If your dog is bald you can skip this one

Cricket is a whippet. That means that she has a very short, very fine, coat. The longest hairs on her body are what you may loosely describe as tail feathering. But you need a bit of imagination to detect the feather.

So she needs very little attention in the hair-trimming department. 

Not so for most dogs on the planet. Most of them need quite a lot of hair attention. 

Let’s have a look at the ways their lot can be improved by a pair of scissors (preferably very sharp hairdressers’ or groomers’ scissors), an electric hair trimmer, maybe dog-grooming clippers, and a haemostat.

Start at the front

First look at your dog. 

Can you see him? Good. 

Can he see you? Hmm.

Many breeds have hair covering their eyes. This may be from droopy eyebrows, hairs standing up on their muzzle, a shaggy fringe, a general mop of floppy curls. 

Whatever the cause, you need to get the hair out of their eyes! 

If they can’t see properly they will not be able to make good judgments about what they’re looking at. Getting their focus may be hard, and they will be continually surprised by things just outside their vision.

You can use hair gel (make sure it’s safely lickable), hair grips or bands, shaping with the scissors, trimming with the clippers - or a visit to the groomer. 

But make sure your dog can see clearly.

Check the lugholes!

Working back from the eyes, take a look at the ears. 

Dogs with floppy, hairy ears will suffer from knots and tangles, burrs and thorns, food dried on at the bottom of their ears, and mats tweaking the skin behind their ears (ouch!). 

These can all be fairly easily dealt with with your high-quality scissors. If they’ve got a lot of hair on the underside of the ear you could thin that too.

The vital thing you must check for - especially with the fluffies (all the poodle crosses and suchlike) - is inside the ear canal. If there’s hair growing down inside you must remove it before it harbours grass seeds, mites, and general dirt and junk leading to infections. 

This is where you need your haemostat. It’s shaped like scissors, but the two blunt “blades” clamp the hair instead of cutting it. It’s what surgeons use to clamp veins. You can see it in the Dog Grooming Essentials Guide download you can get below

It’s so much easier than using your fingers to pluck the hair out, reaches in far enough and does the job quickly and efficiently. Your dog doesn’t like it? No, that’s understandable, but he’d like the pain of an ear infection and red, swollen ears even less. So it’s just something that has to be did.

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Paws, Knees, and Boompsadaisy

Underbelly: check that the genital areas are free of excess hair, enabling the dog to keep himself clean. 

If you have a fluffy - with constantly-growing hair - you’ll need to shave the area around the anus. Otherwise you’ll have a horrible dried-on mess to deal with!

Dogs with very soft wispy hair will get tight tangles in their armpits and groin, so you can trim the hair a bit shorter with scissors. In the summer they may be glad of much less hair on their belly.

Hold the hair between your first two fingers and keep your fingers between your dog and the scissors.

Lastly, have a look at your dog’s feet. Do they resemble floormops? If so, they’ll be slipping and sliding around when their feet are dry, and slopping mud and mess everywhere when they’re wet. 

Feet!

Lacy's feet before trimming

Transformation! Lacy's feet after trimming

The tool de rigueur for this job is the trimmer. Often sold for beards, sideburns, etc. it’s safe and easy to use. You can’t snip the webs with it, and I find my dogs enjoy the gentle buzzing sensation it gives them. 

Work down and up between the pads, and finish with shaping the outside of the paw. 

Neat feet will prevent a lot of hazards - including mudpies between the toes, scalds, grass seeds, burrs and thorns. They’ll save you a lot of towelling dry and floor-cleaning. And your puppy will not slither and slip when you ask him to sit on the kitchen floor.

My Border Collies are regularly upside down on my lap having their feet trimmed. Coco Poodle has his feet shaven all over, and looks very trim and smart.

And even Cricket the Whippet has this one hair trimming treatment occasionally - her construction means that she props herself when she sits, so on a smooth floor her front feet slide away from her. So she doesn’t escape my ministrations entirely!

If all of this scares you rigid, find a good dog-friendly groomer and get her to do it. You may be surprised to hear me suggest a “dog-friendly” groomer! But - just like trainers - it’s the way they treat the dog that’s more important (to me) than their skill in trimming him neatly. You don’t want your dog regarding a trip to the groomer like some of us regard a trip to the dentist!

