Just thought would send you couple of pictures of this little lady getting up to no good in the motor home walking all over dashboard and windscreen then sitting on top of the sofa like butter wouldn’t melt she loves going away in it she’s such a confident doggie we all love her to bits . Thanks for letting us have one of your pups if Ruby’s anything to go by they are such lovely confident bundles of joy
I wasn’t sure if you normally get updates but I thought I’d get in touch as Clyderhow Pendle Princess (aka Penny) turned 1 year old this week.
Since she joined us, she turned our lives inside out and upside down. It was chaos we didn’t know we needed.
She’s a complete superstar. She’s very good natured, really social and always keen to engage with us. Equally however, she has an off switch and loves nothing more than a cuddle on the sofa. We are learning so much together and are constantly playing games together, especially Go Find and hide-and-seek. We’re planning to start scent training this year to further work some of her Gun Dog instincts, without actually working her.
She’s a massive part of our family and is such a happy girl (she enjoyed a juicy birthday steak for dinner!) As you can see she very much enjoyed the recent snow.
We can’t remember life without her
Steph, Pete and Isla
I first came across Richard at CLYDERHOW Gundogs while searching for a working Cocker
Spaniel. After my initial inquiry, Richard took the time to call me personally to discuss my
experience and suitability. This immediately gave me confidence in his commitment to the welfare
of his dogs and future puppies.
Throughout the process, I was kept updated on the mother’s progress right up until the birth, and I
was fortunate to be offered the only male pup. Richard provided regular updates, including progress
reports and videos showing interactions with the mother and siblings. He also arranged
opportunities for me to visit Ozzy—as he is now known—alongside his mum, grandmother, and
sisters.
Richard offered valuable advice on caring for Ozzy and was consistently supportive. Since bringing
him home, Ozzy has been an absolute delight. He passed all his veterinary checks with flying
colours and has been admired by everyone who meets him. He is exceptionally bright, quickly
mastering the basics—sit, stay, come, leave—and demonstrates excellent recall both by voice and
whistle, which speaks volumes about the strength of his breeding line.
Although I do not intend to work Ozzy, I have no doubt he would excel if trained in that direction. He
has a charming independent streak but is also affectionate, seeking out cuddles on his own terms.
He accepts handling with ease, allowing me to brush him and check his ears and paws without
issue—in fact, he seems to enjoy the grooming.
Richard has continued to provide advice whenever needed, and I would not hesitate to recommend
Richard and CLYDERHOW Gundogs to anyone looking for a well-bred, well-cared-for working
Cocker Spaniel.
Morning Richard, hope you are well. I just wanted to give you an update on Freddie, at 20 months old yesterday he did his first official competitive racing as a Flyball dog with our daughter (9 years old). He’s been brilliant to train and he and our daughter are a very bonded little team. Spaniel’s in flyball are often used as the team height dog, and Freddie does this wonderfully as he measures for jumps at 7’’ tall bringing them down for the bigger dogs he runs with. (Full height jumps are 12’’). On the flip side the breed usually run’s somewhere between 5-7 seconds in a full run on average with some outliers both faster and slower!
Freddie is definitely an outlier posting 3.89 seconds on the clock yesterday!
Thank you so much for letting him come and be part of our family, he is very loved…
So speed wise, collies and lurchers are usually sub 4 seconds. The fastest on the circuit currently are whippet x collies - breed specifically for the sport and can get down to 3.4 seconds, fastest team of 4 in relay in the uk is currently 14.17 seconds. In relation to how you train the speed it’s all about the reward and a clean safe box turn. Freddie’s reward is food and our daughter's love, he wants to please her (us) and just wants to get back to her for his reward. A lot of dogs run for a tuggy reward play but spaniel’s are not so motivated by tugging on things, only holding them in their mouths!! His box turn still has more to give as he is still very young in flyball training terms (we don’t start them on the box until at least 12 months - so he’s only had maybe a total of 7 hours of box training so far in short burst of 10-15 minutes a session).
To open on first day of competitive racing with a pure bred working cocker and clock sub 4 is not something we think has happened before. Everyone loves him.