General Information from Brendael English Springer Spaniels

Dogs and Children

Never, never, never, for any reason allow your puppy or adult dog to be unsupervised with young children, period. The best temperament and training in the world can't prevent accidents from happening. If you are not there to see what happens you won't be able to prevent an accident and you will have to rely on a young child to tell you what happened. Neither young children nor puppies are reliable so putting them together unsupervised is asking for trouble. If you, or another adult, cannot supervise them, place the puppy in a crate or play pen. That is the safest place. Supervised, children should be taught how to work with your dog after the dog has been taught the individual exercises reliably by you. Children enjoy and can learn so much from their canine companions.

Nutrition

Feeding dogs can be a very controversial subject. After consulting with a canine nutritionist and changing my feeding program I have decreased or eliminated many of the subtle skin and ear problems from my dogs. Good health for dogs, as well as people, requires variety and fresh food in the diet. To meet this need I add fresh foods to a dry dog food base. Since heat and processing destroys or alters the nutrients in foods, I add supplements that return what is lost back into the diet. Follow the link to further information on my feeding program.

Breeding

Breeding is not a "right"; it is a choice and a major responsibility. It is scientifically proven that the earlier you spay or neuter your puppy, the less chance he has of developing certain kinds of cancers. You also do not have to put up with the twice yearly season in females and inappropriate behavior in males. Considering the amount of unwanted and stray dogs today, by not breeding your puppy, you will be making a contribution to animal welfare. The second major source of unwanted pets is pet owners who breed their animals without realizing the responsibilities of placing the puppies and taking into account hereditary health issues. If you are still considering breeding your puppy you need to be a responsible breeder. For more information go to the responsible breeding page.

Updated March 25, 2008