Winter has arrived people!
Bring on the snow I say at least then everything is pretty.
The words 'drowned' and 'rat' spring to mind - and I didn't fare much better but I wont be putting any photos of me that early in the morning on here!
Monday, 8 November 2010
Cold wet and windy
Today has been the first time we've been out for our early morning walk and the weather has been truly horrid. Up 'til now yea it has been cold, or wet or windy but not all at the same time! Needless to say our walk at 7am this morning was not a long one.
Winter has arrived people!
Bring on the snow I say at least then everything is pretty.
The words 'drowned' and 'rat' spring to mind - and I didn't fare much better but I wont be putting any photos of me that early in the morning on here!
Winter has arrived people!
Bring on the snow I say at least then everything is pretty.
The words 'drowned' and 'rat' spring to mind - and I didn't fare much better but I wont be putting any photos of me that early in the morning on here!
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Long Overdue Post
Apologies for the long overdue post but juggling the children, husband, dog, house and everything else has taken its toll!
We finally managed to complete our 3 day intensive gundog training a few months ago - what an eye opener that was! By that I mean my eyes were opened to how much hard work it is to train a gundog!
We spent the first two days at Paul's (the trainer) gun club. Paul is a man of infinite patience both with animals and humans and he took us through basic obedience and some simple retrieves.
Jynx on the whole did very well the only real indiscretions were running of while we were trying to perform a recall from a distance (in her defence it was sweltering hot and she ran off and jumped into a pond but she did come back after she had cooled down) and making off with Paul's dummies (she was especially partial to the duck shaped one and was happily careering around the fields with her trophy for a good ten minutes or so).
By the end of the first two days Jynx had walked beautifully to heel on a short lead, on a long lead and off the lead, she had performed sit stays and recalls and simply retrieves on a long line. We also taught her that the lead coming off is not an invitation to disappear off in the wide blue yonder as fast as you can. We also discovered that she has a quite severe seperation anxiety when it comes to me (this is something I was aware of but not to the degree that she displayed it during those two days - whether this was just to do with the unfamiliar surroundings I'm not sure but we have continued to work on this at home since the training).
On the third day Paul came to our house to work with Jynx's prey drive - mainly her obsession with the chickens - Paul was able to get her to back off the chicken run and also sit quietly next to one of them it was amazing to watch but unfortunately not something I have been able to recreate since! The nearest we have got is that she ignored one of them when it jumped over the fence not realising she was there - Jynx did have her mind on other things at the time she was busy devouring a slice of bread I had left out for the birds so I think it was just the chickens lucky day.
So since the training I have continued to do all the right things to curb her separation anxiety and we have a short training session everyday in the park or back garden, but she gets bored and is very easily distracted (a clear case of a dog taking after her owner!). We have good days and bad days and things have not be helped by the fact that she came into season and we have had to deal with all that entails. Thank goodness its over now and the hormones are settling down. (Both hers and mine!)
We did very briefly in the early days think it might be nice to let her have a litter - that madness lasted about a week - she is already booked into be spayed in February!
We finally managed to complete our 3 day intensive gundog training a few months ago - what an eye opener that was! By that I mean my eyes were opened to how much hard work it is to train a gundog!
We spent the first two days at Paul's (the trainer) gun club. Paul is a man of infinite patience both with animals and humans and he took us through basic obedience and some simple retrieves.
Jynx on the whole did very well the only real indiscretions were running of while we were trying to perform a recall from a distance (in her defence it was sweltering hot and she ran off and jumped into a pond but she did come back after she had cooled down) and making off with Paul's dummies (she was especially partial to the duck shaped one and was happily careering around the fields with her trophy for a good ten minutes or so).
By the end of the first two days Jynx had walked beautifully to heel on a short lead, on a long lead and off the lead, she had performed sit stays and recalls and simply retrieves on a long line. We also taught her that the lead coming off is not an invitation to disappear off in the wide blue yonder as fast as you can. We also discovered that she has a quite severe seperation anxiety when it comes to me (this is something I was aware of but not to the degree that she displayed it during those two days - whether this was just to do with the unfamiliar surroundings I'm not sure but we have continued to work on this at home since the training).
On the third day Paul came to our house to work with Jynx's prey drive - mainly her obsession with the chickens - Paul was able to get her to back off the chicken run and also sit quietly next to one of them it was amazing to watch but unfortunately not something I have been able to recreate since! The nearest we have got is that she ignored one of them when it jumped over the fence not realising she was there - Jynx did have her mind on other things at the time she was busy devouring a slice of bread I had left out for the birds so I think it was just the chickens lucky day.
So since the training I have continued to do all the right things to curb her separation anxiety and we have a short training session everyday in the park or back garden, but she gets bored and is very easily distracted (a clear case of a dog taking after her owner!). We have good days and bad days and things have not be helped by the fact that she came into season and we have had to deal with all that entails. Thank goodness its over now and the hormones are settling down. (Both hers and mine!)
We did very briefly in the early days think it might be nice to let her have a litter - that madness lasted about a week - she is already booked into be spayed in February!
Monday, 12 April 2010
Today I acquired my first dog walking injury.
Not bad seeing that I am very accident prone and tend to fall over at any given opportunity.
We were out on our way over to see Tony the horse when we met a fellow dog walker she informed me that Tony was being particularly frisky this morning and had chased after her and her dog, and that the farmer had moved cows into the fields we normally walk through.
So rather than run the gauntlet of an over amorous equine and a herd of unruly bovines I decided to walk through an adjacent field all went well at first, Jynx had great fun sniffing out the rabbits and generally running around, on the way back we walked passed a gap in the fence which lead over the stream so I thought we could take this route for a change.
Big mistake - huge. Everything went well until I slipped while crossing the stream I instinctively reached out to save myself but the only thing around was a thorny bush which also had razor wire wrapped around it - luckily the wounds are superficial but still very sore.
The worst thing was that when I slipped I yelled out in shock and it must have frightened Jynx cause she ran off, she came back but I think she was a bit shocked and I couldn't get hold of her for a bit so I was stood in the stream dripping blood trying to get her to come to me - good job no-one was passing!
Not bad seeing that I am very accident prone and tend to fall over at any given opportunity.
We were out on our way over to see Tony the horse when we met a fellow dog walker she informed me that Tony was being particularly frisky this morning and had chased after her and her dog, and that the farmer had moved cows into the fields we normally walk through.
