Cute!!!
We’ve three chickens roaming the garden in the daytime. They herd the dog. She’ll quite literally choose her route through the garden to give them a wide berth . Labs can be such jessies.
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It’s funny when we first got the rabbits she (dog) was obsessed with them. Would watch them in the hutch and chase them round their run.
One of the rabbits has attitude, the white one. They were in the house the other day and the white one was on the sofa, dog went over and got in its face and the rabbit squared up to the dog and the dog meekly scurried away.
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absolutely, if for nothing else to reduce the amount of stinking farts 
when we got Troy we bought the Wags brand from Sainsburys - jeezus, it made him really farty. we switched to Fish4Dogs brand - mostly fish and root veg based - and it’s reduced the farting enormously. still stinks when he does though! It’s not cheap compared to many others but it’s really good quality and just for the lack of smell we’re prepared to pay that extra! A tip - buy “working dog” packs of kibble as you save the VAT. It’s exactly the same as the standard equivalent but just 20% cheaper - frankly it’s a bizarre system but might as well exploit that difference.
with our strong dog, a harness isn’t a good option as they can pull even harder so we only use it when he’s in the motorhome as it acts as a restraint and is bucked into a spare seat belt clip. through trial and error we find a figure of 8 lead is the best for close walking Troy, with a slip lead as backup.
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Is this like putting red diesel into your 4x4?
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He is currently on something called Dr Johns. May be because it was the cheapest for the breeder?
There are a few I’ve found on a Cockapoo website which are lots more money but pure ingredients are definitely better. Going to give him a couple of days on his current food and see how it treats him.
Will probably buy a collar for walking and a harness for runs…
Collar with tag is a legal requirement when out. You can’t (shouldn’t) add ID tag to harness. I got told off first day at puppy class 
If you do change his food, think the advice is to gradually switch over.
When are you getting him?
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This will be me, too!
We got him about 3.30 yesterday afternoon. His sister left yesterday so he was the only one left.
He went in to his crate through the evening and ended up sleeping in it until 5.30 this morning.
He finds our 18 month old’s ear very tasty. Keeps trying to nibble it.
Need to get myself together to sort his vet, etc today
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the range of dog foods out there is massive and with so many styles, flavours, ingredients etc and at all sorts of prices that it’s frankly a minefield trying to make a choice. you’ll have loads of people suggesting try this, do that, you must use raw, fish is best, etc etc and I suggest you ignore it all. try your dog on something that looks a good product (cheapest are not that good) and if the dog is OK on it why change? it’s only if the dog isn’t flourishing, has sloppy poo/stinky farts, or won’t eat is when you need to look at changing and your vet is often the best person to discuss this with. there are online calculators to help you decide how much to feed your dog as it grows - overfeeding is always a big problem with owners.
we have tags on dog collars - it just lists our su name, postcode, phone no., and vet name - that’s enough to ID the dog if it goes missing without giving too much personal info away.
good luck and have fun!
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Our harness has a pouch to put a tag in it with all the usual info. Laser engraved in stainless steel. I think the law stipulates only that your dog must carry id. I’m trying to work out why a puppy class would tell you off for having a harness? Maybe I’m missing something obvious!
No they stated the tag must be on a collar.
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A quick google reveals you are entirely technically correct. First result was Mumsnet so it must be right! I’m happy to stick with a harness with tag, but then I’m a mad lad 
cheers
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Yeah I guess they just want a common location.
But with the amount of unregistered and such dogs, you think that would be the focus.
Here he is. He has been whining today. Must be sensing he isn’t with mum anymore.
The eldest hasn’t left him alone and hasn’t really let him sleep so we’ve had to have words 
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he’s a heart melter!
can’t stress enough about training them from the off - don’t let them (or the kids) develop bad habits as they can be difficult to break. our rescue came to us pretty much untrained 5 months ago as he’d been a street dog, and it’s been constant hard work training but we’re seeing a lot of light at the end of the tunnel now, but no easing up.
if you can’t take him to a puppy trainer, make sure you look for online sources and YT videos - plenty of info out there. also look for Cockapoo training groups on Facebook - no doubt there’ll be a few around (I belong to about 7 GWP groups!)
enjoy
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Agreed. The breeder gave him a bag of Dr John’s puppy food. After a few reviews I realised it was the cheapest, which is understandable if they are using it on a few pups. He wasn’t really keen and didn’t eat much yesterday or today.
We got a free bag of AVA at Pets At Home, today and mixed a little in with his other food. He loved it and ate so much so that was a positive!
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Thanks. That is my main worry. We are so involved with just settling him I’m worried ill let things slip!
I’m going to get on the Facebook groups and YouTube videos. Any ones in particular or just puppy ones?
Cheers!
just check what’s out there - join puppy and adult groups (not just training ones but general groups as well) as you usually get decent advice and comments from all. larger numbers of group members is usually a good sign of activity and worth. and stick with UK groups - Yank ones get a bit like Mumsnet!
As a trathlete, you’ll want to get your new pooch a RoadID tag
It’s basically the same lazer etched tag as the RoadID wrist bands, but it attaches to the collar. It sits flat against the collarand doesn’t have that annoying rattle whenthe dog moves around. They’re in the US, but delivery is very quick and they’ve got a Black Friday sale on at the moment.
Food wise, our two are generally pretty fussy eaters, but they love this stuff - https://butternutbox.com/?msclkid=f1446a73b26d1db862c735c82f238105&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BSN_FIRS_BRND_EXT_Butternut%20Box&utm_term=butternut%20box%20dog%20food&utm_content=BB_Pure
It’s cooked fresh from good quality ingredients and then frozen. They deliver in batches every 3 or 4 weeks, so you need a bit of freezer space.
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