But these maintenance clips really are easy to do and you can quickly gain confidence and get good and efficient at it. Don’t try them all at once! One paw a day, or one ear, will be fine.

And seriously - if your dog is bald, you’ll need special care for his skin to keep it moist and healthy. And in our British winters, he’ll definitely need a woolly jumper!

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Is my dog a reflection of me?

When we first visualise adding a dog to our lives, we conjure up an image, an impression, of what life will be like. 

You may have been looking at this project being super-rational, coldly calculating, rigidly sensible … until this image washed over you -

• of striding across a rugged landscape with your trusty friend at your heels.

• Or perhaps it was sitting knitting in front of an open fire, with your little fluffy pet on your lap.

• It could be that you saw yourself racing round an agility ring with your perfect pooch flying over the jumps to much applause.

• Or maybe you had an image of your friendly dog playing endlessly with the children, and the children’s friends, and their cousins, and their dogs.

Whatever it was you imagined, this dog was destined to enhance your life, to show off your natural talents as - an outdoorsy type, a homely comfortmaker, a sporty competitor, or the quintessential earth mother.

This is all great and wonderful, and for some of us that will have come true. 

We choose to have a dog to enrich our lives

But as any parent will know, once the much-anticipated creature (whether baby or puppy) arrives, it’s a different story! This little person has her own character, her own history, and her own opinions. Shaping a baby to become the kind of adult we’d like takes us twenty years (“Only twenty?” I hear you cry!). Fortunately it’s a lot quicker with a dog. 

I’d expect my pup to arrive at the kind of dog I’m aiming for by the age of about three or four. Up to then you’re in teaching mode. 

It is a truism that your dog’s behaviour is a direct reflection of your training.

With dogs it’s very much a case of you get out what you put in. And to get the best from your dog you need to be open to his suggestions of what works for him. To have harmony in the home, with a pet who knows his boundaries, you’ll be investing plenty of time in early training.

Don’t wait till things are going wrong! By the time your puppy is adolescent (around 6-9 months) and running wild, it is too late. That is a common age for dogs to be given up for rehoming. It’s the dog’s behaviour that will dictate how he fits in with his family - and ultimately whether he lives or dies. Many more dogs die because of poor training (failure to recall near a road, apparently aggressive behaviour because of lack of early socialisation, boisterousness, impetuousness) than from the illnesses that people are so afraid of.

Spending time and effort on vaccinations is pointless if you don’t put the same care into your training program!

Fortunately it’s becoming increasingly easier to find a force-free trainer to help you start your new dog the right way. Look for one who belongs to the APDT (UK), or the Karen Pryor Academy, and who has credentials you can look up and study. Avoid anyone who talks of “Pack Theory” “Dominance” “Keeping your dog in his place” and, of course, anyone who uses nasty equipment. If you wouldn’t use it on your small child, then no-one should have it near your dog.

Happily ever after

This will all pay off when your dog is mature, confident, knows exactly what goes down well with his family and what is best avoided. 

By then, you’ll have found out what you really want in your partnership. You can discard the glossy magazine images that paraded before you when you were planning your dog’s arrival, and factor in your dog’s character, your own character, and the nitty-gritty of daily life. 

Maybe you do go for those bracing hill walks; maybe you’re becoming an agility star; perhaps your dog is your rock and support; maybe she’s the perfect family dog.

But maybe not.

• Maybe she got an injury which precluded her from being a performance dog.

• Maybe she’s made it clear she’d far rather curl up and sleep than tramp across the moors.

• Maybe she’ s had enough of noisy children and prefers peace and quiet - that’s her choice.

And you work with the dog you have, to ensure that she has the happiest life possible. So you may have to put your hopes and plans on the back burner and give this dog a life that suits her. 

How often do you see a child from a sporty family end up as a musician, or an accountant? How about the academic family who are frustrated because their children become hippies or horse trainers?

Our dogs, like our children, are individuals. We can nurture their talents and rejoice in their creativity. The only reflection of us we need to see in our dog is the love in those big brown eyes. The rest is an adventure.