So rather than run the gauntlet of an over amorous equine and a herd of unruly bovines I decided to walk through an adjacent field all went well at first, Jynx had great fun sniffing out the rabbits and generally running around, on the way back we walked passed a gap in the fence which lead over the stream so I thought we could take this route for a change.
Big mistake - huge. Everything went well until I slipped while crossing the stream I instinctively reached out to save myself but the only thing around was a thorny bush which also had razor wire wrapped around it - luckily the wounds are superficial but still very sore.
The worst thing was that when I slipped I yelled out in shock and it must have frightened Jynx cause she ran off, she came back but I think she was a bit shocked and I couldn't get hold of her for a bit so I was stood in the stream dripping blood trying to get her to come to me - good job no-one was passing!
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Another fun packed walk this morning Jynx has discovered the reservoir we walk around has birds floating on it.
I'm talking about a cygnet that has taken up residence on the water, he is the only one there so he must get lonely but he can fly so I'm sure he would leave if he was unhappy.
Anyway Jynx decided to have a little paddle this morning and ended up going a bit deeper than she intended the w
ater must have been freezing as she had a shocked look on her face as she bobbed up from her dunking. All the splashing must have caught the swans attention and he decided to swim over for a closer look. This encouraged Jynx to bound into the water again and what ensued was a game of tag with Jynx splashing in after the swan and him swimming away hissing madly.This continued
for a few minuets until I thought I'd better get Jynx home and dried off. At least I know she won't be water shy!
Training wise she is starting to sit on the whistle command occasionally and I have had to resort to putting her onto the extending lead when throwing her rabbit skin ball as she does not want to give it back when she gets it and runs off around the garden wanting to be chased! So we will keep practicing every day until we get it right!
I'm talking about a cygnet that has taken up residence on the water, he is the only one there so he must get lonely but he can fly so I'm sure he would leave if he was unhappy.
Anyway Jynx decided to have a little paddle this morning and ended up going a bit deeper than she intended the w
ater must have been freezing as she had a shocked look on her face as she bobbed up from her dunking. All the splashing must have caught the swans attention and he decided to swim over for a closer look. This encouraged Jynx to bound into the water again and what ensued was a game of tag with Jynx splashing in after the swan and him swimming away hissing madly.This continued
for a few minuets until I thought I'd better get Jynx home and dried off. At least I know she won't be water shy!Training wise she is starting to sit on the whistle command occasionally and I have had to resort to putting her onto the extending lead when throwing her rabbit skin ball as she does not want to give it back when she gets it and runs off around the garden wanting to be chased! So we will keep practicing every day until we get it right!
Monday, 5 April 2010
What a busy Bank Holiday weekend we have had!
Saturday was a quiet start and DH let me sleep in a bit and took Jynx out. We went to Ikea to look for bedroom furniture for number one son as his bedroom is next on the list for redecoration. Lucky for her Jynx got to stay behind and look after the house during this shopping trip.
On Sunday we all got up early me to take Jynx out for our walk and DH to cook a lovely breakfast that was waiting for me when I got home! We went to see Tony on our walk and he was lying down having a nice rest. Jynx has started to eat his poo if she gets the chance so I try to make sure we walk through his field as quickly as possible so she doesn't get the opportunity - dogs are so disgusting!
After a lovely breakfast we all (including Jynx, my sister and we met some friends and their children there) headed off to Castle Ashby for an Easter Egg Hunt which was brilliant the kids had a great time running around in the fresh air. Jynx also had great fun trying to help the kids collect the plastic eggs and she got to meet the Easter Bunny, she behaved beautifully although we didn't let her off the lead as it was muddy and she would have jumped up at everyone with dirty paws.
When we got home she played with number one son while number two son had his lunchtime nap, when he woke up we headed off to the pub to meet some friends. Jynx became the centre of attention which off course she thoroughly enjoyed. Someone even offered us 1000 quid for her, how serious they were I'm not sure. Not that we would ever sell her - not now anyway if they had offered that a couple of weeks ago I would have jumped at the chance (only joking!).
After an hour or so she became very subdued and could hardly keep her eyes open, her ears also felt very hot I must admit I was a bit worried about her but realised that she hadn't had her usual afternoon nap so was bound to be knackered.
On the walk home DH and even had a conversation about breeding from her (are we mad!!), this will only happen if she turns into an exceptional working dog otherwise we will probably buy another puppy (God help us).
This morning she was back to her normal self and we had a lovely walk although Tony scared me a bit by cantering (a lovely collected one by the way) from the opposite end of the field to greet us, and I must to my shame admit that I did that thing that old ladies do with their little handbag dogs (you know the type poodles, chihuahuas that sort of thing) and I picked Jynx up so she wouldn't get trampled on). Tony didn't get too close in the end, but I did laugh when I realised what I had done!
We then went to Kelmarsh Country Fair and had a great time watching the displays , shopping and eating. Jynx is now the proud owner of a hot pink slip lead - just because she a gundog doesn't mean she cant be girly, and a ball which has rabbit fur stuck to it. This is an attempt at getting her more interested in retrieving. DH wanted to get her a foxes tail (yes a pickled foxes tail!) But I drew the line there, though see did seem more interested in them than the ball. I've also got a new whistle so tomorrow morning we will be trying out a few of the techniques I witnessed today. The first thing we will work on is getting her to sit to a whistle command - I'll let you know how we get on.
Saturday was a quiet start and DH let me sleep in a bit and took Jynx out. We went to Ikea to look for bedroom furniture for number one son as his bedroom is next on the list for redecoration. Lucky for her Jynx got to stay behind and look after the house during this shopping trip.
On Sunday we all got up early me to take Jynx out for our walk and DH to cook a lovely breakfast that was waiting for me when I got home! We went to see Tony on our walk and he was lying down having a nice rest. Jynx has started to eat his poo if she gets the chance so I try to make sure we walk through his field as quickly as possible so she doesn't get the opportunity - dogs are so disgusting!
After a lovely breakfast we all (including Jynx, my sister and we met some friends and their children there) headed off to Castle Ashby for an Easter Egg Hunt which was brilliant the kids had a great time running around in the fresh air. Jynx also had great fun trying to help the kids collect the plastic eggs and she got to meet the Easter Bunny, she behaved beautifully although we didn't let her off the lead as it was muddy and she would have jumped up at everyone with dirty paws.
