Jellybean and Red – my lockdown subjects

Well I thought I would start my first blog post with a bit of an intro into my dogs.

I have grown up with dogs since birth. We were a Labrador family and always had one or two and mum and dad still do to this day. Once I moved out however my passion for cocker spaniels grew after working in a boarding kennels with a lady who had several and bred them. I decided I WOULD have a cocker! However my landlord at the time had other ideas and told me I could only have a terrier sized dog……hmmm ….well that was the cocker wish out the window as I could not guarantee the adult size….only guess and that wasn’t good enough for him. My flat mate at the time had a dog already and she was a Jack Russell crossed with a Cocker Spaniel, around the size of a Jack Russel with bigger ears.

This got me thinking that maybe I could get the same cross but hairy like a spaniel, almost like a bonsai cocker! Mission on!

Soon I found a litter of 13 jack russell x cocker pups for sale not a million miles away which were the result of an accidental mating of the man’s KC registered bitch with the yards number one ratter! I went to see the litter with a friend who consequently ended up buying a puppy too. We had all the bitches out and I picked the biggest most spaniel looking one there was…..chubby and spotty seemed like good methods to pick a puppy on…….oh my I had a lot to learn! Anyway soon came the day that I went to collect my little lardy spotty fluff ball…..she was gorgeous….despite having an undershot jaw which the breeder pointed out to me and said I could pick a different perfect one, which I was highly offended atand declared to him that she was perfect but if he could knock £50 off the price she’d be even better!

(What! I had student debts)

Puppy came home and was named Jellybean! She was a very quick learner and soon became my shadow at home and at work on the farm. As time went on Jelly matured into an adult who was extremely lazy unless it involved a rat or rabbit and extremely stubborn, but I loved her never the less! She was the complete polar opposite to her sister who was full of beans and such a crazy little beast……and still is 9 years later…..I’m lucky if Jelly gets up to say hello throughout the day….. haha….lesson learnt – don’t pick the fat puppy that sleeps a lot and couldn’t give a fig if you were there or not……DON’T PICK PUPPIES BASED ON FLUFF AND SPOTS! Haha. Like I say I have learnt a lot and love Jelly despite her Lady of the manor personality.

I never stopped wanting a real spaniel that I could train to work so in 2018 I decided it was time Princess Jelly had a little sibling. The search was on…..and soon I was dragging my long suffering housemate off to Derby to see a little red working cocker boy with a cracking pedigree. Whether I got him was never in doubt…..it was a cocker puppy! Come on! The 5 week wait to pick him up was painful!! I read just about every book I could about training a working spaniel, puppy proofed the house and garden and daily told Jelly she would have to be nice to the puppy! I even had a gundog trainer ready and lined up who, at the time, probably thought I was crazy asking him about training when all I had was a deposit on a 4 week old pup. Now he and his wife know me well and probably still think the same! The day finally arrived and after a stopover for the night in Derby we picked up my beautiful ginger ninja – ‘Red’ or Teals Bracken to give him his official name.

He slotted into home life so easily and was toilet trained pretty much within the week and again a very quick learner. He is definitely the comedian of the house, constantly being the doofus and making me chuckle, but has also taken a lot of my patience at times whilst training. He is now nearly 2 and is a very good lad the majority of the time and will hopefully be working this season in the beating line.

So there you are, now you know a little more about my lockdown subjects……

Stay safe until next time….