RESOURCES:

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APDT(UK)

KPA

VSPDT

IMDT

CBATI

PPG

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“He Understands Everything I Say!” 6 Pointers to Better Communication

Our vision of the speaker is a fluffy old lady cuddling her equally fluffy old dog. We smirk as she says this - what a lot of nonsense!

But wait! Maybe not so nonsensical!

Recent research has shown that not only do dogs process speech in a similar way to the way we process speech, but they also process emotions in those sounds - just as we do. Their brains are actually wired for sounds the same way ours are - pointing to our common ancestry over 100 million years ago. Add that we have been sharing our lives with each other for the last 18 - 32,000 years and we’ve kinda got used to each other. 

Do you want to bark at your dog?

Many people think that to communicate with their dogs they have to give sharp, abrupt “commands”, eliciting instant compliance. They have been misled by waves of tv personalities who have encouraged this dysfunctional, one-sided, relationship.

While clarity is important to avoid confusion, switching to the sort of conversation we have with our friends and families - especially what we do with as yet non-verbal small children - actually conveys more information to your dog. 

"Dogs and humans share a similar social environment," says Attila Andics of MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group in Hungary. "Our findings suggest that they also use similar brain mechanisms to process social information. This may support the successfulness of vocal communication between the two species." 1

If I’ve asked my dog to lie down, and after a while he forgets and moves off, rather than yell DOWN at him, I ask him in a quiet inquisitive voice, “What were you meant to be doing?” My dog pauses for a moment, processes both what he’s heard and the way it was said, and returns to lying down.

“The results do indicate that they don’t just pay attention to who is speaking and their tone of voice – they also, to some extent, hear the words we say.” says Victoria Ratcliffe, Doctoral candidate in Psychology at the University of Sussex. “So even if he doesn’t always respond, he is listening.” 2

We don’t yell single-syllable commands at people the same way we think we’re meant to yell at our dogs. We don’t say to our visitor, “Come in. I said Come in. Come IN! Get through that door NOW!” We focus on making the other person feel comfortable - and may smile, say “Come in,” make a welcoming gesture with our arm, perhaps make a whole body movement while we stand aside for them. It is the entirety of our communication that conveys information to our visitor. Standing rigid while barking abrupt commands would leave your guest confused and alarmed.

Good force-free trainers (not to mention millions of devoted dog-owners) know that speaking to your dog as a person is not only effective at getting your message across, but does it in a way that enhances your relationship while keeping your blood pressure down!

What do I do?

Here are a few steps you can take to change your approach to communicating with your dog.

1. Are you sure he knows what you mean?

Does your dog actually know what SIT means? People often expect their dog to arrive with a load of behaviours installed. Remember that when your new pup arrives, you are getting Dog 1.0 - the basic version, not the pre-programmed one. You have to provide all the add-ons and upgrades!

2. Pair your sound with his action.

The quickest way to teach a dog a word is to pair that word with his action. So you say SIT quietly while his bottom is going to the floor. You are labelling that movement as “sit”. Keep repeating this whenever he sits till he gets it, and you can say SIT and he’ll sit straight away. No need for wagging fingers or menacing body language. Just a soft voice will do.

3. Now you can sound like a human being and not a robot.

Once he’s got this, you can ask him to sit in a pleasant friendly way: “Would you sit over there?” “Sit down now, there’s a good boy.” “Come and sit beside me.” will now all work. I’m not saying he understands every word you are saying, of course, but he will certainly understand the gist and the underlying emotion. He may need to try a couple of things to see if that’s what you want. He may lie down instead of sitting. That’s ok - you’re not in an obedience competition.

4. Zip it!

Say it once, then zip it! Don’t rabbit on, repeating yourself. So if your dog is distracted when you ask him to sit, you don’t need to escalate your “sit, SIT, SIT!” and show frustration. Try a quiet “Did I ask you to sit?” or “What do you think you should do now?” It may amaze you, but you will most likely get a thoughtful response from your dog. Don’t forget to reward him warmly when he obliges!