When we got home she played with number one son while number two son had his lunchtime nap, when he woke up we headed off to the pub to meet some friends. Jynx became the centre of attention which off course she thoroughly enjoyed. Someone even offered us 1000 quid for her, how serious they were I'm not sure. Not that we would ever sell her - not now anyway if they had offered that a couple of weeks ago I would have jumped at the chance (only joking!).
After an hour or so she became very subdued and could hardly keep her eyes open, her ears also felt very hot I must admit I was a bit worried about her but realised that she hadn't had her usual afternoon nap so was bound to be knackered.
On the walk home DH and even had a conversation about breeding from her (are we mad!!), this will only happen if she turns into an exceptional working dog otherwise we will probably buy another puppy (God help us).
This morning she was back to her normal self and we had a lovely walk although Tony scared me a bit by cantering (a lovely collected one by the way) from the opposite end of the field to greet us, and I must to my shame admit that I did that thing that old ladies do with their little handbag dogs (you know the type poodles, chihuahuas that sort of thing) and I picked Jynx up so she wouldn't get trampled on). Tony didn't get too close in the end, but I did laugh when I realised what I had done!
We then went to Kelmarsh Country Fair and had a great time watching the displays , shopping and eating. Jynx is now the proud owner of a hot pink slip lead - just because she a gundog doesn't mean she cant be girly, and a ball which has rabbit fur stuck to it. This is an attempt at getting her more interested in retrieving. DH wanted to get her a foxes tail (yes a pickled foxes tail!) But I drew the line there, though see did seem more interested in them than the ball. I've also got a new whistle so tomorrow morning we will be trying out a few of the techniques I witnessed today. The first thing we will work on is getting her to sit to a whistle command - I'll let you know how we get on.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Just got back from a traumatic outing with Jynx - she has had her first near death experience.
Training has not been going so well this week as Jynx seems to have reached her teens already and is behaving like a typical teenager and is ignoring us most of the time and chewing things the rest of the time. the garden is littered with various items that she has gotten out of the dustbin or stolen from the children, and these items have been chewed and mauled to varying degrees. Her recall has become very unreliable and if she sees a person or another dog out on a walk you have no chance of getting her back.
So I decided today after our previous success to take her out with me riding the bike to try and knacker her out so that she is too tired to be naughty.
All started well we make our way safely along the roads with her running on the pavement and me riding on the road, we slowed down for her to perform her ablutions and the continued on our way. I must mention at this point I am not the most confident bike rider so to get this far without falling off was, I felt, a major achievement so my confidence was staring to grow and I was also beginning to enjoy myself. We continued our outing Jynx also seemed to be enjoying herself and we met a few dogs which as she was on the lead did not cause too many problems.
Then it happened - Jynx for some reason suddenly decided to run in front of the bike and everything seemed to go in slow motion I saw her little body go under the front wheel and heard her yelping I had no alternative but to bale out the side door! Luckily (I think) there was a nice soft landing in a squashy pile of mud. So after a quick once over of Jynx to ensure that I hadn't ruptured anything important like her bladder, we got on our way again and I had to endure to knowing looks of many dog walkers as they cast their eyes over my muddied clothes.
So that was Jynx's near death experience and she survived with just a small graze to her abdomen, but my nerves have not yet recovered so I am now having a medicinal glass of wine in front of Ashes to Ashes and we will try again with the bike but it might be a few days before I can face it.
Training has not been going so well this week as Jynx seems to have reached her teens already and is behaving like a typical teenager and is ignoring us most of the time and chewing things the rest of the time. the garden is littered with various items that she has gotten out of the dustbin or stolen from the children, and these items have been chewed and mauled to varying degrees. Her recall has become very unreliable and if she sees a person or another dog out on a walk you have no chance of getting her back.
So I decided today after our previous success to take her out with me riding the bike to try and knacker her out so that she is too tired to be naughty.
All started well we make our way safely along the roads with her running on the pavement and me riding on the road, we slowed down for her to perform her ablutions and the continued on our way. I must mention at this point I am not the most confident bike rider so to get this far without falling off was, I felt, a major achievement so my confidence was staring to grow and I was also beginning to enjoy myself. We continued our outing Jynx also seemed to be enjoying herself and we met a few dogs which as she was on the lead did not cause too many problems.
Then it happened - Jynx for some reason suddenly decided to run in front of the bike and everything seemed to go in slow motion I saw her little body go under the front wheel and heard her yelping I had no alternative but to bale out the side door! Luckily (I think) there was a nice soft landing in a squashy pile of mud. So after a quick once over of Jynx to ensure that I hadn't ruptured anything important like her bladder, we got on our way again and I had to endure to knowing looks of many dog walkers as they cast their eyes over my muddied clothes.
So that was Jynx's near death experience and she survived with just a small graze to her abdomen, but my nerves have not yet recovered so I am now having a medicinal glass of wine in front of Ashes to Ashes and we will try again with the bike but it might be a few days before I can face it.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Forget National Geographic's 'The Great Migration', wildebeest, zebras, crabs and jellyfish have nothing on what I witnessed this morning in Northamptonshire!
I'm talking about 'The great worm migration of Wootton'!
Today on our early morning walk Jynx and I encountered what can only be described as hundreds of the little buggers all inching their way across the path from one patch of grass to another, now this caused a few problems for me as I don't like to harm any of Gods creatures especially ones that are good for the garden, so I had to gingerly pick my way carefully through their squirming bodies, although I'm sure I felt the squish of one or two under my dog walking boots!
No such worries for Jynx she just ran straight over the top of them and even stopped to pick the odd one up now and then - RIP little worms!
We walked through the horse field again today and Jynx ran up to the horse (who I have named Tony) and again tried to get him to play with her but alas he was too busy with his breakfast.
Since we've been back from the usual round of school run and Tescos Jynx has been on her best behaviour as we have electricians in doing some work - until just a moment ago when I caught her in the chicken run again this time Belle was the object of her attention, Nunu and Lulu having sought safety on high ground (the top of the hen house) and Doodle doing her best impression of an ostrich with her head buried in the corner, beside the hedge, and her white tail feathers sticking out! Poor Belle I fear has been plucked of a number of feathers and was looking slightly shell shocked when I finally arrived to save her, no sooner as I had got Jynx off Belle she caught sight of Doodle in the corner and she also received a run by plucking!!
Suffice to say the chickens have survived and Jynx has been scolded but my heart is still beating like a steam train at the exertion of sprinting (if that's how you can describe it) to the chicken run and then trying to get hold of Jynx as she ran round and round the garden with a mouthful of feathers. I had to resort to bribery in the end but she is now safely behind bars again and I am going to call DH to tell him about the fun evening I have planned for him strengthening the defences of the chicken run!
