Hello, New member here. We are James and Monty (Monty's the dog!). I know this is The Labrador Site, but I'm afraid to say Monty is an English Springer Spaniel (gasp!). Both of Pippa's books have been our Bible and an absolute godsend, so much so we have two copies of each so I can highlight sections in one to quickly refer back! Monty is 12.5 weeks today ("happy birthday to you...") and great fun. He's so eager to learn, it's frightening! Hopefully you can overlook the lack of Labrador, and the "Montsta" and I are looking forward to receiving some great snippets of advice and tips from the more experienced of you on this forum. James and Monty
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hello! Welcome! Spaniels are very, very welcome here - as indeed are any dogs.
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Thanks, I'll tell Monty he doesn't have to dye his hair and tie his ears up after all!
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hello and welcome from me and my two 7-month-old bundles of mischief. There are plenty of spaniels of different persuasions here; it seems the labs and the spangalese (what my sister calls her cocker) go paw-in-paw. I've never personally known an ESS puppy, so all I can say is, good luck ;D ;D
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Welcome James and Monty, from us, Hattie 7 years and our rescue boy Charlie 4 years. Hope you enjoy the forum. Helen x
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hello from me and my four spaniels, two of them are ESS. ;D Hope you enjoy the forum and looking forward to seeing some photos of Monty! ;D
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Thanks for the kind welcome. I'll try and get some pics of the Montsta up shortly. See you on the forums
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hi and welcome from me and Obi Hope you really enjoy being part of the forum!
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hi from me and Molly. Love springers - my first dog as an adult was a rescue Springer. Wonderfully gentle, very energetic!
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hello and welcome! Think you have to prove Monty is really a suitable candidate for the lab site by showing us a photo I always feel spaniel owners are a lot braver than me. Maybe it's just Hiedrun's stories that make me think that Jac. ..first time dog owner to 4&10/12ths year old Lilly.
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Hi and welcome from me and my two labs. My son has ESS, though, lovely dogs. You can imagine the chaos when they're all together!
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Let's see if I can do this photo thing... Wow, it works! Sorry it's so huge though!?
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Oh no, oh no... You are NOT allowed to put such beautiful photos up! What a gorgeous pup!!! Welcome to the forum from Poppy and me.
Re: Hello from Monty and me! Thanks all, I'm a very proud father!! [quote author=heidrun link=topic=10166.msg149106#msg149106 date=1426235372] Oh, he is beautiful! Will you be doing gundog training with him?[/quote] Absolutely. He will love it and I really think he needs it to keep his brain working. It's funny how most people respond to you saying you're getting an ESS: "ooh, you're brave" or "my friend had one of those and it destroyed the house" and the classic "you're going to have to walk him 23 hours a day"! It's so nice when they see him now and he is so well behaved and sensible ;D (only seems to be when we're out or when guests come over - he certainly has his frantic nightmare moments!). It's been EXTREMELY hard work! We knew we were getting a handful of a dog, but were prepared for it. Or so we thought. Even going in eyes wide open, we COMPLETELY underestimated how tough it would be. Those first couple of weeks... oh... my... god...! BUT... it's all paying off. He's a delight (except he did just steal and eat a cat poo from the litter tray!) We've just started puppy starter classes for basic obedience and in the background I've already worked on most and especially a really strong recall. He's enrolled in Agility which starts in a couple of weeks and once he's got the basics down, we'll I'll get him to a proper gun dog trainer. I'm lucky that I work from home mostly. I really don't get how people can lock them away for 8-9 hours a day. No wonder they're loopy! I've LOVE to do proper field trials with him, but I'm not keen on the killing part His daddy is a champ Field Trials dog. His mum is a bit more chilled, so I expect he'll be somewhere inbetween. We hope! James & stinky-cat-poo-breath
Re: Hello from Monty and me! [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10166.msg149122#msg149122 date=1426237780] It's been EXTREMELY hard work! We knew we were getting a handful of a dog, but were prepared for it. Or so we thought. Even going in eyes wide open, we COMPLETELY underestimated how tough it would be. Those first couple of weeks... oh... my... god...! BUT... it's all paying off. [/quote] Oh, I'm with you there! I'd read so much information, Pippa's books, got the house prepared... I really thought I had all bases covered. But nothing - NOTHING - prepares you for actually having that little bundle in your house and disrupting your life! [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10166.msg149122#msg149122 date=1426237780] I'm lucky that I work from home mostly. I really don't get how people can lock them away for 8-9 hours a day. No wonder they're loopy! [/quote] I met someone the other week who has a cocker x springer puppy who is destroying her house. She said, "He can't possibly be bored, he gets two 45minute walks a day!". Um. Yeah, OK. [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10166.msg149122#msg149122 date=1426237780] James & stinky-cat-poo-breath [/quote] ;D ;D ;D
Re: Hello from Monty and me! He's really beautiful Sounds like you are all having a lot of fun Do they have a special introductory Agility class for puppies where you are? At our club dogs are not allowed to start till a year old, so their joints are developed enough - but at that point they do start on the full sized equipment. There are a lot of things that you could introduce a pup to though, like baby weave poles and tunnels, that don't involve jumping.
Re: Hello from Monty and me! [quote author=Oberon link=topic=10166.msg149152#msg149152 date=1426241819] He's really beautiful Sounds like you are all having a lot of fun Do they have a special introductory Agility class for puppies where you are? At our club dogs are not allowed to start till a year old, so their joints are developed enough - but at that point they do start on the full sized equipment. There are a lot of things that you could introduce a pup to though, like baby weave poles and tunnels, that don't involve jumping. [/quote] I assume so. My wife has arranged it and will be doing it with him. The trainer knows his age, so I guess it'll be appropriate. There was another pup at Puppy Classes who was starting it at the same time. I think there's only 6 of them doing it, and all pups.