5. Watch the Children.

Children can undermine your training by endlessly repeating your dog’s name. They like to roll words around in their mouths like fine wine and move into a sing-song litany. They may be “fighting” each other for the pup’s attention, or they may just have slipped into a habit of calling the dog without following through. Fran was continually calling her puppy’s name on one of our Puppy Walks, then ignoring the dog and wandering off. So I called her over and said “Fran,” “Fran,” “FRAN,” “Fran-NEE,” “Fran?” She grumpily said “What?!” It took her very little time to get annoyed and impatient with me, which demonstrated nicely what she was putting her dog through. She was expertly teaching him to ignore not only his name, but anything else she said!

6. Conflicting information.

Evidence that dogs take in the whole picture and not just an isolated sound is that if you make a sound and a signal simultaneously your dog will tend to miss the sound completely and follow the signal. As a non-verbal species dogs have a sophisticated body language to communicate with each other, so when there’s a conflict of information they will tend to choose what they see over what they hear. Hence in no.2 above, focus on the sound and don’t add extraneous body signals. If you always bend over or look like the Statue of Liberty when you say “sit”, your dog is going to be mightily puzzled when you say “sit” without your accompanying movements. You can always add hand signals later if you need them.

Was the Fluffy Old Lady Right?

You may not want to be a fluffy old lady or have a fluffy old dog, but at least that lady and her dog are happy and content with each other!  

Nobody wants to live in a war zone, and not many wish to live in a military bootcamp. More and more countries round the world are declaring dogs and other animals to be sentient beings, not property, and their laws are being changed accordingly. This is a huge advance for our so-called “civilised society”. (Here in the UK, dogs are still possessions, like a chair, or a teapot.)

Cast off the shackles of what some tv “trainers” have advocated, and behave like a friend to your dog, not a prison guard. 

For more insights into communicating with your dog, get our free email course which solves many common puppy and dog problems for you - all without force of any kind.

And if you’ve enjoyed this, you’ll love the ebook series Essential Skills for a Brilliant Family Dog

Is your dog or your little puppy throwing up more challenges than you anticipated? Watch our free Workshop and find how to change things fast!

Sources:

1. Attila Andics, Márta Gácsi, Tamás Faragó, Anna Kis, Ádám Miklósi. Voice-Sensitive Regions in the Dog and Human Brain Are Revealed by Comparative fMRI. Current Biology, February 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.058

2. Victoria F. Ratcliffe, David Reby. Orienting Asymmetries in Dogs’ Responses to Different Communicatory Components of Human Speech. Current Biology, November 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.030

How to choose a dog to suit your lifestyle

“It’s so difficult,” she went on, “he never seems to run out of energy! It’s wearing me out.”

“I guess you were expecting that, as you chose a Working Cocker Spaniel?”

“Oh no - I had no idea! Is that why he’s like he is?”

I wish I had a pound for every time this conversation gets repeated. It’s a shame, because the lady here was well-intentioned. 

Maybe she chose her puppy because she liked his looks; maybe a friend has an older, quieter, spaniel which she liked; maybe it’s because this particular breed is currently fashionable as it has royal approval.

Whatever the reason, she made a wrong choice! For her lifestyle she’d have been better off with a quieter, slower dog, one bred as a pet, not a working breed. 

Working Cockers are smashing little dogs, but they’re bred to go all day in the field, at high speed, through scrub, water - anything they’re put to. Teaching them an off-switch takes some skill. They can even be too much of a handful for some agility enthusiasts, though there’s no doubting their speed and commitment to the task. So this really is unlikely to be a good choice for a first-time puppy-owner - a complete novice with dogs.

What breed is right for me?

There’s no “right breed”. While you can make a general description of a breed’s temperament, there can be huge variation in individuals. The UK Kennel Club has a breed-finder tool which may give you a start. 

There are, of course, crossbred puppies you’ll find in family homes or in shelters. Then there are the “designer dogs” bred for money. See this article on designer dogs to get an idea of what you may expect there. Don’t get confused over the allergy thing either. If a dog is a cross with a non-shedding breed, there is no guarantee that your puppy will not shed, and may do so plentifully! While these crosses may sound attractive (largely because of their cute names) they may be a mixture of two breeds, neither of which are suitable for your home! Mixing them together is not going to diminish their behavioural characteristics. 

