melinda10786

We are currently experiencing the same issue with our cocker puppy. Monte doesn't really like the car, its anxiety not so much motion sickness. We have found restricting his movements (harnessed in) and winding the windows down in the back, has worked wonders. He loves feeling the wind rushing through the car, and it seems to have had a profound impact on his car sickness. And we get plenty of looks when people see a cocker sticking their nose up in the air with the ears flapping :D Ginger biscuits were some help for a short period of time, as well as the juket tablets. We don't feed Monte at least three to four hours before a car trip. Also making it a really positive experience, so whereever we go its somewhere fun, whether it be to training, a play date or even to the vet (Monte loves our vet).

Monte's toys are in boxes on wheels, one upstairs (when not scattered from one end of the house to the other), one in the garage. There's another box full of toys in the cupboard in the garage along with his grooming stuff, old towels etc. Dry food is also downstairs in a big container. He has a shelf to himself in the linen cupboard, and I use cheap storage baskets that separate out the travel stuff in one (so leads, harnesses, walking belt etc) along with his flea and tick stuff, the other one has his treats in it. He has also a spot in the filing drawer for his vet stuff and other important documents. We're going away this weekend, and thank goodness for having stuff organised! Though his "suitcase" has more stuff in it then mine!

We found with Monte, he needed lots of things to distract him for the two weeks, so lots of toys to play with, things to chew, as he was limited with what kind of exercise he could have.. We did a fair bit of basic training to keep him mentally occupied when we were home with him. It doesn't seem to affect them greatly, its the keeping them quiet so they don't do any damage that's the hard part! I think you'll find you won't be allowed to feed Maui prior to the surgery, we were told to stop Monte's food at a certain time the night before (this includes toys that can be eaten if destroyed) and then cut his water a couple of hours prior to dropping him off at the clinic. Good luck!

I love my cocker spaniel, and have always had a bullmastiff (or two) growing up.. However I would love though to one day own a Finnish Lapphund or a Husky (the Spitz thread is truly evil, I constantly see just beautiful dogs in there!). I'd also love a Dachshund...

Monte (cocker spaniel) tends to attract the most attention from guys in their 20s-40s, my OH's friends are in love with him.. They have asked if he can be borrowed to assist in 'picking up'. However, Monte will pay particular attention to any female close to my age, to the point where he will literally prance as he walks, just to show off!!

We had the same thing with our cocker spaniel puppy. We were blocking him in at nighttime when we went to bed after we'd all trekked out for a toilet break, then he would go outside when my OH got up in the morning. Most nights he wouldn't go until the morning, or he would let us know if he needed to go out. We then decided seeing as we had a dog door that he quite happily would use during the day, we would train Monte to go out at night time if he needed to after we'd all gone to bed.. We ended up having accidents everywhere, as he didn't associate the door with access outside at night time to go to the toilet. And he ignored the door during the day too. So he was locked back in at night time again with toilet breaks before bed. We tried to the process again two weeks later after some re-training with the dog door, to get him to associate that going to the toilet outside didn't require all three of us to stand outside and watch. No point in getting upset, we were getting frustrated when he didn't work it out, and really over cleaning up, and then one day it just clicked.. A lot of positive reinforcement works, and just getting into a routine. Monte will still go outside at 6 because that's when I get home from work and used to take him out for a toilet break.. Same thing before bed and in the morning when my OH leaves for work. It takes patience and a lot of re-training to make sure he knew that he didn't have to let us know if he had to go (which was what he was doing at night time, the 3am wake-ups were a killer!).. Mind you, I still get the early morning nudges to let me know he's going outside but that I don't need to tag along!! Good luck!

What a fabulous idea!! I think that the families would appreciate the gesture, even the ones who aren't still in contact.

We had a fantastic experience with the breeder we purchased Monte from. After deciding on the breed we wanted, we emailed some of the breeders listed on DOL to just get some idea of what they were looking for from us, and what we wanted in a puppy. We didn't receive some replies from breeders but we expected that. We were lucky enough to get in contact with a breeder who lived 20 minutes from us, and was happy for us to meet the puppies at 3 weeks and chose which one we wanted, and then we did a second visit at 6 weeks to play with the litter. She was fabulous and answered all of our queries regarding the puppies and what we needed to do, let us play with her other dogs and gave us some fabulous information which we still use now! The saddest part in obtaining Monte, was the breeder crying when we left because he was the last puppy to go to his new home from his litter, so we felt guilty for adopting him!! But it showed us that this breeder truly appreciated each and every puppy. We are still in contact with her occasionally sending photos and updates, and she has never once denied us any information should we require assistance. We now have a lovely puppy who has become a well loved member of our family and our extended family.

I got told I had a very friendly poodle on my walk this morning.... Funnily enough Monte is a purebred cocker spaniel... Go figure!!!

Our puppy barks at his toys when he is in a really excitable mood... Especially when chasing his plastic ball that has little beans in it that rattles noisely across our floors. Other times you won't hear a peep out of him, just depends on if he's really wound up whilst playing. He does bark at our bin as well, but generally after we've put something in there He tried barking at the vacuum cleaner but we just ignored him each time and he's subsequently stopped doing it..

We have a cocker spaniel puppy, and our yard that he has to tear around in would be about 250 sq m (probably more, I'm not good at guessing!), he also has access to our garage when we're at work, which is the entire level under the house. I don't know if he sleeps all day, probably a good chance, but we just had new neighbours move in the other side of us with two staffy crosses so I would think there may be some exercise at least for the first week, sniffing at the fence line. ;) We also have dogs the other side, which he chases up and down the fence. We walk him a minimum of once a day in the morning for about half an hour, and my partner plays with him when he gets home from work for at least over an hour either playing fetch or chasing each other around the yard like mad children.. He does get two walks, morning and night on the weekend, and depending on what happens during the week, will get another one at night then as well. He also runs round the house like an idiot at night time effectively wearing himself out well before we want him to sleep!

my lovely puppy wasn't particularly cooperative for his first Christmas photo.. The pom pom on top of the santa hat is much more interesting!

When we had our puppy desexed a month ago, he had the tattoo done, and we were informed of it when we signed him in for the surgery. They told us it was compulsory for it to be done. (We're in Brisbane). His is a small circle with the line through it, its pretty tiny!

We were the same, we didn't like the idea of giving the run of the yard initially when our cocker spaniel puppy was little (just in case he worked out he could fit under the gate), but we had a dog door installed into our garage and he thinks its fantastic being able to run around the yard and chase birds, smell the grass and race along the fence with the neighbour's dogs. They hate being locked up for most of the day, much better to let your puppy have the run of the yard and a secure area inside where they feel safe.. And lots of toys! ;)