Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Marvellous news!
Shouldn't be counting my chickens but .....
- Thread starter David
- Start date
We have actually taken her on as a Golden Wedding gift to each other. Her colour gave us the idea. She is an absolute gift from heaven. The chances of finding a young adult like her must be almost nil. We both feel blessed.
Drugs and explosives. It was a slight loss of concentration on the latter that failed her - for obvious reasons!
- Location
- Canberra, Australia
So glad she’s come along.
Naya
Moderator
- Location
- Bristol, UK
I look forward to hearing lots about Poppy and how she settles in 
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Our neighbour up The Row is quite high up in the Scottish Police.
His last dog moved in with them when they were new to the village.
I think he jumped up on one of the kids early on and was sniffing pockets.
He told us his dog was a failed police sniffer dog and he was trained to sniff out money.
I think he was jesting, but it's still plausible
His last dog moved in with them when they were new to the village.
I think he jumped up on one of the kids early on and was sniffing pockets.
He told us his dog was a failed police sniffer dog and he was trained to sniff out money.
I think he was jesting, but it's still plausible
Congratulations David! Wonderful news.
Some years ago I did some volunteering for a springer spaniel rescue. I was invited to spend a day at a police sniffer dog training facility in Essex. It was really interesting to see what criteria were applied when young dogs were selected for training. From time to time the rescue would get a young spaniel in who showed all the qualities of a being trained as a sniffer dog. They had to be bold when it came to jumping up on furniture and not show any hesitation to jump on tables and worktops etc.
Some years ago I did some volunteering for a springer spaniel rescue. I was invited to spend a day at a police sniffer dog training facility in Essex. It was really interesting to see what criteria were applied when young dogs were selected for training. From time to time the rescue would get a young spaniel in who showed all the qualities of a being trained as a sniffer dog. They had to be bold when it came to jumping up on furniture and not show any hesitation to jump on tables and worktops etc.
This is potentially not good news.
It will take counter surfing to a new level. We thought we had success with Lady stopping her from running her nose along the kitchen tops but in reality all we did was teach her not to do it when we were in the room. 
I'll look out for paw prints on the surfaces.Actually it reminds me of a Small Black Dog story. When my first granddaughter was about 3 or 4 we were playing with Lady and I said she's really good at finding things with her nose. She'd just pinched a little metal car so I retrieved it and we hid it while Lady was out of the room. We let her back and set her off to find it which see did manage but with a bit of difficulty. I said that she's much better at finding kibbles. So I put the little car in the centre of the dining room table and we hid some kibbles around the room and set Lady off to find them. She promptly jumped on the table a retrieved the car!
David, a few years ago I was present when a young spaniel was assessed by a police sniffer dog trainer. We were all in the then owner’s house and the trainer was very happy to see the dog jumping all over the furniture and some kids’ playhouse in the garden with total abandon. He said that the problem with dogs that were given to a rescue for whatever reason had often already developed inhibition when it came to getting on to certain objects or surfaces just by living in a normal household. A successful sniffer dog can’t have any such inhibitions, it should have no no-go areas. It might be interesting for a while in your house until she has settled in 
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
I always thought Cassie would have made a good sniffer dog !David, a few years ago I was present when a young spaniel was assessed by a police sniffer dog trainer. We were all in the then owner’s house and the trainer was very happy to see the dog jumping all over the furniture and some kids’ playhouse in the garden with total abandon. He said that the problem with dogs that were given to a rescue for whatever reason had often already developed inhibition when it came to getting on to certain objects or surfaces just by living in a normal household. A successful sniffer dog can’t have any such inhibitions, it should have no no-go areas. It might be interesting for a while in your house until she has settled in
It's interesting reading your experience Heidrun.
- Location
- Isle of Man
She's beautiful. 
She is gorgeous. Can't wait for more photos.
Chewie's mum is also Poppy.This is so exciting, she looks lovely
I can't wait to hear how she settles in
Not that it's at all relevant, but Ella's mum is called Poppy
Atemas
UK Tour Guide
- Location
- North Cambridgeshire
I am really thrilled for you. She looks absolutely gorgeous
I am so very pleased to read this David! Of course I am a little biased towards red/yellow labs called Poppy... What exciting and WONDERFUL news!!!!!
Yellow is the new Black!
Picking Poppy up at 11.00 on Monday morning. The stuff that follows is me clearing my thoughts.
Check list of things to have in place for Monday
- Take photo ID plus proof of where we live.
- Insurance - in place.
- New lead (red) purchased.
