u/Ok_Farmer_7037

Hello all,

Every dog I've had in my life thus far has scoffed down their food as soon as its put down; my newest addition Arlo (WCS) does not, in fact we can put dinner down and he won't touch it for hours, but when hes ready he will wolf down the whole thing. My concerns are ive read a lot of different opinions on the matter and a lot of people say its not healthy or good for them to eat like this, but my question is why? He is perfectly happy eating on his own terms, he has his own room so is fed in there away from other animals, and ive not had any issues with bugs. I have also noticed that hes a lot less likely to eat if I set it down and then walk away, if i stay with him he is more likely to eat.

His previous owner said he just grazed when he wanted his food, it was always out for him and she fed him 3 times a day.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it completely fine for him to eat as he pleases?

Hi all,

Ive recently welcomed a 11 month working cocker spaniel into my life, he was a family pet and unfortunately was needed to be rehomed due to marriage breakdown and an overwhelming amount of energy. I, having a decent amount of knowledge of working cockers, decided to take him in.

He is chaos, just pure chaotic energy. I love him very much but training him has been a real eye opener. Keeping his attention is impossible, every distraction must be seen that second, everyone and everything's scary and im out of my depth.

The problem is, for me, is there's so much information out there of what I should and shouldn't be doing that im drowning in it all, specifically struggling with walking to heal, or just not pulling with his whole back, i dont need him by my side the whole walk, but want him to have some manners and not try to pull my arm off. We've tried stopping and waiting when he pulls, walking in the other direction, luring with a treat but im having a difficult time and I fear the pulling is getting worse, we've had him about a month now and I fear i am causing more problems than im solving.

I find text very difficult to read and keep my attention on so if anyone has some training videos they recommend I'd be very grateful.

We are also looking into a trainer but struggling to find one around my area that knows working dogs.

I have read some posts about this but a lot of them are saying they reach the top of titration and then fill in clinical forms, but I filled in the clinical forms back in December and haven't heard anything since, I got excited when they wanted BP weight height etc and thought it was progressing forward but its 5 months on and I've not heard anything. Is this normal?