Hello - soon to be new puppy owner

Hi All. I am new to the Dog Forums.

I had a beautiful English Springer Spaniel who sadly died a few months ago. I miss her very much as she was such a wonderful and loving dog.

We have decided to have a new puppy, another springer spaniel and our puppy is now 12 days old. Obviously she is with the breeder at this time and we dont have her home with us until February.

As its such a long time since I owned and trained a puppy, I feel is invaluable to seek lots of information and discussion about puppies and dogs and I shall enjoy reading the posts on this dog forum by fellow dog lovers.

I think puppy classes are perfect when you have little chap. I didn't have a chance because i adopted mine when he was 10 months old, but i think that's the best you can start with

Hi there!

I couldnt agree more! My little man is 7 months old and has been going to puppy classes since he was 11 weeks old and they have worked wonders with him! fabulous for the puppies socializing skills as well!

if you know of a local puppy class in your area go and see them first before signing you little pooch up. this way you can see for yourself what they do and whether the training methods used is something you want to incorporate into your own training with him.

Crate training is also a must in my eyes! we had Bear at 9 weeks and has slept in crate from day one. Its perfect for toilet training, leaving them alone when you need to pop out and time outs when they are little too over excited! also for when your doing the house work etc they have their very own little safe place to go to.

I cannot praise crate training enough! our little man loves his crate! when we go out he we stuff his kong for him so he has something to focus on whilst we are gone, which will help immensley and say to him 'in your bed' and he shoots off into his crate and sits there wagging his tail all excited waiting for his kong! once he has this he isnt even bothered that we are gone!

it also saves you the worry of coming home to a trashed house when you do start leaving him!

our little man Bear is still learning with a few things but in terms of training him from day one, this is going to sound very big headed but have done a grand job with him! he is perfect little man when it comes to his food, manners, toilet training etc and we put this down to his crate training and his fabulous class that we take him to. all we did is follow through with what our trainer has told us to do and it has worked wonders!

i am no expert but as my puppy is still only 7 months old i can help to certain extent but still very much in a learning curve myself!

all the best with your little man!

Sophie x

Aw how sweet a new puppy, lots of photos please, I hope you get to visit her at the breeders regularly until you get to bring her home :flowers:

Hi there,

Oh springers are lovely and lively dogs, I have a cocker spaniel myself and he is adorable, I agree that training is a great way to socialise, train and also to bond with your dog, my cocker 'Georgie' started training at 3 months and he is great at recall and commands, but still finds it hard to heal, I think that's a cocker thing though.

Bet you can't wait to get your new puppy. :- )