me and my wife are looking to purchase a cocker pup, we have a couple of concerns that we would like to iron out before commiting ourselves.
1, we both work so the pup would be left on its own for a couple of hours during the day would this cause it any distress?.
2, what are they like for chewing furniture etc ?.
3, this will be the first dog we have had from a puppy, others we have had have been adult rescue dogs so how difficult are they to train?.
                thank you very much in antisipation matthew & angela preece

Hi,

Firstly I am glad that you will be leaving a pup for no longer than two hours a day, that will be absolutely fine! Your pup will most definitely need to chew, wee, pooh whilst you are out.  The best thing that I would suggest to you and anyone else who has a pup is to get yourself a dog gate, put your pup in the kitchen or a special room /area that he/she can get used to as their space/den. In other words contain your pup whilst you are out, put newspaper at the entrance of the dog gate incase your pup needs to relieve itself, as puppies need to go every couple of hours or so, put down plenty of toys and chews to keep your pup interested and if possible leave a radio or tv playing quietly in the backgroud.

Play with your pup and take him/her out in the garden before you leave. Over the two hours that you are away your pup should sleep through most of that time. Cocker pups are absolutely beautiful I have had four myself, I found them very easy to toilet train, they are very intelligent dogs and learn quickly if given lots and lots of praise.

3 of my cockers never touched any furniture, telephone wires etc, they are not naturally destructive dogs, but one liked ripping up cushions whilst I was out (there's always one!) so it is not something you can guarantee, containment is the best solution whilst you are out and at bedtime. Pop your pup securely in the kitchen with all it's things, and you and your pup will soon get into a happy routine.

Good luck, and have many hours of happiness with your new pup.

My mum had a cocker from a puppy and he's been great.  He was amazingly easy to toilet train, although mum is retired so she was at home most of the time with him.  The dog wasn't crated but he did quickly learn where his bed was and when he had to go into it but again he wasn't left alone much so mum felt a crate wasn't really needed.  He's fine about being left alone now he's older.

The dog has been boisterous but he's taken well to training.  He did have a thing about stealing anything he could get his paws on and hiding it in his bed or eating it but he's never chewed.  He has mostly grown out of this behaviour now (he's about 18 mths) but he certainly loves his food and still tends to scoff anything and everything edible which you need to be careful of.

Hope you get your spaniel, they are lovely dogs.

CG