangements for someone to help look after Luka when you are out but it read like you intend to leave him all day

Jane

[PennyB]

I'd agree with Jane that its best if you can find someone to come in during the day to take him out for a walk if they can. Apart from their basic needs its very lonely for a cocker to be on their own each day.

As far as obedience classes are concerned he will try it on at this age but as long as you're listening and can keep up with his training in the future then that's OK. I took Ruby to do an intermediate class recently and she was the best behaved there but then she'd gone past the stage that Luca's going through now and so was now a lot calmer than if I'd taken her younger brother instead.

[padfoot]

I'd echo what Jane and Penny said, it's best to arrange for someone to go to see Luka if you won't be there all day. He will get bored and possibly frightened left alone.
Toby was 6 months when we had him and still very much a puppy.
The hyperactivity and so on are quite normal in untrained pups of this age. He will calm down when he has been trained more and he starts to settle into your family.
This must be a confusing time for him, he needs to learn your house rules and so on which could take some time.

Good luck, hope you manage to sort something out for when you're away from him    

[dillydolly]

crates are fantastic for dogs and when used properlly they actually become a safe place for them to go. I have to put zorro in his crate sometime during the day so i can get on and do some chores which would be impossible with a small pup around. Have you thought about getting a DAP deffusor (sorry my spelling is awful   ) ) , they are a plug in you get from your vets and they release Dog Appeasing Pheramones the same the mother would realease when they were really young pups to sooth her babies. I had one for our basset we had and it worked great for him instantly calmed him down and the other day i found my plug in so i got a refil from the vets last night and its now plugged in.

good luck dillydolly

[Birtles]

thanks for all the advice, its only been a week so maybe Im being too hard on myself and Luka..... but he was alot better behaved last week when we got him than this week, he won't even 'sit' now whereas that was easy last weeek, seems like hes rebelling and refuses to do anything we tell/ask him.
Im going to try and find a training class maybe a clicker class and try a few of those because he may need more stimulation than we are giving him, our lack of experience i suppose.  we've always had cats so this is all new to us, husband and Luka seem to understand eachother more than myself and Luka  
Jayne

oh forgot to ask, has anyone tried 'burns' dog food, if so what do you think? Have been looking into different dog foods, Luka is on W Beloved at the moment but has runs so wondering about Burns.

[Dog Mad]

Ive never tried burns so don't know, sorry.

However I use Autarky and find it is great for poor stomachs/digestion.  It is cheap as well, always a bonus .

I would say though don't keep trying to change foods, as his stomach will never settle.  I'd probably cut back on treats too, know its hard, but better in the long run.  

Debbie

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

We use Burns, and think its fantastic. If you go on there webb site they will send you some free samples.    How long has he been on JWB, and did you change him over gradualy?