Meet Eric and his owners Steven and Louisa!  Eric is the newest addition to the PitPat office pups, and we can’t wait for you to meet him!

In your puppy’s first year of life there are so many milestones to celebrate and one of those is first time walkies.  There is so much information out there about how to introduce walks to your pup, but what are those first few steps into the outside world actually like?

We caught up with Louisa and Steven to find out…

“Eric is a 12 week old, cheeky cocker spaniel with a lot of energy, which we love.  We found ourselves with a lot of time during the weekday evenings even before lockdown, so we always knew an intelligent and active dog would suit us really well.  Especially now that we both work for companies with flexible work from home policies and dog friendly offices.

Eric came home in mid December and it has been non-stop since, and being able to take him out for walks is definitely something that helps to balance his energy during the day.  Although his first ‘actual’ walk was less than a success.  In fairness to Eric it was a cold, dark and wet evening, and his response to having a lead put on his harness was to sit by the front door and refuse to take a single step.

We decided to wait until the morning and try again.  Luckily the weather was on our side and although he was tentative at first, Eric soon realised this was something fun that we could do together.  We did quickly realise that walks with a puppy take longer than you expect.  Eric was so excited by all the new smells, and of course every single one needed thorough investigation!  But we did eventually reach the field we were aiming for, and once there he was able to make some friends.

This was the part that we were the most apprehensive about.  We know how important it is to socialise your puppy when they are young, but we were suddenly aware just how small Eric looked.  Eric however, took it all in his stride.  He was definitely cautious at first but it wasn’t long before he was happily playing with his new mates.

It was also the perfect time to hone some of his skills that you just can’t do at home.  While he played we practiced his recall, rewarding him with ham or cheese each time he came back to us.  After some time playing we noticed that while he was desperate to keep up with the older dogs, he was starting to look a little tired.  Knowing Eric he would have kept going all day if we let him, so we picked him up so he could rest his little legs, and then popped his lead back on to make sure he didn’t overdo things.

We have read so much advice over the last few weeks and we knew how easy it can be to over-exercise a young puppy like Eric.  That’s why we’re so glad we have a PitPat dog activity monitor, so we can keep an eye on just how active he’s being.  Once we had got back home from Eric’s first little adventure, we could see he had already smashed his tailored PitPat goal, so we made sure that plenty of rest was on the agenda for the rest of the day!”

What an adventure!  It just goes to show that a walk with a puppy is never boring!  And if you have a little pup at home who loves to play like Eric, why not join the pack and get them a PitPat too?  With tailored exercise goals, weight management, calories, distance and so much more,  it’s the pawfect way to create a happy and healthy world for your new best friend.