My girlfriend and I are thinking of getting a dog later in the year and are keen to do things properly and learn things before hand, as much for our sake as for the dogs’. We are thinking of breeds like spaniels and setters since we are fairly active people with absolutely no need for a guard dog. We both have experience of living with dogs in our families but I was hoping to gain for everyone’s wealth of experience on a few things.
1) Does anyone know of any good breeders in the area?
(We are aware of the virtues of homing a rescue dog and this is something we have considered. However having looked, the breeds we are thinking of are rarely seen at a young age in rescue centres, and we want to train our own dog from scratch. We might end up getting a rescue dog anyway.)
2) My next-door neighbour has a 6 month old border collie and they use our back garden for access to theirs. Is this likely to be a problem, for example if the collie thinks our garden is his territory?
3) Baring in mind that next-door have a male collie should this affect which sex of dog we get? Obviously we’d like them (the dogs) to be good friends. I’m not too sure that the neighbours are socialising (or for that matter training) their dog too well but they are not irresponsible hooligans they’ve had dogs before but I suspect are a bit too busy to do the really hard miles.
4) What do people think of clicker training? I don’t know anyone who has done this, but since setters can be susceptible to bloat I wondered if this was a good aid to positive enforcement which will prevent having to treat constantly. We’d like to train the dog well to keep it occupied (a bit more than to heel and comeback when called etc but we’re not thinking of showing or anything).
5) Is pet insurance a good idea? We know dogs are expensive and are entirely prepared for that but are unexpected costs better met by insurance or just setting aside money for the expectation of expensive vet’s bills? I don’t know anyone who has it.
I know it’s an essay of questions but I hope someone can help. Thanks for all your tips.

You're going to get as many different opinions as questions pal.
My personal opinion is rescue or rehome - even if you want a pedigree dog.Try the breed rescues,i've homed as young as 10 months from a breed specific rescue.
Whatever training works is best - I don't do clicker. But positive reinforcement works, i'm training a rescue boxer at the moment. In a week i have him sitting to be "dressed" in his lead or for lead removal and taking himself away to bed.

Insurance is difficult - veeytime i've insured mine the vets bills have always been less than the excess. Kennel cough £55 - excess £60. Steroid injection for allergy £18 excess £60.Diabetes, monthly cost £28 - 30 day waiting ,excess of £60 and no cover after 12 months. Cheaper to save the money in a seperate account.

I had a vets bill for £1900 for my dogue de bordeaux after only having him 6 weeks. Luckily I was insured so most of the bill was covered.

Hello! Firstly well done you it's good to see somebody who is obviously going to be a responsible owner!
Again as above if you are wanting a specific breed I would speak to the rescues, there are bound to be young ones-remember not all will be on the web page either as they may be waiting surgery/too young to rehome/living in forster homes so it would be a good idea to call around some places.
If you do go to a breeder please look carefully and make sure you choose a responsible breeder and you can check out the mum/dad.
If the next doors dog is quite young they'll probably likley to get on like a house on fire as long as the collie is well socialised with other dogs. The only problem you may find is if the collie is not neutured-if you get a male they could start being territorial and if you get a female-well let's just say you would have real trouble from when she comes into season to when you get her neutured.
Clicker traning is not something I'm very experienced with so can't help you with that.
Insurance is an absolute essential-unless you have about £10,000 in the bank just in case you really need to do this. Shop around Petplan are very good and provide lifetime cover, I'm with M and S who also offer this but it was cheaper for my dog to insure there. I know it's boring but read the small print as they do differ in what they will cover and for how much. I'd budget for anything from £15-20/month for a good plan.

Hi :)

1) If you had considered a rescue and it was only the problem of finding a young dog of your chosen breed in rescue, try breed specific rescues - you rarely see dalmatians in the normal rescues but there are tons in dally welfare!
As far as breeders are concerned, I'm afraid I can't help with your chosen breed but you could take a look at the KC list of accredited breeders. Don't accept the KC accreditation as gospel though, make sure you look objectively when you get to see them as well.

On a side note - it can help to refuse to see the pups until you've seen the parents and living conditions so that the pups don't sway you!

2) I can't answer that really, the border collie is still to go through adolescence and I suppose he could see your garden as his territory but it depends really how the gardens are shared. If it's just through access I wouldn't have thought it was a problem - if he has his own garden to spend time in and only passes through yours.

3) It's generally advised to have one of each when they're living together but it would depend I think how much time they have to spend together. If they get used to living next door to each other they shouldn't be a problem but it could be easier with a bitch - I'm really not sure on that one! (Good question!)

4) I love clicker training, it's a brilliant method and can help to lower the number of treats you use but to begin with you use it in conjunction with treats anyway (then you can look at using the clicker to mark behaviour which you reward with a toy/game/life reward instead).
I don't know how much you know about clicker training, but clickers are only markers, not reinforcers. They can become conditioned reinforcers but they need to be backed up with a primary reinforcer in order to remain of importance to the dog.
I would've thought that the risk of bloat would be increased if you're using treats and games together but tbh, dallies are supposed to be susceptible to bloat and GT but I've known very few suffer with it and they're constantly running and eating (usually at the same time!!)
I guess your risk of bloat could be reduced by using tiny training treats (which are best for training anyway) and trying to keep all the training calm, not jumping around. It's not something I've ever thought about to be honest! I was under the impression bloat was more of a problem on a full stomach and if you're using training treats your dog shouldn't really get full!

5) Some people prefer to open a bank account for the dog, but as Helen mentions, her DDB had problems early into ownership and only through insurance could she afford it. It's a real gamble but I think I'd rather pay more than I need back than find myself in a position where I can't pay for vital treatment for my animal.

Hope that helps :D

If you're after a spaniel, try South Yorkshire Springer Spaniel Rescue. http://www.syessr.co.uk
They do sometimes have other spaniels too, although it's mainly potty springers :)
Good luck!

where's the OP got to? :confused:

Thanks for the advice everyone

i would say get a staffy to be honest cant beat em good with children with people loveing and easy to train

i would say get a staffy to be honest cant beat em good with children with people loveing and easy to train

Yeah but Staffys are so last year.;)

As a staffy lover have to agree with the statement but to me they are so last 5 years and no doubt will be so this year as well.

Not entirely sure on the easy to train due to the stubborness sometimes but thats probably because i have the older generation of staffs ha ha.

ha lol staffs aint last year there every year:P