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So before you start looking for a breeder for your new dog, you must narrow down the breed or type to fit your requirements. You need to be scrupulously honest about this! Dreaming about 10-mile hikes over the hills, when the last time you walked more than a hundred yards was when the shopping centre car park was particularly full, is unrealistic.

Start from where you are. List what you do now, and what you’d like to do with your dog, and make sure the lists match. If you are particularly houseproud, for instance, it’s important that you choose a dog that doesn’t shed year-round, or fling strings of saliva across the room whenever they shake their head. If your house is tiny, perhaps a tiny dog would be a good option. If you have small children you need a dog with an excellent temperament and an off-switch. While being calm can be taught - there's a book here to take you through the steps - it does help to be working with a puppy whose ancestry allows him to calm down.

If you have a hankering to do agility with your dog - then visit some agility events and talk to the people there. Explain you’re a beginner. You’ll get some very useful advice, and you’ll learn a lot from what you see. You don’t start your car-driving career with a Ferrari, so start with something a bit more biddable and you can grade up to a more energetic individual as you become more skilled.

Whatever puppy you choose, you won’t be doing any of those 10-mile walks for a year or so anyway. Babies need to grow their bones and strengthen their joints and muscles with play and light exercise before building up a training regime.

And, of course, all of this doesn’t only apply to Working Cocker Spaniels! They are a delightful little dog, but like all dogs, they need to be in the right home. 

Homework time

High-energy puppies!

The key message here is to “do your homework”! It’s not fair to your new puppy or dog to have to try and fit into a totally unsuitable home. This will lead to frustration all round. And you may find yourself doubting your decision to get a dog for a companion, which would be very sad. 

By all means go for a rangy working dog that needs a lot of exercise and mental stimulation, if you are able to furnish that. But whatever you choose, do keep in mind that the dog looks as it does because of what it’s been bred to do - through many generations.

There is a splendid sculpture on the hills near my home, of two buzzards landing - claws forward - possibly on their prey. A passer-by said to me, “I don’t like that sculpture - they look too vicious.” No doubt to their prey they do look vicious, but it’s because of their purpose that they look as magnificent as they do to us. They are efficient hunters and killers, and everything about them is designed to make that work. 

Your dog has been bred for purpose. So that efficiency is represented in his shape and behaviour. If you don’t want to bother to train a recall, then avoid a dog that can cover 200 yards in 12 seconds! (Only kidding, you need to train a recall with any dog.)

A dog fit for purpose

And while you’re looking at a dog of any breed, be sure to check up on its parents’ health record. Breed societies and national kennel clubs have stringent guidelines for health assessments for breeding animals. Since the appalling scandal in the UK when it was shown that the majority of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are affected by a distressing and painful degenerative brain disease, the UK Kennel Club has focussed more on this. See their breed health guidelines here. 

So some breeds have particular problems with, say, Patella Luxation, Hip Dysplasia, maybe Progressive Retinal Atrophy or other eye problems. You need to have sight of the certificates showing their score on the relevant tests, and know how to understand that score. These tests are not cheap, and breeders who can show you evidence of going to this trouble and expense are demonstrating their care for the animals in their charge. 

And just because you’re getting a crossbreed, with some extra hybrid vigour thrown in, don’t think you can skip these tests! If one parent has poor hips, there will be a high chance of your puppy developing such a condition. Not when he’s old - maybe in his first year.

We owe it to our new charge to ensure the best start possible for him.

There is a dog out there that is perfect for you and your family! Research has never been easier. Spend some time in the planning of your new puppy and that will pay you back for the rest of your dog’s life.

And once you have chosen your new puppy, you can avail of all the resources to help you start right. Check out the other posts under the  Puppies & Dogs tab above, and be sure to start following the free email course for new dog-owners.

Is your dog or your little puppy throwing up more challenges than you anticipated? Watch our free Workshop and find how to change things fast!

I have a new puppy: will I ever get any sleep again?

It’s a frequent cry from new puppy-owners. You bring home your cuddly fluffpup - you are overflowing with parental emotions for this little scrap and determined to do the best for her. 