So until next time when who knows I might be reporting of a plague of locusts that has suddenly attacked the midlands!
I'm talking about 'The great worm migration of Wootton'!
Today on our early morning walk Jynx and I encountered what can only be described as hundreds of the little buggers all inching their way across the path from one patch of grass to another, now this caused a few problems for me as I don't like to harm any of Gods creatures especially ones that are good for the garden, so I had to gingerly pick my way carefully through their squirming bodies, although I'm sure I felt the squish of one or two under my dog walking boots!
No such worries for Jynx she just ran straight over the top of them and even stopped to pick the odd one up now and then - RIP little worms!
We walked through the horse field again today and Jynx ran up to the horse (who I have named Tony) and again tried to get him to play with her but alas he was too busy with his breakfast.
Since we've been back from the usual round of school run and Tescos Jynx has been on her best behaviour as we have electricians in doing some work - until just a moment ago when I caught her in the chicken run again this time Belle was the object of her attention, Nunu and Lulu having sought safety on high ground (the top of the hen house) and Doodle doing her best impression of an ostrich with her head buried in the corner, beside the hedge, and her white tail feathers sticking out! Poor Belle I fear has been plucked of a number of feathers and was looking slightly shell shocked when I finally arrived to save her, no sooner as I had got Jynx off Belle she caught sight of Doodle in the corner and she also received a run by plucking!!
Suffice to say the chickens have survived and Jynx has been scolded but my heart is still beating like a steam train at the exertion of sprinting (if that's how you can describe it) to the chicken run and then trying to get hold of Jynx as she ran round and round the garden with a mouthful of feathers. I had to resort to bribery in the end but she is now safely behind bars again and I am going to call DH to tell him about the fun evening I have planned for him strengthening the defences of the chicken run!
So until next time when who knows I might be reporting of a plague of locusts that has suddenly attacked the midlands!
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Chicken problems
Only went for a short walk this morning as pressed snooze on the alarm and we were therefore running late.
Jynx behaved herself and came back to me even when there was the distraction of a golden retriever and more importantly his owner making a fuss of her so I was really pleased ....... until we got back home and as usual we went into the back garden to check the chickens and change water and feed them!!!
We must have the most athletic chicken in the known world! We have a lovely little flock of 4 chickens all different breeds and they lay gorgeous eggs every day for us. The children and their friends named them - Lulu a Calder Ranger, Nunu a Black Rock, Belle a Bluebelle and Doodle a White Star.
Lulu and Nunu are the most friendly, but they all come when called especially if there is food involved. During the winter they have had the run of the garden, but since we brought Jynx home and because of the impending summer and the hope that we will be growing lots of tasty veg, we had thought it would be a good idea if they were confined. Don't get me wrong we have not put them into a small run they have the whole corner of our garden, but they obviously think this is not enough space for them, as they have, ever since the fence went in, proceeded to re-enact a live action version of 'Chicken Run' in our back garden!!
They have gone under, flown over and gone through the fence, and opening the gate brings them running at you in an attempt to push past your legs to get into the chicken paradise that is the rest of the garden.
So DH decided that they must be getting onto the hen house and using that as a springboard to get over the fence so we moved the hen house and he dutifully raised the fence - the fence is now 7 foot tall and Doodle is still getting over it! I have renamed her the 'SAS chicken' as I'm sure she could give Andy McNab a run for his money.
So when I let Jynx into the garden this morning I really didn't expect there to be chicken loose, so surely that will absolve me of all blame?
Jynx spotted her quarry from the steps and shot passed me before I realised what was happening and Doodle being of normal chicken intellect decided that playing possum was the best course of action - this was a mistake.
I ran after Jynx hoping to get to her before she got hold of Doodle, and I turned the incident into a game for Jynx and the messy end of Doodle, unfortunately I'm not that quick, but luckily Jynx didn't go for the head and grabbed Doodle by the bum feathers. She then proceeded to drag Doodle around the garden with me shouting in my sternest voice 'LEAVE'!
After what seemed like ages but which was in reality probably only about 30 seconds I got close enough to wrench the traumatized Doodle from Jynx's jaws.
Fortunately Doodle was fine not a mark on her - Jynx must be very soft mouthed pity she doesn't use such restraint when she is play biting!
I've just checked Doodle again and she has produced a lovely white egg and is tucking into the bread I put out for them so no psychological damage seems to have been done either.
So I'm thinking that an intensive course of chicken aversion therapy is in order - I'll let you know how it goes!!!
Best go now as Jynx has just chewed through my laptop lead - BLOODY DOG!!!!
Jynx behaved herself and came back to me even when there was the distraction of a golden retriever and more importantly his owner making a fuss of her so I was really pleased ....... until we got back home and as usual we went into the back garden to check the chickens and change water and feed them!!!
We must have the most athletic chicken in the known world! We have a lovely little flock of 4 chickens all different breeds and they lay gorgeous eggs every day for us. The children and their friends named them - Lulu a Calder Ranger, Nunu a Black Rock, Belle a Bluebelle and Doodle a White Star.
Lulu and Nunu are the most friendly, but they all come when called especially if there is food involved. During the winter they have had the run of the garden, but since we brought Jynx home and because of the impending summer and the hope that we will be growing lots of tasty veg, we had thought it would be a good idea if they were confined. Don't get me wrong we have not put them into a small run they have the whole corner of our garden, but they obviously think this is not enough space for them, as they have, ever since the fence went in, proceeded to re-enact a live action version of 'Chicken Run' in our back garden!!
They have gone under, flown over and gone through the fence, and opening the gate brings them running at you in an attempt to push past your legs to get into the chicken paradise that is the rest of the garden.
So DH decided that they must be getting onto the hen house and using that as a springboard to get over the fence so we moved the hen house and he dutifully raised the fence - the fence is now 7 foot tall and Doodle is still getting over it! I have renamed her the 'SAS chicken' as I'm sure she could give Andy McNab a run for his money.
So when I let Jynx into the garden this morning I really didn't expect there to be chicken loose, so surely that will absolve me of all blame?
Jynx spotted her quarry from the steps and shot passed me before I realised what was happening and Doodle being of normal chicken intellect decided that playing possum was the best course of action - this was a mistake.
