Dylan the dog

Apart from Covid i haven’t had time to write in my blog, as my partner has brought me a puppy, although the puppy is 7 months now but is growing quickly and fast. It has been work work work and puppy training for Dylan the dog, he is an ESS (English Springer Spaniel) as he is a very active dog, Matt and myself came on this earth not knowing anything about how to bring up a puppy, my grandpa had a dog but i would spend alot of time with the dog but we are talking 30 years ago.

Dylan has been the best animal into our life but also the hardest and learning so much from so many different people. We have to learn learn learn and everyone has a different way to teach so you have no curriculum to follow for dogs, so what one trainer thinks another might not think.

If anyone is thinking about getting a dog/ puppy a few hints and tips i have learnt.

1. Crate training is the way forward, gives the adult freedom and also give the puppy a sense of calm and their home, be prepared that you will be opening the door alot and taking the puppy outside.
2. Food, i was naive about the food quantities for a puppy, no one tells you how much they need, we underfed the dog at first, so try and work out how much a dog needs, it was 3 times a day at 100grams but could be less.
3. Keep it simple, keep sayings simple for the dog to pick up, they learn so quickly but you need to keep it simple such as when they need the toilet ours was ‘be quick’ but also make sure you are consistent.
4. We purchased so much and didn’t need half of it, dogs don’t need toys toys toys, they are not children or need to have x,y or z. We purchased this, that, this and that, meaning we spent spent spent. A dog is happy playing with a stick rather than an expensive 20 squid toy that you use a few times.
5. Get insurance. Dylan had a limp while he was growing and this cost us 2K in insurance, very expensive and is taking time for the claim to come through. So shop around, what happened 30 years ago isn’t the same as 2022 so make sure you pay more.