Description
Hello!
I'm a super affectionate Show Cocker Spaniel who loves cuddling up to my owner or other visitor in the evenings, and during the day if I can get away with it! I settle well at home while my owner works from home in her office, and I can be found either sleeping near her or playing in the garden. If I know my owner needs a break, I'll take my football and drop it to her feet in the hope that she'll come and play football with me in the garden - my absolute favourite game. I'll trot around, run around, and let her pretend that she's playing football with me while I keep running off away from her - so much fun! Occasionally, I'll drop it so she can kick it for me, and I can run after it just to start the game over again. I also love playing tug-of-war with my toys and playing fetch with my tennis balls. I don't chew anything other than my toys, and chews I'm given. I've always been very good at that, though if there are any socks around, I might end up chewing a sock or two, so maybe keep those out of my reach!!
I'm crate-trained and completely house-trained, and I enjoy sleeping in my crate for a couple of daytime naps and overnight. I can be left for up to 2 to 3 hours while my owner goes out in the evening or during the day, but I've never been left longer than 3 hours. I would probably start to whine a little bit at that point because I do like company but maybe I could also be trained to cope for longer than 3 hours in the future. I'm also great in the car and happily travel for a few hours if need be. You won't even know I'm there!
I've been to puppy school and had training since, so I can do sit, lie down, stop, wait, fetch, drop, stay, come, middle, up, jump through hoops, and put my toys away – though I do get them out again 😉 I love learning new tricks and my recall is very good if I'm not distracted by other things. If I am distracted by other things, recall is very difficult for me as I can no longer hear you! For that reason, my owner doesn't really let me off lead when I'm out and about very often, unless she can see that there are no other dogs or distraction around, like one of our local fields. I'm sure I'll be able to be off-lead when I'm a bit older and calmer in new places aka - when my ears always work.
I’m not aggressive at all and love meeting and playing with other dogs, though I can get a bit carried away and need someone who can read that and step in. I don't resource guard and my owner can even get things out of my mouth if I grab something I shouldn't have - though I would appreciate a treat after for being so good.
I do get overwhelmed by new smells, new places, new dogs, new people, and that looks like overexcitement initially and then I'm pulling at the lead to try and get to where I want to get to. Because new environments are a lot for me to manage, my owner has been using a behaviorist trainer to help me manage this overwhelm. I'd love for this training to continue so that I can manage in different places and not be restricted in where I go. I just need someone who's strong enough to manage when I'm lunging, reassure me, and keep me under that threshold I often exceed at the moment.
My trainer has been taking me to towns and into shops, etc., to help this overwhelm mature. Although overwhelmed initially, after about 15 minutes, I can manage this with her patience and guidance. However, my owner has a neck injury, and I worry that I'm going to hurt her. I have pulled her over three times now as I am super strong and she isn't able to match me, so she can no longer manage my lunging and the patience I need to start getting my emotions under control.
As I’m an adolescent still learning to cope with my overwhelm, it would suit me best to be the only dog at home for now, so I have a calm environment to settle into and can properly unwind from the stress of being out and about - I can still socialise and play with other dogs out on walks, in other houses and at home but I do need somewhere to decompress.
As my current owner has an injury, that means she can no longer safely manage my lead-pulling, keep up with my training or give me the active, out-and-about life I need. She adores me and wants to find me a home where I can thrive with someone strong enough to keep training me and take me everywhere.
Ideal home: A family or couple or single person is ok but my walker needs to be confident and strong enough to continue my training to become calm around others and in new situations. So, this needs to be a calm and consistent handler who can give me an active lifestyle, preferably no other dogs in the home for now, or a calmer dog potentially would work. Just to add that if I've had a very anxious or overwhelming walk, then I can have a decompress day, and that's absolutely fine because I can just play in the garden with my football.
If you're looking for a super friendly cocker spaniel that will love you to bits, then I'm the dog of your dreams. All I need is someone who can help continue my training so that I can manage my emotions outside of my home, and wants a nice, calm, cuddly dog when at home!
Adv. ID:yRWlvmG3V