Pat
Pat 28001671
Location: Edinburgh Area
Breed: Springer spaniel, liver and white
Age: 5 years
Gender: Male
Good with Children: Yes – over 12
Good with Dogs: Some reactivity to other dogs when out on walks.
Good with Cats: Untested, likely to chase
Good with Livestock: Untested
Status: Available
A little bit about Pat – Pat is a friendly, playful lad. He greets visitors initially by barking but quickly accepts them in the home and will happily go to them for affection without being too pushy. He will happily accept attention from friendly adults we meet out on walks as long as they don't have a dog with them. Pat loves his balls and has his favourites. He also likes to collect paper, socks and gloves and needs to be persuaded with a good treat to relinquish them. He loves being groomed with his own brush, especially his ears and will relax completely into this. He likes being told he is a good boy.
Home life: Pat is completely house trained and will use the garden for toileting if needed. He is regular in his toileting habits and settled into our routine very easily with walk or garden before breakfast (usually around 7 to 8am), followed by regular on-lead walks throughout the day. In between he will rest or play with his toys. He does enjoy a big, safe soft toy to pull apart, so has to be supervised. He will drop them for a good treat. While living with us, Pat has been left in the house on his own for up to two and a half hours and settles well with a small treat on his own cover on the settee. No sign of barking until he hears our key in the lock and always very pleased to see us back.
Sleep and Resting: During the day Pat sleeps either on the settee or beside our armchairs. He does have his own dog bed downstairs but only uses it for occasional naps during the evening.
Pat sleeps overnight in his crate beside our bed and has settled easily to this although he would prefer his previous habit of sleeping with his owners. He is ready to start his day with a jump on the bed, a stretch and then is happy to come downstairs. He is not a big breakfast hand, preferring to get out for an explore first. He prefers to have about half his breakfast kibble in one of his treat balls and often doesn't finish what is in his dish.
Exercise and Travelling: Pat walks well on a Gentle leader or Halti collar but pulls on an ordinary collar and lead,and pulls even more on a harness. He travels well on the back seat of our car wearing his travel harness. Mostly he will wait to be untied, apart from when we take him to the Run free dog park when he is focussed on getting into the park and off the lead.
Behavioural issues: Pat is reactive to other dogs and has to be firmly told to Walk on. That is a work in progress, and he can be very determined to bark, growl and lunge. More recently we have managed to get him to walk past other placid dogs across the street but the slightest sign of aggro from another dog sets him off. We have not had the opportunity to see how he is with livestock apart from a very 'alert' reaction to sheep he could see from the car.
He will chase cats out of the garden and occasionally runs at the big crows in the garden though he doesn't seem that interested when out walking.
He has been fine with young people we meet in the street, mostly ignoring them unless they are noisy when he looks a bit uneasy. We have no young visitors so cannot further assess this, but he is very much a 'people' dog so perhaps he would be fine with older sensible children who didn't get him over excited.
Visiting the vet: Pat has had his routine healthcheck, and all was well. He was quite anxious but friendly and enjoyed some treats.
Pat will be adopted with a contract to be neutered once he is settled.
Home needs: Pat is the nicest of boys but needs a confident owner to work on his reactivity and is not a dog for inexperienced folk. We found him easy to settle in our home apart from random barking at household noises, for example, a door closing upstairs, our landline ringing, sudden loud noises on TV etc. He does have very acute hearing.
Sadly, because of his reactivity to other dogs we have not had him off lead apart from the Run free doggy area where he is on his own. His recall is generally good in the house and garden but with so many smells to check out it is less reliable in his off-lead excursions where he just wants to ball chase and explore.
He is worried by the vacuum cleaner or carpet sweeper and will look for a safe place to hide.
He is happy to lie under the table if we are eating there but if we are eating in front of the TV he will sit hopefully and doesn't appear to know a command for 'Go to bed' or 'Go away'. He just waits hopefully, no actual begging or barking.
Pat needs a family who will continue to work on his reactivity and perhaps in time to walk him without a Gentle leader or even off lead, but he is such a nice dog overall and seems receptive to further training.
He would be best as the only dog in the home, possibly would be fine with a calm, friendly dog after careful introduction. No cats. Older teenage children would be fine.
Ongoing support: Springer Rescue for Scotland will be available for any support with your new dog and can offer behavioural support in case of any problems that may arise on adopting a dog.
Please do not express interest in Pat if you are going on holiday in the next 6-8 weeks.
If you have been home-checked or approved by email then please complete the interest form below.
If you haven’t applied yet but think I’m your perfect companion, please complete an application on the website and then submit the form below.
Please ONLY contact us if you fit the required criteria
