Please let me introduce you to the latest member of our family.
Mr Benji Garrett 
He is a Blue Roan Cocker Spaniel. We haven’t got him home yet, he is still a little too young to leave his mum. We’ll probably bring him home after Christmas to avoid upsetting him with all the noise and activity.
Isn’t he cute?
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He is cute, Chris. One piece of advice though, start training him as soon as you can. I find that Cocker Spaniels tend to be real nasty little things if they aren’t properly trained (although, to be fair, the same could probably be said of most breeds). An old girlfriend of mine had one and, well, it was mean and nasty because no one ever punished it for being a bad dog.
Ironically, I was the only one the dog listened to, because I was the only one who know how to be firm—but not cruel or mean—when it was necessary.
Adam
The temperament of any dog goes back to the breeding, much work is done by the breeder before a mating is done, looking into the sire and dams background.
My wife and I have had and bred cockers for over 25 years and have yet not had a NASTY one.
Like children they need training when they are young, I have seen more NASTY children than COCKER SPANIELS.
Congratulations, Chris – I know you’ve been wanting a dog, and Benji is a little beauty. Really looking forward to seeing his Flickr stream, when you bring him home!
Can’t resist adding my 0.02 on dog training — 2 words: “clicker training”! One of my dogs is a retired racing greyhound who just earned a perfect score at his first Rally Obedience match, darned near miraculous, and entirely due to the power of gentle,, positive, reward-based training. Think “behaviour modification” a la B.F. Skinner…
@Adam – Yes I knew a dog that was supposedly a really “well behaved breed” but this dog was the most evil thing I had ever met. I think it is rare for such dogs to be born nasty, it has to be down to training or lack of
@John – Benji is coming from and going to good homes, the rest is up to us
@Jen – Thanks Jen
Is clicker training the name of a technique?
Yes, “clicker training” is the name given to a training method in which a small plastic “clicker” or similar noise-maker is used to mark the exact moment that a *good* behaviour occurs. It’s the same technique that’s used to train dolphins and whales and such — animals you can’t exactly put a collar on and push into position!
I like the method because
(a) it works, even with tiny puppies — even with cats and chickens, believe it or not!
(b) it helps to create a great bond between dog and handler, and
(c) dogs think it’s a great game, trying to figure out what behaviour will earn the “click-and-treat” reward… so you end up with a dog who obeys because he wants to, not from fear of punishment.
See, dogs have no concept of “bad” — they’re just dogs. So punishment simply doesn’t work in the long term…
oh, now, see… you got me started off on my hobby horse! If you google for “Karen Pryor” it’ll set you right — she’s the one who really formalized “clicker training” as a system for use with domestic animals, and there’s good free reading on her website.
Great stuff, I will look her up. It seems a humane way to train from what you have said
looking forward to more pictures! congrats!
Chris, how’d you go about buying a dog during the Christmas season? I lived in England for three years when I was younger, and all of the pet stores stopped selling dogs in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The policy made sense; people are fickle. It’s always a shame when a dog gets tossed out with the rest of the Christmas presents…
Chris,
Good luck with your puppy. Looks like a real nice dog.
I love dogs. I recently raised a very hyper Yellow Lab from 7 weeks old until she was 18 months. My ex-girlfriend got “custody” of her when we split up, but, alas, that is another story…
If you are looking for any tips – feel free. We went through some pretty intense obedience and agility training that really worked wonders.
BTW, I am not a big fan of clicker training, just my opinion.
Regards,
Mark
@AgentSully – No worries there, I am sure he will be the most photographed doggy in Britain when I am done
@Aaron – He wasn’t bought from a pet store, he is moving within the family
Our daughter is under strict instructions to not mention puppy and Christmas in the same conversation 
@Mark – Why do you not like clicker training? I guess everyone has to find a style and technique that suits. I just don’t like the idea of screaming and shouting and dogs which is all I see in fields and parks where I live.
Chris,
Clicker training, to me, means you end up giving the dog way too many treats. You want your dog to respond to you not because it is motivated by getting a treat, but because it wants to be pleasing to you.
Dogs are pack animals. They love to follow a leader. Be the leader.
I don’t want to go on a long rant, so I won’t. The best thing is to research your breed and see what works best for that particular breed.
Find out what cocker spaniels were bred for in the first place and that will give you a good idea of their behaviour and why they respond in certain ways.
The 3 most important things: discipline, exercise, and lovin’
I a firm belliever in using a prong collar for training. They are, contrary to how they look, VERY humane, and very effective.
Sorry for the long comment.
As you can tell, I miss my dog.
Regards,
Mark
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