Trouble is, that cuddly fluffpup turns into a screeching monster as soon as you put your head on your pillow. So you go down to see what’s wrong - is she hungry? is she cold? does she need a wee? By the time you’ve exhausted all these possibilities, both you and your puppy are well and truly awake. The puppy is now refreshed and ready to start the day. But it’s half past midnight and you have to be at work tomorrow morning!

This seems to be the stage when one of the pup’s new owners fetches the duvet downstairs and tries to sleep on the sofa. In no time it’s 4 a.m., the puppy is refreshed and you are not. 

Next night you eschew your comfy double bed and start out on the sofa. You wake up hearing chewing and crunching noises as your puppy discovers the interesting textures of your computer cables. And being awake and mobile, she now needs to relieve herself - this bit of carpet will do …

As you stagger into work on the fourth or fifth day you realise that This Is Not Working! That’s when I get a phone call. The caller is usually desperate: sleep-deprived, anxious, guilty, worried, their work is being affected, they see no light at the end of this tunnel. Some people actually return the puppy to the breeder at this stage: really! 

So what’s going wrong?

I often find they have a crate for their dog, but haven’t used it, or they’ve tried using it but won’t shut the door, or it’s in the wrong part of the house. They may think it’s cruel to confine the puppy to a crate - but I can assure you that the breeder confined the puppies (3? 6? 10 of them?) at night! 

Most people are comfortable putting their baby in a cot - for their own peace of mind as well as the babe’s safety. What’s the difference?

The next thing I learn is, “I don’t want the dog in the bedroom”.  

As they are usually at the stage where they are actually paying me to give them a night’s sleep, this is particularly shortsighted.

Your puppy is used to snuggling up with those 3, 6, or 10 warm, furry, littermates - suddenly being alone is a loss and causes fear. 

They’ve also perhaps been making this common mistake, which one desperate terrier-owner told me about: “I come straight downstairs, knock on the door, and tell her to be quiet.” 

Your puppy is not barmy - she’s able to work out that if she barks and wails long enough, someone will respond. Now you’ve told her she just has to keep going for as long as it takes! You’ve made things worse

Blissful, peaceful sleep

DOWNLOAD your guide here to getting a good night’s sleep with your new puppy!

My own puppies sleep through the night from the day they arrive. They quickly get into a pattern and will be clean and dry by night from anything between 7 and 9 weeks. 

I’ve given my sleep recipe to anyone who has difficulty settling their new pup, and get responses like these:

Have your puppy sleep ALL NIGHT from the first night! Get this free guide to show you how

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“Got a whole night’s sleep last night! Thank you!!” Vizsla puppy 9 weeks

“Good morning Beverley, Just had to let you know that I followed your guidance re settling Gertie at night and we had a peaceful sleep with no crying and no mess in her bed, a very big thank you.” Miniature Dachshund pup 11 weeks

“Your suggestion about the size of the crate worked wonders! No mess in crate this morning.” Labrador pup 14 weeks

Want to know what the secret is?

Here you go: 

1. Use a crate

It doesn’t need to be the size of a ballroom - only big enough for the puppy to get up, turn around, and lie down again. It’s a bed, not a playroom. If you’ve bought a large one because your pup is a large breed but is currently still tiny, you can either buy a crate divider - or simply fill the extra space with cardboard boxes to make a smaller sleeping area. No problem if he chews the boxes. A well-reared puppy will not normally soil his sleeping area (unless very distressed) so this helps with your housetraining program. If you have a whippet, earthdog or other tunnelling breed, provide masses of blankets your pup can burrow into like a hamster, rather than a flat single piece of bedding which will better suit a hot dog like a border collie or a golden retriever.

2. Shut the crate door

Shut the crate for every nap, every sleep, every meal. Never open the crate door if your dog is hollering, “I’m going to get my lawyer if you don’t let me out of here!” Only calm and silence will get that door opened. (Genuine distress is something else, and needs attention - you should be able to distinguish between annoyance and distress with ease.) Darken the room and/or partially cover the crate - this makes it a cosy den. For naps, leave the room and shut the door.

