Tess goes to Obedience Classes!

It was always my intention to take Tess to obedience classes. There’s nothing worse than a badly behaved dog or child!!

Whether you train your dog yourself or attend a class it is imperative your pet is socialised with other dogs and understands some basic commands to ensure theirs
and your safety. Welsh Springer Spaniels also need lots of stimulation so as soon as Tess was old enough we went to puppy classes, which really start the socialisation process and teach them to interact with other dogs.

I then found a local class on a Saturday morning and couldn’t wait to get started. But the first hurdle was getting Tess into the car!

I have a small hatchback and so we brought a car guard with the intention of her travelling safely in the boot. No such luck!!!!! It was impossible to get her in without a fight and although everyone told us to persevere it was becoming a fraught and dangerous exercise, so next we decided she could sit on the back seat. Off we went to buy a seat cover and a safety harness. More expense! This also didn’t impress my little puppy. She didn’t want to get in the car and once forced in she writhed and wriggled and twisted her harness around her. At this stage I felt I would be trapped in the house forever, never to go out again. Whose idea was it to get a dog anyway?! But with gentle persuasion suddenly one day she just seemed to accept this was the way it would be and settled down.

So finally I made it to class and after introductions and explanations we started heelwork. This was totally alien to Tess whose main purpose in life is to play so having all these other dogs around her was like puppy heaven! Anyway we ploughed on and made it through the first class. Week Two wasn’t much better and a very badly behaved Border Terrier decided to pick on Tess constantly. He did have a muzzle on but by the end of the hour this frankly was an unacceptable irritation and not what training should be about in my opinion.

Before the next class I happened to ask Tess’s breeder for some advice on local kennels and grooming and she put me in touch with a lovely lady who breeds Welsh Springer Spaniels and has six of her own, so should know what she is talking about. By chance she also ran a class so after a brief chat I decided to take Tess along to meet her and we have never looked back. We have learnt so much and have such fun, meeting some lovely people along the way and, of course, their gorgeous dogs. Tess adores going and I swear looks forward to Tuesday evenings. We do heel work, sometimes off lead, sit and stay and lie down and stay, and our personal favourite, recall. For all sorts of reasons it is so important that your dog will come to call (or the whistle) and sit on command so this must be mastered. The feeling of pride when your pet successfully executes any of these commands is indescribable.

I know classes aren’t for everyone but the change in Tess has been immense. She loves to please and we have so much more control over her. Her understanding of what we want from her grows from day to day and it is such a pleasure to have her in our lives.

The highlight of the year was definitely the Christmas party. Yes even dogs have social events in their diaries!!!!! There must have been a least 20 dogs with owners attending, very excitedly! Humans had soft drinks and nibbles, while the dogs, bedecked in tinsel, had an agility course competition with prizes!

This was the first time Tess had seen such a course and she took to it immediately, clearing the jumps easily. And guess what? She came 3rd, bagging herself a big box of biscuits. One happy little puppy!

So guess what we’ll be doing in the Spring?
Yes agility classes here we come!!!!

When Tess Met Wilby or He's My Bruvver

When we collected Tess her breeder suggested we might like to be put in touch by email with the other new owners. I loved the idea but for whatever reason not everyone wanted to join in. Maybe they had busier lives or plenty of canine experience but I did strike up a new friendship with Wilbys owners and what a lifesaver that proved to be! Maybe it’s because we share the same name (and as we later found out, similar outlooks) or just because we both love to ‘chat’ but we started sharing stories almost immediately. As I’ve already said those early weeks were somewhat difficult at times. Tess is our first Welsh Springer Spaniel and we really were learning day by day so to have someone who was going through the same experiences, mostly frustrating ones, is what kept me sane. We were soon chatting everyday and both puppies were equally challenging to say the least! As soon as one did something naughty the other matched it! Could it be telepathy we wondered!! But often when one of us was having a particularly bad day the other had a puppy that was behaving (well almost!) and we could give each other support and hope!!

Such was our new friendship we finally decided our puppies should meet. Would they recognise each other – would they even like each other?

We live opposite sides of the M25 so we had to pick a suitable meeting place. As Tess hadn’t done any long journeys and Wilby was well travelled we decided to meet at our house. The day dawned and it was a particularly hot one. Good – the pups could meet in the garden. No harm could be done as Tess had already wrecked it – Welsh Springer Spaniels love to garden! We waited excitedly for our new friends to arrive – I just knew from our emails that we would all get on but would the pups? No worries there! They went completely mad, racing round and round the garden and play fighting. Definitely sibling love!

We went off to our favourite walking spot, The Magog Downs, in the hope of wearing them out. No such luck! The excitement carried on all day but it was a huge success both for dogs and owners so we couldn’t wait to do it all over again! So much so, that we repeated the experience in November to celebrate their first birthday. This time it was our turn to do the journey and Tess was a dream, sleeping nearly all the way, only this time we had completely different weather – wet and muddy making our walk interesting. I swear the Welsh Springer Spaniel loves to be as dirty as possible. Pass a muddy puddle and they're in there!

Tess and Wilby obviously adore each other and we are convinced they know they are brother and sister so we had another successful day. Good food and company, plus a bottle of bubbly to celebrate making it through the first year amid tears and laughter, helped.

And the icing on the cake was exchanging birthday presents and treating our pups to their very own birthday cakes, made by Wilby’s mum, out of giant boneos, cheesey icing and doggy choc drops. Yummy! Who says our dogs are spoilt!

After such a busy day we ended up with two very sleepy little bundles and grown ups already planning the next adventure.
Watch this space…………………………..

Visit to the Vet

Friday was ‘vet’ day. Not our favourite outing anymore.

