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Just got back from Toyota having done the deal on a new all electric car. I mean it's a nice car but common sense has gone out of the window. Pick it up in October. I've convinced myself that the availability of charging stations must improve and the cost of electricity makes it much cheaper...

It might be just the hot weather, but this morning no waggy tail greeting, in fact no waggy tail at all. She ate her usual breakfast and we walked earlier than usual because of the already very warm day at 07:00. She was very subdued. About half way round Pops dived into a muddy pool and then...

I've just been reading a nice article by Neil Oliver in the Scottish section of today's Sunday Times. He and his wife have two Irish wolfhounds and they have sent them away for a couple of days while some work is being done on the house. He describes the strangeness of the situation so well...

Wow! It's been nearly a month since our last training session. We were meant to be training tomorrow with a group but all sorts of things have worked against being able to spend any meaningful training time with Poppy. We were away for 3 days on business, followed almost immediately by a...

I think owners of spaniels must be superhuman! We've got our son's Cockapoo, Nina, for a week while he and his family holiday in France until next Sunday. We've only had her for a day and we (including Poppy) are exhausted. She's a lovely dog but never stops. Pops played with her lots but...

We are in Cornwall for a week and we've just arrived at our self catering cottage. We broke the journey yesterday and stayed at The George in Longbridge Deverill. A really nice very dog friendly Inn. We've stayed there before but not with the Pop dog. I must say she was very good; even in the...

Moss was a Lakeland Terrier. A tough little fellow. He was PTS last weekend at the grand old age of 16 years of age. Game right up to the end. I thought I'd post about him because his passing gave me pause (paws) for thought. One of the aspects of dog ownership that hit me pretty much as...

We took Poppy to a new level yesterday with mixed results but a lot of fun. The venue was changed from the nice safe square training field to an area of mixed woodland with a pond and adjoining open fields. There was another more experienced dog there too so Poppy could hopefully benefit from...

I'm sitting in the conservatory having my after walk coffee before starting work in the "office" which is all of 1 minute away upstairs in the spare bedroom. Poppy has toddled off now but up to about 5 minutes ago she was sitting next to me bolt upright looking intently out into the garden...

When I let Poppy out the night before last there was a big dog fox on the patio. I had no idea Poppy could move so quickly and the fox only just made it over the fence into the neighbour's garden. Fortunately, it decided on that route where there is a 6ft fence because the other direction into...

Breakfast routine We rise around 7 each morning. R goes down to put the kettle on and I go into the bathroom then get dressed. I go downstairs, pausing at the landing window to put my hand on Lady’s ashes (she's the dog before) and say good morning to her. There is a large photo of Lady as a...

It seems I'm the problem with Poppy's training. :rofl: It became very clear yesterday. We did some warmup stuff to get the Pop Dog focused. Walking between place boards and sitting on them. Sit stays while I walked off. All very iffy I'm afraid. Poppy was hard work. We tried a short retrieve...

I see that Poppy and I have been "at it" for just under 3 months. It's been great fun with bouts of deep depression thrown in for good measure. :facepalm: The challenge is to convert a 2 year old detection dog (failed - lack of concentration) into a passable gundog. Complete opposites in...

Lots of small steps needed! This is working out to be a big challenge. Poppy is 2 years old and has been trained to have all the wrong behaviours, pretty much, for a working gundog. She's been a free agent with no boundaries and where her huge drive has been encouraged to get her to go...

It was the last outing of the season today so by prior arrangement I didn't shoot, but took Poppy beating instead - woohoo! :giggl: She is pretty much completely untrained of course so I fully expected it to be hard going and on the lead all the time. Actually it proved a relatively...

We've already had a couple of one-to-ones with the trainer, but today we entered Puppy Class!! Two other black lab girls - one aged around 1 year and the other around 15 months. They had already had several puppy sessions. The two other dogs were very petite compared to Poppy (about half her...

Prompted by Beanwood's post "Working with Bramble" On the shoot, yesterday, the landowner asked me how I was getting on with Poppy and when would she be ready to bring out. I said I was aiming for the season 2027! :rofl: It's going to be a slow old path to being competent, I'm afraid. I'm...

Other than persisting and praising when she gets it right are there any tips on achieving a hold? Poppy has pretty much got the hang of place boards and not running in but it's early days and nowhere near solid but good progress. She waits for the release, retrieves, returns and sits but then...

I've just got back from a first assessment session with Poppy. I'd already briefed the trainer about Poppy's history so she was aware we were putting a whole heap of new behaviours into Poppy. All very good and the conclusion was I have a really good dog. No pressure then! We are assuming...

Poppy has a cut pad. Noticed just now she has a pronounced limp. On checking, the wound seems clean and no blood. I've applied some antiseptic. Is this a vet job or a just keep her quiet job would you guess?