[Nicki85]

OK here is the whirlwind himself  
Lapdog!  Need to stop the jumping up but that will be ok

Untitled by Tessmess85, on Flickr

Cute...

Meet Rusty- 6 month old Springer from the Springer Spaniel Rescue.  Hoping he might be up for some agility when he is old enough! by Tessmess85, on Flickr

Going for his first walk with his older sister

Untitled by Tessmess85, on Flickr

Sniff sniff!

Untitled by Tessmess85, on Flickr

Need to work on the crate- at the moment he hates it.  The foster owners said they kept him in a crate but not sure I can believe it!  I'm feeding him in there at the moment- baby steps!

I've warned him that he is going to be a busy boy   I'm part of a local dog walking group so will be taking him on some social walks to start with.  Also will register him with the vets to be neutered and microchipped.  Lastly need to find a dog training club i'm happy with!  Having done a lot of training with Tess I'm quite cautious about joining a club without going along first.  

[Dawnuss]

what a gorgeous pup. Tess and rusty look very relaxed together. 

[Thrift]

He's a beautiful boy! He looks so settled and relaxed already ..... I'm sure he'll be fine. 

[Nicki85]

He is lovely!  Although currently he is barking, howling and trying to break down the kitchen door    I'm trying my best to ignore but it is very hard!  Poor lad is so unsettled    Hopefully give him a couple of weeks and he will have settled down 

[Oliveview]

What a lovely dog, both dogs are lovely 

Pamela

[tosca100]

Gorgeous! I'm sure he'll soon settle with routine and his new big sister's calming influence.

Good luck with a training club....there are some shockers out there.

[MJS]

Congratulations, Rusty looks gorgeous.

[Nicki85]

In the end I put him in the crate... although he doesn't like it yet we didn't hear another wimper out of him till I went down and let him out this morning.  Such a good boy 

[joyfull]

he is lovely, and considering you have only just got him you obviously trust him off the lead so looks like you have a good one there 

[arugula]

What a handsome boy. I love Springers anyway. Well done, it looks like you have a good 'un there.

[Trillium]

The first picture tells the whole story 

[Nicki85]

Just a quick update... he is doing fab still.  He is alot calmer today not as much jumping on the furniture and people  He is incredibly good with Tess and Neo (cat).  He so wants to go over to Neo and give him kisses but a quick shout and he is back.  Neo is now venturing into the living room again! 

We've discovered that he is scared of water (yup- Spaniel scared of water  ) and he will only paddle!  He is aslo a snorkeller!  He was very scared of the horses but took himself off to the car to hide so I left him to it- don't want to overface him!

We started the beginnings of clicker training- priming the clicker with a treat which he thought was great  He also demonstrated that he knew down- clever boy. 

Only problems so far is that he is very anxious when left so we've worked out a schedule for the next three weeks to gradually ease him into life here.  He is also addicted to the rabbit and would like to eat him very much!  Also scared of the hoover but put himself in his crate when that went on  :happy:

He's a good boy!

[Thrift]

It sounds as though he's settling very well and it's brilliant that you can have him off the lead so soon. There is bound to be some anxiety for a while ...... it's always a bit more difficult when they are 8 months rather than 8 weeks but he sounds quite sensible for his age. 

[Nicki85]

Yes I was concerned about letting him off but the foster parents said that they always let the dogs off straight away so I trusted that they probably new best.  We did do some practice in the garden to start with and had some very tasty treats with us. 

His anxiety is settling down- we can leave him downstairs and go upstairs now with no barking so he is improving step by step.  All about baby steps!  We are his fourth home in six months he is bound to be worried about not seeing us again.  Just got to get him to trust us that we will be coming back! 

[arugula]

All about baby steps!  We are his fourth home in six months he is bound to be worried about not seeing us again.  Just got to get him to trust us that we will be coming back! 

Similar to the situation with our Terrier when we rescued him as a pup. He soon became the most loyal little companion.