3. Put the crate by your bed at night

Your puppy will hear you breathing and moving, sighing and snoozing. If she wakes up anxious, you can just reach a hand out to touch her through the bars so she is reassured she’s not alone. You’ll hear if she’s genuinely agitated and needs a wee. If you don’t want your dog to sleep in your bedroom, you can move her out again once a pattern is established and she feels confident in her new home and routine.

4. Once pup is in crate, there’s no talk, no interaction

The crate is a quiet area for s-l-e-e-p-i-n-g. And chewing chew toys, and eating meals. It’s not a chatty place. 

Imagine the crate is soundproof - both ways!

You have now taught your dog to relax and settle anywhere she finds her crate. This is invaluable training for the rest of your lives together! No separation anxiety, no pacing and worrying when you holiday in a new place, no danger of damaging the carpets or cables when visiting friends. When your dog goes into her crate, she lies down and sleeps!

Let me know in the comments below how you’re getting on!

Want a step-by-step guide to everything you need to know about your new puppy? Get New Puppy! here, and start on the right paw!

Once your puppy is about 9 weeks old and has settled in with you, you can start working through the Brilliant Family Dog series of how-to e-books. Everything is broken down for you into little steps - and what’s more, the first book in the series is free! Go get it now.

Try some of our lessons right away - you'll be amazed how quickly your puppy learns!

Check other post that might help your brilliant dogs:

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“Designer Dogs”: what are they really made of?

It’s all the rage - dogs with cute monikers. 

You can find a Jackapoo, Cockerpoo, Labradoodle, Goldendoodle, Jackahuahua, Maltipoo, Puggle, Schnoodle, Cavapoo, Yorkipoo … and I have yet to discover the name of a Shih-Tsu crossed with a Poodle.

In many cases, people are seduced by the cuteness of the name and the celebrities who have also been seduced - and bought one. 

It tends to be first-time puppy buyers who go down this route, as they often have little understanding of breed characteristics. 

It’s not just about looks!

The problem is that as many of the crosses are inappropriate, you end up with a much more challenging dog than if you had gone for either a pedigree dog from a first-class breeder, or a genuine mixed-breed mutt from the shelter.

As a friend put it recently, describing a cocker spaniel x poodle (a so-called “cockerpoo”) she’d met:

“You have a dog who couldn’t care less about people crossed with a dog who wants to rule the world - not a good combination.”

I have found that this tremendously popular cross creates a lot of problems for the new puppy-owners I work with. It’s one of the most difficult crosses to manage and needs skill and knowledge of the characteristic behaviour of both breeds involved. I’m quite sure that the funny name is what has swayed many of these buyers. This is why I never use the cutesy titles people give me for their dog (which they usually say in an exaggerated way and accompanied by a shy giggle “It’s a cockerpooooooo!”). I call them what they are: a spaniel x poodle. That way I can keep their make-up in the front of my mind when working with them.

Oh, and having one parent from a non-shedding breed means you have on average a 50% chance of your puppy being non-shedding, or suitable for allergy-sufferers and the houseproud. Puppies barely shed any hair in the first year anyway, so the new owner doesn’t find out the truth for some time.

What happens when you mix them up?

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You need to look at the characteristics of the breeds you are crossing. A terrier, for instance, has been bred for centuries to hunt down and kill small rodents. This is why they are so popular on farms and in stables. They need to have an outlet for this instinctive drive. If you expect them to perch on a velvet cushion all day long because they’ve been crossed with some kind of fluffy, you are going to build up tremendous frustration and conflicts in your little dog.

Cuteness in appearance is not necessarily matched by cuteness in behaviour.

We all know people who look just like one parent while having all the personality traits of the other. 

Another friend was toying with the idea of mating his two dogs - a reactive, longhaired, collie bitch and a cuddly, fast, whippet. He thought he would get lots of fluffy cuddly puppies. Genetics is a tricky and unpredictable game - even for those who know a lot about it. I warned him he may instead get a litter of very fast reactive dogs. 

Fortunately he realised that in any case his reactive bitch should not be bred from. “Reactive” is a catchall word for fearful, anxious, defensive. There would be a high likelihood of all the puppies following their mother’s example and being reactive too. The world does not need another six or ten reactive dogs!

