...but....
More on the dog front.
Today I told a friend about the cocker. Oh, she said, you'll need to do a lot of whistle training. You WHAT? I thought. Now, this friend has a dog and her dog does very many tricks. Very many. There are always new tricks. It's incredibly impressive. He barks a lot at visitors, but out walking he'll heel and stay on the pavement and never attacks other dogs. So, she's done a great job... and is also very keen on training.
Me, I like what this dog scientist woman said, all your dog needs to know is come here, wait and leave it. The rest, be a dog.
But what if this cocker is mental and I have to spend hours a day entertaining it? It's meant to entertain me!
Anyway, after the texting with the fried, out on our run, I met a dog trainer. Jenny, by name. She said, whatever you do, don't get a cockerpoo! They are neurotic, very hard to train, she said. OK, what about cocker spaniels? She hummed and hawed a bit. Asked me what I wanted. A friend, I said. A Lab, she said. Now, little does she know, but we had the naughtiest Lab known to man. That dog had the wander-lust gene ramped up to mega volume. Plus, Labs these days are short-legged fat things - ours wasn't - and... no, just, no. She must have seen the look on my face. A Standard Poodle, she said. They are very trainable and don't shed.
So, off I went to the Kennel Club and emailed the three Standard Poodle breeders listed. They're not small dogs. But, well, I could handle that. A school friend's family had two and they were lovely. Very easy.Except, I'd forgotten the grooming. Every six weeks, get it shaven. That sounds like a right pain in the arse.
I sent a rather fulsome email to the breeder who got back to me with helpful information (go to our Facebook page, see our puppies, read this information leaflet) and told her my thoughts. She said, 'Standard Poodles cast inward so need to be brushed and combed thoroughly every week then clipped every 6/8 weeks, but there is no casting about the house and they are great companions, if you want to play they play walk they walk sit they sit.'
Goodness. An angel in canine form.
Rather like my darling Jabi... apart from his constant shedding!
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