- Collar (black) pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- ID tag purchased plus 2 spares.
- New dog bed - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- New dog crate - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Vet Bed - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Training line - purchased.
- Tugger toy - purchased.
- Tennis ball on a rope - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow
- Training dummy - purchased (well you can but hope).
- Dog bowls - already got them.
- Dog whistle(s) - already got them.
- Dog bed for back of car - already have it.
- Baby gates - already got them.
- Raise height of side gate into garden - in hand.
- Treats bags for training - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Dig out all the old dog towels - done.
I had a long telephone chat with my friend from the dog unit this morning. As I expected she will need a lot of time spending on her training-in normal dog habits and training-out her current habits. Fortunately, Ian lives just a short distance away and is more than happy to lend a hand if we think we are getting out of our depth. She has none of even the basic skills one would normally expect from a gundog. The three main things to start with will be greeting strangers, walking to heal, and not leaping on all the furniture.
For greeting strangers, the plan is to use the family as stooges coming to the house. Apparently arm them with a few kibbles and as Poppy approaches raise the hand over her head and push back which should make her sit. Reward with a kibble and then turn away.
For walking to heal it's kibble in hand at nose height where we want her nose when she's walking with us. Walk for a few yards and reward then repeat. Gradually build up the distance but apparently, she'll lose interest if we try to do this too far at first.
For not leaping on the furniture we appear to be on our own on that one.
Poppy apparently has a good recall using her name but only the very basics to the whistle. Start from scratch I think. I'll probably just stick with recall, stop, and hunt and see how we get on. She has no clue with hand signals.
We also need to work on bonding with her. Again kibble reward at first for making eye contact and showing an interest in what we are doing and being with us.
It feels like we've taken on a HUGE responsibility but maybe it will all be fine if we don't rush things by having expectations ahead of achievable results. She's been with a lot of different people during her short life to date, for example she's been working this week with a new handler just so she didn't have to sit in kennels waiting for us to come back from holiday.
Fingers crossed we are up to the challenge on Monday.
Check list of things to have in place for Monday
- Take photo ID plus proof of where we live.
- Insurance - in place.
- New lead (red) purchased.
- Collar (black) pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- ID tag purchased plus 2 spares.
- New dog bed - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- New dog crate - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Vet Bed - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Training line - purchased.
- Tugger toy - purchased.
- Tennis ball on a rope - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow
- Training dummy - purchased (well you can but hope).
- Dog bowls - already got them.
- Dog whistle(s) - already got them.
- Dog bed for back of car - already have it.
- Baby gates - already got them.
- Raise height of side gate into garden - in hand.
- Treats bags for training - pick up from Pets at Home tomorrow.
- Dig out all the old dog towels - done.
I had a long telephone chat with my friend from the dog unit this morning. As I expected she will need a lot of time spending on her training-in normal dog habits and training-out her current habits. Fortunately, Ian lives just a short distance away and is more than happy to lend a hand if we think we are getting out of our depth. She has none of even the basic skills one would normally expect from a gundog. The three main things to start with will be greeting strangers, walking to heal, and not leaping on all the furniture.
For greeting strangers, the plan is to use the family as stooges coming to the house. Apparently arm them with a few kibbles and as Poppy approaches raise the hand over her head and push back which should make her sit. Reward with a kibble and then turn away.
For walking to heal it's kibble in hand at nose height where we want her nose when she's walking with us. Walk for a few yards and reward then repeat. Gradually build up the distance but apparently, she'll lose interest if we try to do this too far at first.
For not leaping on the furniture we appear to be on our own on that one.
Poppy apparently has a good recall using her name but only the very basics to the whistle. Start from scratch I think. I'll probably just stick with recall, stop, and hunt and see how we get on. She has no clue with hand signals.
We also need to work on bonding with her. Again kibble reward at first for making eye contact and showing an interest in what we are doing and being with us.
It feels like we've taken on a HUGE responsibility but maybe it will all be fine if we don't rush things by having expectations ahead of achievable results. She's been with a lot of different people during her short life to date, for example she's been working this week with a new handler just so she didn't have to sit in kennels waiting for us to come back from holiday.
Fingers crossed we are up to the challenge on Monday.
Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Soooo exciting!
Of course you are up to the challenge - 100%!
Of course you are up to the challenge - 100%!
Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
On the not-leaping-on-furniture front, we put upturned stools on all the furniture we‘re not actually sitting on - so the pup’s habit becomes not going on furniture. It’s worked every time so far.
