My top five things that have made my life living with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel a pleasure and hopefully his quality of life is to his liking too!
- Frank's Equafleece Dog Suit in Mulberry
- IMDT training - Institute of Modern Dog Trainers
- Frank's Perfect Fit Harness
- Sprats & Frankenfurter sausages
- Tug E Nuff - Pocket Tug Toy
Disclaimer - these are just my own opinions formed on owning a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for just over a year. I receive no financial gain from any of the companies I talk about, I just love these five things that help Frank and I enjoy our time together.
Frank's Equafleece Dog Suit in Mulberry
Frank in his onesy at Haldon Forest
Frank's mulberry Equafleece - OMG - such a game changer as we move into a very wet Autumn here in Devon. Once Frank and I got the hang of getting it on and off we were in clover. Life before the Equafleece was not great, Frank would bounce through long wet grass, splash through muddy puddles and have a thoroughly great walk but on returning home he would not enjoy a sponge off, even with warm water, he was very unsettled until he was fully dry, which was hours later.
The Equafleece has improved his comfort post walk 100% . After the first 10 mins of wearing it, Frank realised he could do EVERYTHING he had done before, so his walks are just as fun filled as before, but now when we get home he only has wet paws and a little bit of a wet undercarriage, easy to sponge clean. He is then happy and fast asleep dreaming of all his adventures for the rest of the day. For anyone with anything other than a short coated dog will feel our pre Equafleece pain, these are just such a saviour for little Frank. Here is a link to their website…Equafleece
IMDT training classes for me and Frank
Frank at Woodhead Woofers indoor Confidence Building Workshop
I was introduced to Steve Mann and the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers by Frank’s breeder - Jane from Quality Cavapoos, she recommended Steve Mann's book - Easy, Peasy, Puppy Squeezy in her puppy shopping list. I was hooked on this way of training as soon as I turned the first page. I really recommend it, not just for puppies, I have used a lot of its training methods on my 8 year old dog too. It just clicked with me, it is such an ethical, reward based way of making our relationship with our dogs better, making training fun and enjoyable for both of us. Now I seek out IMDT trainers to work with for both my dogs, so I can’t help but mention the amazing Liz and Mark at Woodhead Woofers, it was one of their classes where the above video was taken by my lovely friend Rebecca.
Frank’s harness. It is a Perfect Fit - ultimate dog walking harness.
There are soooo many harness options out there, so I went on recommendation to break through the fog, thanks again to Liz at WW for suggesting this harness.
I bought my first Perfect-Fit harness for Joe, as a part Irish Setter and part Cocker Spaniel he is a bit spindly and fragile, anything too thick or heavy was uncomfortable for him. The Perfect-Fit was soft and lightweight. So, I choose it for Frank too for a few reasons, the first was I loved it on Joe and the second, like the Equafleece it was about trying to reduce friction and matting of his luxurious long hair. The Perfect Fit harness is so adaptable, with their modular design, no matter if I am trying to fit Joe the cross bred Setter or Frank my little pure bred Cavalier they had the vast range of sizes that together fit perfectly. There website is here perfect-fit-dog-harness
Sprats or Franknfuthers for Frank N Furter
'Frank n Furter' enjoying a Frankenfurter
Sprats and Frankfurters - for Frank are high value treats, something that WW & IMDT preach about. Dog training needs to have a value to the dog and a treat is a really useful way of them understanding the behaviour you are looking for. I have always used treats to train my dogs, but up to now I have had very foodie dogs. However, with the arrival of Frank I have experienced for the first time a fussy pup! I won’t even get started on his actual food - there is a blog and a half to be written on that alone!
So I had to find a treat that was so smelly and so disgusting that I nearly gag when I handle it, that of course is pure heaven for young Frank. So I have a treat pouch full of sprats and Frankfurter sausages cut up into tiny pieces and then Frank will listen and be very happy to show me his best ‘middle’, ‘down’, ‘sit-stay’ I could wish for. Happy pup and happy me - although I can’t wait to wash my hands when we finish.
Tug E Nuff toys
My secret weapon for a perfect recall - well 99% of the time. I have two identical tug toys for Frank and if I start waving a tug toy about like a loon, he is with me as fast as his little legs can carry him. They came from Tug E Nuff.
Joe playing tug with me
I have used their products for a few years now so when I got Frank and read Steve Mann’s book, I got two identical pocket tug toys. It was just so much fun to train Frank and see the positive impact tug games had on him. I was from an era of never play tug games with your puppy - it will teach them bad habits - but now I really see the value. Tug e nuff also have some amazing resources on their website and some fab videos featuring the amazing Chelsea of Canine Concepts .