I ran after Jynx hoping to get to her before she got hold of Doodle, and I turned the incident into a game for Jynx and the messy end of Doodle, unfortunately I'm not that quick, but luckily Jynx didn't go for the head and grabbed Doodle by the bum feathers. She then proceeded to drag Doodle around the garden with me shouting in my sternest voice 'LEAVE'!
After what seemed like ages but which was in reality probably only about 30 seconds I got close enough to wrench the traumatized Doodle from Jynx's jaws.
Fortunately Doodle was fine not a mark on her - Jynx must be very soft mouthed pity she doesn't use such restraint when she is play biting!
I've just checked Doodle again and she has produced a lovely white egg and is tucking into the bread I put out for them so no psychological damage seems to have been done either.
So I'm thinking that an intensive course of chicken aversion therapy is in order - I'll let you know how it goes!!!
Best go now as Jynx has just chewed through my laptop lead - BLOODY DOG!!!!
Monday, 22 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Close encounters of the equine kind
We are still under the influence of various bugs and infections.
But we will soldier on and early on Sunday morning I found a lovely new walk which takes us through a field which is inhabited by a very friendly piebald horse.
On our previous encounters with horses Jynx has always been very interested in them but there was always the relative safety of a fence separating her from them, so when we entered the afore mentioned field and I realised there was a loose horse in there I immediately put her on her lead as I was concerned as to what her reaction would be but she behaved impeccably if a bit wary and she hid behind me when he came over to investigate the intruders of his field we continued on our walk which took us through fields and had some lovely countryside views.
On Sunday number one son was registered to run 3 miles for sport relief with my sister (who completed the Silverstone half marathon in a very respectable 2 hours and 12 mins - she is the runner in our family I feel faint bending down to tie up my trainers!). So even though he was not feeling 100% off we all (including Jynx) went to the venue on Sunday morning and after the slight trauma of my sister and mum getting lost we arrived and number one son and my sister warmed up and set off on their 3 miles (number one son was I think at this point regretting having wanting to run 3 miles instead of just the one!). Everyone wanted to make a fuss of Jynx and she was on her best behaviour in the crowds of people some dressed up as teacups, bears horses and a stilt walker. Someone even wanted to take a photo of her! By the time they were on their last mile number one son was seriously flagging so I put a sport relief t shirt on Jynx and gave her to number one son to encourage him to finish. So Jynx did 1 mile and number one son and my sister did 3. When we got home both Jynx and number one son crashed together and slept for an hour or so Jynx still wearing her t shirt (soo cute!).
This morning we took the same route and had a lovely early morning walk through the fields, this time Jynx was obviously feeling a lot braver because on the way back she ran up to the horse and started running around him trying to get him to play with her! Luckily he is a very quiet horse and barely looked up from his breakfast, but it did make me wonder what she thinks he is? Obviously she knows he's not another dog or a human but the way she was running around him it was like he was just another very big dog and she wanted him to chase her!! So I am looking forward to seeing what she does next time we meet him and there is also a field of sheep that we need to walk past to see how she reacts.
We are also in desperate need of a new dog flap even though it is quiet amusing watching Jynx trying to squeeze herself out the cat flap! She has already broken the flap bit off that many times it only just goes back together and falls apart every time she comes in through it. But it does act as an early warning system so we can hear when she is about to tear into the living room and jump all over us with muddy paws!
She has worked out how to get under the fence to get into the chicken pen which has caused the girls much distress, so DH is in the process of securing the fence so she can go into the garden without someone constantly with her - what with her and number two son I never seem to be able to get anything done in the house.
Training wise her recall is mostly reliable (with chicken as bribery if necessary!), she has only ignored me a couple of times and that has been when people are making a fuss of her, if they ignore her she soon starts to look for me and will come running back. Lead walking is a slightly different matter though as she has started to pull a lot mainly on the way home, but I have just changed to a gundog slip lead and that has improved things slightly. Sit/down/stay definitely needs more work as she has started only sitting if offered a treat so I am trying to treat less and praise more.
Best go now as she is emptying the dirty clothes out of the laundry basket!!!
But we will soldier on and early on Sunday morning I found a lovely new walk which takes us through a field which is inhabited by a very friendly piebald horse.
On our previous encounters with horses Jynx has always been very interested in them but there was always the relative safety of a fence separating her from them, so when we entered the afore mentioned field and I realised there was a loose horse in there I immediately put her on her lead as I was concerned as to what her reaction would be but she behaved impeccably if a bit wary and she hid behind me when he came over to investigate the intruders of his field we continued on our walk which took us through fields and had some lovely countryside views.
On Sunday number one son was registered to run 3 miles for sport relief with my sister (who completed the Silverstone half marathon in a very respectable 2 hours and 12 mins - she is the runner in our family I feel faint bending down to tie up my trainers!). So even though he was not feeling 100% off we all (including Jynx) went to the venue on Sunday morning and after the slight trauma of my sister and mum getting lost we arrived and number one son and my sister warmed up and set off on their 3 miles (number one son was I think at this point regretting having wanting to run 3 miles instead of just the one!). Everyone wanted to make a fuss of Jynx and she was on her best behaviour in the crowds of people some dressed up as teacups, bears horses and a stilt walker. Someone even wanted to take a photo of her! By the time they were on their last mile number one son was seriously flagging so I put a sport relief t shirt on Jynx and gave her to number one son to encourage him to finish. So Jynx did 1 mile and number one son and my sister did 3. When we got home both Jynx and number one son crashed together and slept for an hour or so Jynx still wearing her t shirt (soo cute!).
This morning we took the same route and had a lovely early morning walk through the fields, this time Jynx was obviously feeling a lot braver because on the way back she ran up to the horse and started running around him trying to get him to play with her! Luckily he is a very quiet horse and barely looked up from his breakfast, but it did make me wonder what she thinks he is? Obviously she knows he's not another dog or a human but the way she was running around him it was like he was just another very big dog and she wanted him to chase her!! So I am looking forward to seeing what she does next time we meet him and there is also a field of sheep that we need to walk past to see how she reacts.
We are also in desperate need of a new dog flap even though it is quiet amusing watching Jynx trying to squeeze herself out the cat flap! She has already broken the flap bit off that many times it only just goes back together and falls apart every time she comes in through it. But it does act as an early warning system so we can hear when she is about to tear into the living room and jump all over us with muddy paws!
She has worked out how to get under the fence to get into the chicken pen which has caused the girls much distress, so DH is in the process of securing the fence so she can go into the garden without someone constantly with her - what with her and number two son I never seem to be able to get anything done in the house.