And this leads me to the source of most of these “designer” dogs. 

What difference does the breeder make?

Good pedigree breeders spend a lot of time and money on producing the best puppies they can. The genetic testing they do is expensive and time-consuming. They choose pairings with enormous care, studying the history of the lines for behaviour, temperament, and health, and will only breed from the very best. 

They then devote months to caring for the bitch and rearing these puppies in an enriched environment - usually their kitchen and living room - taking special care over their socialisation and temperament, then carefully vetting prospective owners. The best remain available for advice and guidance throughout the life of the dog.

Do you think the same level of attention is given by the puppy farmers who produce many of these crosses? Do you think they pay for those expensive tests? Do you think they start off with the best possible stock? No pedigree breeder would let their puppies go to such a person, so they’re starting off with inferior animals right off the bat.

UK TV Vet Marc Abraham says, “You end up cross-breeding breeds which each often have their own genetic faults. So Labradors are prone to hip problems, and Poodles to eyesight problems. Cross-breed them and you get puppies prone to both conditions.”

Another Frankenstein

While these dogs tend to attract the inexperienced, they are by and large not a dog for the first-time buyer.

Even the person who bred the first, notorious, “Labradoodle” (a mistaken attempt to provide a guide dog for a blind person with allergies), Wally Conron, says, “I opened a Pandora's box, that's what I did. I released a Frankenstein. So many people are just breeding for the money. So many of these dogs have physical problems, and a lot of them are just crazy. I've done so much harm to pure breeding and made so many charlatans quite rich. I wonder whether we bred a designer dog—or a disaster!" 

People will pay absurd amounts of money for these unfortunate puppies. They don’t realise they are being duped by callous people who are cashing in on a craze. They fall for the puppy mill tricks and believe the puppy they’re getting is from the bitch that they’re shown, and reared in the comfortable house they visit. 

Some sharper buyers have doubts, but they still go ahead with the purchase as they want to “rescue” the puppy - thus perpetuating this evil trade.

Sadly, many of these puppies are bred from sickly breeding-machine bitches who are kept caged in appalling conditions, with none of the social environment that makes for a stable and healthy dog. 

The UK Kennel Club, who campaign actively against the puppy farmers, conducted research that indicated that one in five puppies bought via social media or the internet dies before it’s six months old. “It is irresponsible breeding and it is done purely to make money”, says the KC Secretary Caroline Kisko.

Before all you owners of designer dogs berate me in the comments, saying how lovely and healthy your dog is - I can tell you that you are one of the lucky ones. 

So what dog should I get?

There are people who spend more time and attention buying a new washing machine than they devote to choosing the right dog - a real live creature with an individual personality - to share their home for the next 12 - 15 years.

So what options are there for getting a healthy, well-bred, carefully-reared puppy?

1. You can go to a careful, genuine, breeder.

 In the UK the Kennel Club has a list of approved breeders - but you still need to do your own vetting! That’s especially so with a breed that has serious genetic problems, like the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, at least 70% of whom will have developed a debilitating and painful brain disease by their sixth birthday. 

2. You can get a neighbourhood mutt born to a family pet in a home local to you.

For someone whose beloved family pet has a litter of pups this is the highlight of their year, and massive amounts of time and love will be lavished on the pups. If there is enough cross-breeding there will be plenty of hybrid vigour. You will be able to meet the dam and quite possibly the sire too. Puppies reared with loving care in a busy family home have the best start in life. 

3. Or, of course, you can take pot luck on a rescue dog from a shelter. 

This can be a winner all round. But unsurprisingly, many of them have baggage and behavioural problems, and some of those posh crosses end up in rescue because they’re so hard to manage. You need to be prepared to work with someone else’s cast-off and you may need specialist behavioural advice (make sure it’s force-free!). But the results can be fantastic and rewarding.

Either way, you should spend months on this project. 

And don’t be deceived by something as paltry as a name. Wally Conron, the Labradoodle man, freely admits that the name was invented as a marketing ploy, as nobody was interested in having a “mongrel”. Would you really spend more money on the washing machine you’re researching if it was called a “Washypot” or a “Clothesyclean”? Or if a film starlet had one?

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