Spango my English Cocker Spaniel.

Little lady, blue roan, with subtle red in face and a copper toe😊

Named after the Spango valley in the Scottish southern uplands – beautiful place.

Sometimes not at all a little lady but headstrong – she is a spaniel after all – and I should have been prepared for that:

When I first went to meet Spango at the breeders (she was only 6 weeks at the time, born 11-1-2016) I sat on a stool in the corner of a room with the puppies all playing in the corner. 1 came over, sniffed my boots, climbed up my trousers, calmly sniffed and licked my hands and face – Ahh very nice – she then went back to the other puppies and they slowly approached and were then friendly.

That bold lil puppy was to become Spango.

What do they say in ‘how to select a puppy’: The bold, headstrong, inquisitive puppy will be first to investigate - that’s not the one to take as it will be harder to train (and Spango is my first dog) – so there I was with a headstrong lil’ lady – I work from home and have plenty of spare time so she was getting about 3 hours a day of training (in many sessions) for the first year, she is now a well behaved and reasonably obedient lil girl but clearly shows her (doggy) status when interacting with other dogs.

When interacting with any other dogs if they try and dominate her in any way (even a lil paw on her back) she lets out a little growl that almost all dogs react to very quickly and back off – a rude dog that doesn’t back away immediately gets a full on bare teeth growl, not one dog has failed to back away at that point😊 – its all about personality not size😊

Many dogs capitulate to her as soon as she looks at them, and if they have a ball/toy she will play with them until they drop it, she then runs off with the prize. She has made many dogs (GSD, Boxers, terriers etc) ask her for their ball/toy back after she steals it and she has never given it back to them, and most accept that and go sulking off to master, none have become aggressive with her. She would then always run off and hide the prize. She will give the prize to me now after 2 years of training, and me having a better understanding her motivation. She wasn’t hiding the prize for herself, it was being hidden from the other dog/owner. When they are out of sight, or show no interest she will happily fetch the prize to me – it was a prize for the pack and she felt good about helping to provide for the pack (ie me and her).

I started with 3 balls, even after retiring a few before she swallowed bits, I now have a large collection of prize balls. I always carry a spare in case the owner doesn’t appreciate their dogs ball being stolen.

She looks so cute and innocent:

Ah, time to relax

Wannabe model

Loves snow

Damn she loves mud

Proud lil girl