Training wise her recall is mostly reliable (with chicken as bribery if necessary!), she has only ignored me a couple of times and that has been when people are making a fuss of her, if they ignore her she soon starts to look for me and will come running back. Lead walking is a slightly different matter though as she has started to pull a lot mainly on the way home, but I have just changed to a gundog slip lead and that has improved things slightly. Sit/down/stay definitely needs more work as she has started only sitting if offered a treat so I am trying to treat less and praise more.
Best go now as she is emptying the dirty clothes out of the laundry basket!!!
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Yet another delayed blog this time due to sick children.
We have been beset by nasty bugs this week number 2 son was very poorly over the weekend and now towards the end of the week number one son has been sent home from school early.
Jynx has been her usual bouncy self, we are still struggling with her play biting though it is improving very slowly. It is still mostly directed at number one son although she does still do it to anyone in her path when she gets excited.
We are still going out at 6am ish every morning and meeting the usual suspects, all of which are very friendly and put up with Jynx's boundless energy - I very often liken her to an ever ready bunny!
We have continued with our training on walks and at home. I read somewhere that the most important thing when training a gundog is recall recall recall. So thats what we have been working on mostly.
Her recall is mostly reliable but when she is distracted by another dog or person it sometimes go out the window and even my little bag of Tesco value chicken roll cannot tempt her away.
On Saturday we went to Salcy Forrest to walk with a pack of dogs from the dog training club, there were approximately 19 dogs and we walked for 2 1/2 hours and it was a great experience and everyone was very friendly. My hands were very sore after though as Jynx pulled most of the way. We even swapped dogs for a little bit.
I have ordered a gundog training book which is specifically for spaniels so that should be really helpful in giving me the basic information I should need.
Hopefully it wont be so long till my next post!
We have been beset by nasty bugs this week number 2 son was very poorly over the weekend and now towards the end of the week number one son has been sent home from school early.
Jynx has been her usual bouncy self, we are still struggling with her play biting though it is improving very slowly. It is still mostly directed at number one son although she does still do it to anyone in her path when she gets excited.
We are still going out at 6am ish every morning and meeting the usual suspects, all of which are very friendly and put up with Jynx's boundless energy - I very often liken her to an ever ready bunny!
We have continued with our training on walks and at home. I read somewhere that the most important thing when training a gundog is recall recall recall. So thats what we have been working on mostly.
Her recall is mostly reliable but when she is distracted by another dog or person it sometimes go out the window and even my little bag of Tesco value chicken roll cannot tempt her away.
On Saturday we went to Salcy Forrest to walk with a pack of dogs from the dog training club, there were approximately 19 dogs and we walked for 2 1/2 hours and it was a great experience and everyone was very friendly. My hands were very sore after though as Jynx pulled most of the way. We even swapped dogs for a little bit.
I have ordered a gundog training book which is specifically for spaniels so that should be really helpful in giving me the basic information I should need.
Hopefully it wont be so long till my next post!
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Ok so this post has been a bit delayed due to problems with WiFi!
So where do I start? It has been an eventful couple of weeks so I best start at the beginning.
We (the children Jynx and I) took a trip down to see my parents in Essex on Friday for the weekend, as me, my sister and cousin were taking my mum out for a spot of shopping and afternoon tea in London. The boys were going to stay with their other nan and grandad overnight so the only problem was what to do with Jynx. She couldn't stay at home with the DH as he was off to Twickenham to watch England get beaten by Ireland in the Six Nations! My dad very kindly offered to look after her , so laden down with all the paraphernalia needed for 2 children and a dog we headed off to Essex after school on Friday. The journey down was uneventful if a bit protracted as we had to stop numerous times for food and toilet breaks. But we eventually made it safe and sound.
That evening also passed uneventfully and I woke up nice and early to take Jynx on a nice long walk so that she would hopefully sleep for the afternoon! We walked along the river bank and along roads that I knew very well from my miss-spent youth.
I took the children around to the in-laws and we set of on our afternoon of girly fun. My dad was under strict instructions to take Jynx into the garden before he went out and immediately upon his return, she was only going to be left for 4 hours.
The afternoon went swimmingly until at approximately 4 o clock I received a call from my father saying that Jynx had managed to chew her way out of her travel crate (a fabric one) and had destroyed a shoe box and had started work on a pair of my mothers shoes! She had also peed on number one sons coat which had been left on the floor!
So after that I was anxious to get home to repair the damage.
She had chewed the side zip off the crate that along with the already chewed top zip now meant that the crate was no longer fit for use which posed a bit of a problem - how were we going to get her home safely now?
It ended up that number one son held her on his lap with her lead attached to the seat belt not the safest way I know but we had no other choice.
Tuesday was the night of the big test and we had been practising all the drills regularly.
Jynx was the first to perform her test and she did so brilliantly she was almost perfect though I think she dropped points on the down part of the sit/down/stand. All the other dogs performed brilliantly as well and the instructor commented on how we had been a high scoring group. The result came down to the wire with 3 dogs tying Jynx, Pie and Bob so we had to perform another sit down stand and again Jynx did well but we beaten into joint 2nd place by Bob.
So all in all its been an eventful couple of weeks we've been getting up early for our morning walk and playtime in the park still and I must admit I look forward to it now its nice to be out in the fresh air with no one around it sets me up for the day - I'm knackered by 4 o clock though so I think I might need to start going to bed a bit earlier hmmm we shall have to see about that!
So where do I start? It has been an eventful couple of weeks so I best start at the beginning.
We (the children Jynx and I) took a trip down to see my parents in Essex on Friday for the weekend, as me, my sister and cousin were taking my mum out for a spot of shopping and afternoon tea in London. The boys were going to stay with their other nan and grandad overnight so the only problem was what to do with Jynx. She couldn't stay at home with the DH as he was off to Twickenham to watch England get beaten by Ireland in the Six Nations! My dad very kindly offered to look after her , so laden down with all the paraphernalia needed for 2 children and a dog we headed off to Essex after school on Friday. The journey down was uneventful if a bit protracted as we had to stop numerous times for food and toilet breaks. But we eventually made it safe and sound.
That evening also passed uneventfully and I woke up nice and early to take Jynx on a nice long walk so that she would hopefully sleep for the afternoon! We walked along the river bank and along roads that I knew very well from my miss-spent youth.
