Advice re new Cockapoo puppy.

bohma said:

Hi all.
I will shortly be getting a 9 1/2 month old cockapoo. I should have had him when he was three months but because of the lockdown, this has not been possible. He is currently living in a home with two other dogs - one is his uncle and the other his sister. I'm not sure if this is relevant?

I'm wondering what problems I'm likely to encounter and would be grateful for any advice re coping with them.

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Finsky said:

At that age he should be now house trained..but as he is experiencing quite a dramatic change for his life with all the new surroundings and humans and everything really..and that he is now teenager..you might find that he will take little bit step back with this habits. There might be some toilet accidents to start with..he might feel very confused and scared..so take everything slowly, show him around, don't make huge fuss with if he is shy. Take him to his walks without forcing him to go places if he decide to put brakes on. You could even at first walk around house and garden with him on the lead, introducing his new home to him..letting him to have a good sniff and look around. Once you've shown everything to him (don't forget to talk it all through too so gets used to your voice, but keep it tuned gentle), let him eat and drink if he want it and let him then rest. Carry on with your things as normal and let him to keep eye on what is going on....he might want to investigate things further on his own.
At first it is mainly filling his basic needs, being there if he is interested to get involved with things and starting the daily routines..he'll get used to it, and you will get used to his too.
I would not expect any major issues popping up, but you never know with dogs..their minds are their own. Just take it gently and offer bit of play in house/garden and see if he is up to it and at the same time you can test how much he response to any commands like sit etc. As soon as he does want to interact with you, that's when you start getting there...one step at the time.

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JudyN said:

Do you know if the breeder socialised him well? If not, he might have missed out on this at a fairly crucial stage. Also, I think dogs tend to go through a fear period at around 9 months. So take it slowly, as Finsky has said, and be careful not to overface him with anything new and potentially scary (traffic, strangers, other dogs, balloons... anything). Make sure all experiences are as positive as possible.

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Hemlock said:

Find out if he has had any training. I suspect recall will need quite a bit of work. If he has been trained, ask what commands he knows - there is, for instance, a huge difference between telling a dog to get OFF the sofa and just saying DOWN which the dog thinks means 'lie down'. Amazing how many people get this wrong. Does he have specific words when owner wants him to pee or poo? Do they 'tell him off' or say 'no' all the time instead of showing him what is wanted? Remember he is a teenager and may be seeking boundaries and consistency.

It won't be bad. I took on a 9 month old - I was her 3rd home- and she was wonderful. We did have some work to do, but that's the case with any dog someone else has had first.

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Kirstysals said:

Hi there,

I had picked up my cockerpoo pup when he was 10 months old, that was 5 months ago. I didn't get him off a breeder, I bought him from a family home who were moving to a smaller place. So just wanted to maybe give you my experience as they're at such similar ages.

Freddie had extreme resource guarding issues, which was probably my main problem. He had not been taught out of the guarding and I feel as though he ran the house in his old place. When we went to meet him he was jumping all over the back of the sofas, carrying his ball around that he guarded, just being crazy with no calm. Not saying yours will be like that but there was a lot of training we had to put in with him because he didn't have the best training as a young pup. Don't get me wrong, he is such a lovely dog, but it took a good couple of months to crack out his guarding and he still has some behavioural issues we need to work on like his ball obsession and jumping up at people. Please just bear in mind this is the teenage phase and my trainer actually said to me that this is the worst age you can get them because of how rebellious they can be and they will be testing you, on top of being with new owners.

A lot of hard work over the last 5 months and he is much calmer (sort of) and is more well mannered. So I would definitely check what kind if training the pup has had, if any.

Good luck!

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bohma said:

Thanks. I hope I'm a bit luckier with mine

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