When we first brought Tess home we booked an introductory visit to our local vets. Our breeder had already had a vet check and gave us a signed declaration of Tess’s fitness but it was nice to meet our vet and introduce him to our new addition. Thankfully both loved each other. Everyone adores a puppy so a huge fuss was made of her with lots of cuddles and treats and she lapped it up, they don’t see many Welsh Springer Spaniels at this practice. First hurdle over!

Puppies do have a certain immunity from their mothers in the early weeks so we took Tess back to the vets for her first inoculation at about 9 weeks, then the follow up at 12 weeks. We still had a happy puppy at this stage. We had a couple more trips over the next few months. Once when we were worried about her weepy eyes (new owners tend to over react I guess!), then again when she swallowed a large piece of balloon, which terrified me. Puppies will put anything and everything in their mouths so you must be vigilant. I panicked and rushed straight round to the vets who promptly gave her an injection which brought the offending article up quicker than it went down!!!!! Panic over! While Tess was being sick in one surgery a very naughty English Springer was doing the same next door after eating something very poisonous from the owners shed. The delights of life with a dog!

Quite when Tess decided she’d had enough of visiting the vet I’m not sure but suddenly she’d run in excitedly, realise where she was and head straight for the door. Quite comical to see! Maybe she remembered being left there all day when she was spayed at 6 months (Yes, before her first season but as advised by the vet!) or perhaps there’s a smell that dogs associate with negative feelings – a bit like us going to the dentist! Whatever it is we’ll never know but she suddenly decided she wasn’t going there without a fight in the future. So last Friday was a challenge. She didn’t even want to leave the safety of the car! Thank goodness we were first in. Sadly our lovely vet was away so a locum administered her annual booster (while shaking and cuddling up to me) and gave her a check over. All was fine and we left as quickly as we had arrived and went straight for a long walk to take her mind off her ‘ordeal’.Till the next time…………..

Photo's

Have found a great blog which has got loads of pictures of Welsh Springer Spaniels, do have a look. http://www.flickr.com/groups/welshies/pool/

Tess sees snow for the first time

Tess our Welsh Springer Spaniel had her first experience of snow today and absolutely loved it. She kept asking to go outside and on her walk she came across some children building a snowman and wanted to help!

In typical Welshie style she just bounced around, chased the snowflakes and had great fun trying to catch the snowballs.

Cheapest Toy

Well Tess has been a typical Welsh Springer Spaniel and has decided she does not need her "toys" any more. Why? because she has decided that an old pair of sports socks, one stuffed into the other is much more fun.

She has been chewing them, shaking them around as though trying to kill them and then thowing them up into the air and barking at them as if they were misbehaving.

It just goes to show that a Welsh Springer Spaniel is very capable of making up its own games and having fun, now where are my other pair o socks!

Walks with Tess

Well injections, worming and flea treatments all taken care of. Now we can venture into the big wide world!

First stop Puppy Classes run by our vets. Socialisation with other dogs is so important so we enrol immediately. For such a feisty outgoing pup she behaved very unexpectedly, creeping into class she hid under my chair and left a puddle on the floor. She was the biggest puppy in the class but seemed to have lost all her bravado. Week two was a different matter – definitely our Tess – bold and cheeky, chasing all the other pups around. And by week three she was in charge having lots of fun. These classes are a great way to introduce your puppy to the outside world in a controlled environment and the girls who run them are full of useful tips.

So the next hurdle was to go out for a walk. We headed to our local park and on the advice of my sister let her off her lead. Very scary, but the best advice possible. I was terrified and intended to keep her on a lead until her 10th birthday but you must be brave. Puppies are very nervous and keen to stay close to you for safety so couple this with recall training and a tit bit reward when they respond and you can’t go wrong can you???? Distractions are the biggest problem as puppies do have selective hearing so beware of anything more interesting than you!!!! Which lets face it to a pup is everything!!

Tess quickly met other local dogs and would happily play all day if we let her. Remember the rule – 5 minutes exercise for each month of your puppy’s age in the early months. You don’t want to overwork them at too soon. She also fell in love for the first time (but not the last – she’s very fickle!) Her first love was Sam a very handsome English Springer Spaniel just a little older than her. She was immediately smitten and would chase him all over the park. Very touching and comical to watch. This is what I meant by something more interesting than me!!!

But as Tess grew in size and confidence the park was not enough. Luckily we live close to a dog owners paradise – The Magog Downs. Now Cambridge isn’t known for its hilly terrain but this is a super area for walkers, joggers, kite flyers and especially dog walkers. It has hilly downs surrounded by wooded areas (a favourite haunt for a Welsh Springer Spaniel) all circled by a 3 mile fenced dog walk, a totally safe environment for even the naughtiest dogs. Once we’ve completed our walk we end up in the dog play area, another fenced field specifically for dogs to roam off the lead.

Not only does Tess have a large number of ‘best friends’ but so do I which adds another dimension to my dog owning life. We meet owners with every breed imaginable from Labradors and Retrievers, Spaniels and Terriers of all kinds to more unusual breeds such as Vizsla, Rottweilers, Deerhounds, Lurchers and Pointers. It really is a doggy heaven!! Tess’s favourites (and mine) include a darling little border terrier, a puppy Labrador and Retriever and an English Springer Spaniel and her latest love, Flash, an English Pointer. They are besotted with each other despite the size difference. Some days we don’t even manage our walk as we all converge in this area and they all chase balls and Frisbees and each other round and round until we are dizzy watching them play. Once again a super way to socialise the dogs and such help for me swapping stories with the other owners and getting advice from those who have had years of doggy experience.

Dog owners are such nice people!!