I took the children around to the in-laws and we set of on our afternoon of girly fun. My dad was under strict instructions to take Jynx into the garden before he went out and immediately upon his return, she was only going to be left for 4 hours.
The afternoon went swimmingly until at approximately 4 o clock I received a call from my father saying that Jynx had managed to chew her way out of her travel crate (a fabric one) and had destroyed a shoe box and had started work on a pair of my mothers shoes! She had also peed on number one sons coat which had been left on the floor!
So after that I was anxious to get home to repair the damage.
She had chewed the side zip off the crate that along with the already chewed top zip now meant that the crate was no longer fit for use which posed a bit of a problem - how were we going to get her home safely now?
It ended up that number one son held her on his lap with her lead attached to the seat belt not the safest way I know but we had no other choice.
Tuesday was the night of the big test and we had been practising all the drills regularly.
Jynx was the first to perform her test and she did so brilliantly she was almost perfect though I think she dropped points on the down part of the sit/down/stand. All the other dogs performed brilliantly as well and the instructor commented on how we had been a high scoring group. The result came down to the wire with 3 dogs tying Jynx, Pie and Bob so we had to perform another sit down stand and again Jynx did well but we beaten into joint 2nd place by Bob.
So all in all its been an eventful couple of weeks we've been getting up early for our morning walk and playtime in the park still and I must admit I look forward to it now its nice to be out in the fresh air with no one around it sets me up for the day - I'm knackered by 4 o clock though so I think I might need to start going to bed a bit earlier hmmm we shall have to see about that!
Thursday, 25 February 2010
So this week we have been working on walking to heel with a short lead a loose lead and off the lead (this last one is obviously practiced at home in the hall as outside there are too many distractions), and we have continued to work on recall - I have even been brave enough to let her off the lead whilst out walking and so far we have had success as long as I have plenty of chicken in my pocket. We have also worked on stay and wait but have limited success.
I have started to get up at the un-godly hour of 6am to take Jynx out for a walk so that it is just the 2 of us. I thought that a bit of girl time was in order - actually it has been an attempt to wear her out but it has not as yet succeeded. Next week I am going to get her used to running next to a bike in the hope that this will tire her out - she is like an ever-ready bunny!
When we walk with number 2 son in the pram she has started to - when she gets fed up of walking - jump into the shopping basket of the pram! She is the laziest cocker spaniel ever!
Another one of her foibles is to walk perfectly to heel when going out on the walk but to pull like a steam train when on the way back.
She walks really well to heel in the house and when I am pushing the pram but can pull a little when its just me and her.
On Tuesday next week is the last puppy class and we have a test, I must admit I am feeling very competitive and I am aiming for Jynx to get the highest score, here is run down of the competition:
Oscar - Chocolate Lab, will do anything for food but may have trouble with lead walking
Minnie - Patterdale, will be good on drills but doesn't like having her feet touched and growls a bit
Bob- Fox Terrier, lovely little boy but can be a bit dominant
Pie - Beagle, lovely girl but may have trouble with recall
They are all lovely dogs and owners.
I'm not sure who our main competition will be but I'm putting in lots of practice so we better win!
We are heading back to Essex for the weekend dog included so I am hoping she will be on her best behaviour.
So thats it for this week I will update after puppy class on Tuesday
I have started to get up at the un-godly hour of 6am to take Jynx out for a walk so that it is just the 2 of us. I thought that a bit of girl time was in order - actually it has been an attempt to wear her out but it has not as yet succeeded. Next week I am going to get her used to running next to a bike in the hope that this will tire her out - she is like an ever-ready bunny!
When we walk with number 2 son in the pram she has started to - when she gets fed up of walking - jump into the shopping basket of the pram! She is the laziest cocker spaniel ever!
Another one of her foibles is to walk perfectly to heel when going out on the walk but to pull like a steam train when on the way back.
She walks really well to heel in the house and when I am pushing the pram but can pull a little when its just me and her.
On Tuesday next week is the last puppy class and we have a test, I must admit I am feeling very competitive and I am aiming for Jynx to get the highest score, here is run down of the competition:
Oscar - Chocolate Lab, will do anything for food but may have trouble with lead walking
Minnie - Patterdale, will be good on drills but doesn't like having her feet touched and growls a bit
Bob- Fox Terrier, lovely little boy but can be a bit dominant
Pie - Beagle, lovely girl but may have trouble with recall
They are all lovely dogs and owners.
I'm not sure who our main competition will be but I'm putting in lots of practice so we better win!
We are heading back to Essex for the weekend dog included so I am hoping she will be on her best behaviour.
So thats it for this week I will update after puppy class on Tuesday
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
First Blog
Ok so I am new to blogging but I want to keep a record of our new puppy's training.
First a bit of background, I am a 30 something mother of 2 boys aged 9 years and 19 months (I know its a big age gap!!!) and we live in Northampton with our newly acquired working cocker spaniel puppy 'Jynx', 2 cats and 4 chickens.
I am a housewife at the moment but I am also a qualified veterinary nurse with 15 years experience. I have had the pleasure of owning a lab cross when I was a child and more recently a rescued (from work) rottie x bitch called 'Diva' who was my introduction to obedience training, she was a wonderful dog and a blood donor who saved a couple of dogs lives. She was already trained when we got her but I continued with this so I have done basic training but never trained a gundog.
So why did we choose a working cocker spaniel? After we lost Diva I knew I would eventually get another dog but as we have moved around a lot in the last few years this was never practical until last year when we bought the house that we are living in now, it has a huge garden (one of the main reasons we bought it) . We live in a village with a large park on the doorstep and we are surrounded by country parks and forests - ideal dog walking country.
So when I eventually got my DH to agree to me getting a dog we then had the discussion as to which breed. As my DH has enjoyed shooting in the past and we have 2 boys the oldest of which is a crack shot with an air rifle a gundog of some description seemed to be the obvious choice. I could get back into training and hopefully train my first gundog and the dog would make a shooting companion for my DH and number 1 son. I wanted a Labrador but DH vetoed that saying he wanted a smaller dog (due to years of having a 30kg rottie sitting on you and laying on your legs in bed), so the choice was going to be from the spaniel group. I have had experience though work of the common spaniels so I got onto the Internet to research the rest of the group and after days of research I presented my findings to my DH we decided that a working cocker would fit in with our family the best.
So I went back to the Internet and I spoke to a few gundog trainers and breeders via email and they all gave me excellent advice. as we have children we thought that a home bred rather than kennel bred cocker would suit us best so again I trawled the gundog websites for a litter of home bred puppies after a couple of false starts we located a litter in Canterbury. Emails and telephone calls ensued, pedigrees and prices were discussed and we set a date to go and view the pups.
I was determined not to be swayed by the cuteness of the pups I put on my veterinary nurses head and we even thought about not taking the boys, but that ended up not being practical so we set off after warning number 1 son that we might decide that these pups were not the pups for us luckily he is a very grown up 9 year old so he understood exactly why we might not want to have one of these puppies.
When we met the pups, mum, dad and their humans, we were really pleased to find that both mum and dad were lovely well mannered dogs and the puppies looked fit and healthy. There were 4 gorgeous puppies, one of which, a dog, had already been sold so there were 3 bitches left to choose from, a lemon and 2 lemon and whites. We had already decided we wanted a bitch and after speaking to the breeder I had thought that the lemon girl would suit us best. It was a very tough decision to make and I swayed between the lemon girl and one of the lemon and whites who had some really cute freckles on her nose. My DH left the decision to me and after much deliberation I decided to stick with my original decision and we paid our deposit and went home to make plans and go shopping!
We picked Jynx up from the breeder in Canterbury Kent on 16th January 20010, since day one she has been a delightful little dog if a bit of a handful sometimes!
Her first few weeks with us have passed very quickly and it seems as if she has always been part of our family!
The boys adore her and she loves them right back ..... very enthusiastically normally by jumping all over them and play biting!
House training was relatively easy, she only had a few accidents, we chose to have her crate in the bedroom at night for the first few weeks so that if she need to go to the toilet I would hear her and could take her out rather than leaving her downstairs. On the whole it worked very well we only had a couple of accidents in the bedroom and these were due to me not getting up quickly enough! We didn't have the problem of her fretting at night as she was close to us and now she is in her crate at the bottom of the stairs every night and she doesn't whine or whimper and her bed is dry every morning.
We have been attending puppy classes every Tuesday and Jynx loves everything about it, the people the other puppies and the training and on the whole she is good at it, doing everything she is asked to do as long as she gets a bit of chicken in return.
The only couple of issues we have are that she loves to chase the chickens and she also play bites both these problems we are working on and she is improving slowly.
So that's it our life with Jynx so far. I'm hoping to share with you the trails and tribulations of training my first gundog.
Lets hope it all goes well!
First a bit of background, I am a 30 something mother of 2 boys aged 9 years and 19 months (I know its a big age gap!!!) and we live in Northampton with our newly acquired working cocker spaniel puppy 'Jynx', 2 cats and 4 chickens.
I am a housewife at the moment but I am also a qualified veterinary nurse with 15 years experience. I have had the pleasure of owning a lab cross when I was a child and more recently a rescued (from work) rottie x bitch called 'Diva' who was my introduction to obedience training, she was a wonderful dog and a blood donor who saved a couple of dogs lives. She was already trained when we got her but I continued with this so I have done basic training but never trained a gundog.
So why did we choose a working cocker spaniel? After we lost Diva I knew I would eventually get another dog but as we have moved around a lot in the last few years this was never practical until last year when we bought the house that we are living in now, it has a huge garden (one of the main reasons we bought it) . We live in a village with a large park on the doorstep and we are surrounded by country parks and forests - ideal dog walking country.
So when I eventually got my DH to agree to me getting a dog we then had the discussion as to which breed. As my DH has enjoyed shooting in the past and we have 2 boys the oldest of which is a crack shot with an air rifle a gundog of some description seemed to be the obvious choice. I could get back into training and hopefully train my first gundog and the dog would make a shooting companion for my DH and number 1 son. I wanted a Labrador but DH vetoed that saying he wanted a smaller dog (due to years of having a 30kg rottie sitting on you and laying on your legs in bed), so the choice was going to be from the spaniel group. I have had experience though work of the common spaniels so I got onto the Internet to research the rest of the group and after days of research I presented my findings to my DH we decided that a working cocker would fit in with our family the best.
So I went back to the Internet and I spoke to a few gundog trainers and breeders via email and they all gave me excellent advice. as we have children we thought that a home bred rather than kennel bred cocker would suit us best so again I trawled the gundog websites for a litter of home bred puppies after a couple of false starts we located a litter in Canterbury. Emails and telephone calls ensued, pedigrees and prices were discussed and we set a date to go and view the pups.
I was determined not to be swayed by the cuteness of the pups I put on my veterinary nurses head and we even thought about not taking the boys, but that ended up not being practical so we set off after warning number 1 son that we might decide that these pups were not the pups for us luckily he is a very grown up 9 year old so he understood exactly why we might not want to have one of these puppies.
When we met the pups, mum, dad and their humans, we were really pleased to find that both mum and dad were lovely well mannered dogs and the puppies looked fit and healthy. There were 4 gorgeous puppies, one of which, a dog, had already been sold so there were 3 bitches left to choose from, a lemon and 2 lemon and whites. We had already decided we wanted a bitch and after speaking to the breeder I had thought that the lemon girl would suit us best. It was a very tough decision to make and I swayed between the lemon girl and one of the lemon and whites who had some really cute freckles on her nose. My DH left the decision to me and after much deliberation I decided to stick with my original decision and we paid our deposit and went home to make plans and go shopping!
We picked Jynx up from the breeder in Canterbury Kent on 16th January 20010, since day one she has been a delightful little dog if a bit of a handful sometimes!
Her first few weeks with us have passed very quickly and it seems as if she has always been part of our family!
The boys adore her and she loves them right back ..... very enthusiastically normally by jumping all over them and play biting!
House training was relatively easy, she only had a few accidents, we chose to have her crate in the bedroom at night for the first few weeks so that if she need to go to the toilet I would hear her and could take her out rather than leaving her downstairs. On the whole it worked very well we only had a couple of accidents in the bedroom and these were due to me not getting up quickly enough! We didn't have the problem of her fretting at night as she was close to us and now she is in her crate at the bottom of the stairs every night and she doesn't whine or whimper and her bed is dry every morning.
We have been attending puppy classes every Tuesday and Jynx loves everything about it, the people the other puppies and the training and on the whole she is good at it, doing everything she is asked to do as long as she gets a bit of chicken in return.
The only couple of issues we have are that she loves to chase the chickens and she also play bites both these problems we are working on and she is improving slowly.
So that's it our life with Jynx so far. I'm hoping to share with you the trails and tribulations of training my first gundog.
Lets hope it all goes well!
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