Week 3
We were lucky enough to see the puppies at this early stage, however, apart from small differences in the markings there was nothing much to distinguish between the litter.  They all stumbled around and couldn’t see what they were doing.

Week 6
We were looking for a solid liver bitch and fortunately there was one in the litter.  When we went to make our final selection it was difficult as we could quite easily have taken any of them home.  We did stick to our original requirements and went for solid liver.

Week 8
We collected our little girl between 7 and 8 weeks. Seeing all the puppies together at this stage was interesting as they were already developing their characters.  Our puppy was a little more timid than some of the others but this suited us as we have 3 children with the youngest being 18 months old.

Week 11
We decided to keep our puppy in a cage as we wanted to provide her with a safe area away from the children but also somewhere were we could be safe from chewing temptation.  She had trouble settling in during the nights.  She yapped and cried during the night for several weeks. We resisted the temptation to go and comfort her as this would have proved to be a rod for our own backs.

Week 14
She was growing fast and we could not wait before we could take her for walks and socialising with other dogs.  All of her jabs had been completed by this stage and she was ready to go out.  At this stage we are feeding her regularly and as much as she can take. We left the food down for defined periods of time but never left it down indefinitely.  We wanted her to eat when it was time to eat.

Week 18
At this stage she was starting her puppy training class which thankfully my wife was attending with her.  She was very quick to learn but she was not a natural. She was very headstrong and this made it a challenge.  We visited training sessions once a week and spent 15 minutes several times a day reinforcing the skills learnt.

Week 22
At this time we were regularly taking her for walks and even being brave enough to let her off the lead. It was at about 20 weeks when she gave me a real scare.  She ran off when close to home and totally ignored my efforts to call her back.  She ran through several fields and over a busy road. When I got home she was waiting at the gate.

Week 32
She has developed into a very faithful and obedient family pet; however she is still a bit timid and does not like being told off.  We purchased a gun dog whistle to ensure that she would come back for both my wife and me as she had a common return signal.  She has completed the Kennel clubs obedience course for puppies and the bronze “good citizen dog scheme” award.  She loves exercise and we benefit from taking her for family walks.  We are very pleased with her as she has settled in as one of the family.  She loves the children and the children love her.  She is now starting to bark when strangers come down the drive but she does not have a vicious bone in her body.

Week 42
We took her on the family holiday this year and she enjoyed every minute of it.  The beaches and the sea offered great excitement for her.  She was very good on the beach and tried not to bother other people but sometimes the excitement got the better of her.  We still have to keep the upper hand as she would take control if we let her.  She has to know where she stands in the pecking order but we all benefit from this arrangement. We enjoy having her around and we are very pleased that we decided to go for a GSP.  She certainly turns heads wherever we go!

15 months
Pip had her first season at about twelve months old and although I had owned bitches before I had forgotten how messy it could be. Her season lasted for about three weeks but we didn't have any trouble from other dogs and she appeared to be ok with no change in temperament. We are still considering spaying her but as yet we have not made up our minds. We would like to have a litter from her but Andrew is doing his best to put us off due to all the hard work and mess. I think that he is scared of a little competition?!

15 months
We have just changed her food from Beta puppy to the adult formulae that Beta offer. Although we have never had any trouble with her feed the new food has added another dimension to meal times. She can't get enough and we are still giving her as much as she can eat at one sitting. We never leave the bowl down after she has left. She is a wonderful pet and she likes nothing better than to play with my children. I have three aged between 2 and 11 but she appears to know how to play with each child. There is plenty of ruff and tumble with the 11 year old but she is gentle and calm with the 2 year old. A perfect pet.

15 months
As you can see she is a lovely dog in very good condition but this comes at a price.....to us. She is walked at least two times a day and we never get her tired, she loves to chase sticks, balls, and anything else she have drag into your path. We are lucky that we live on the edge of woodland but we still try to find new and exciting walks for her. She loves other dogs and enjoys playing and running around. She is very friendly but unfortunately not all dogs have the inclination. When at home she does know how to turn on the guard dog act. Whenever anybody appears down the drive she is at the gate barking like a Doberman. The man delivering Indian take-away menus got scared off; much to my disgust!!

15 months
She is a very attractive dog with a good temperament; however it has not all been good news. We have experienced a problem with her coat. At about twelve months she started to loose hair on her back in localised patches. The skin was very dry and she started to look a bit scruffy. Visits to the vet provided no cure as all they supplied was surgical scrub at a large price. I spoke to Andrew about the problem and he had the opinion that it was some kind of a mite but without seeing the dog it was difficult to confirm. We used a proprietary flea treatment but this did not give good results. When we spoke to the lady at the kennels she suggested that we try evening primrose oil in her food. She had seen this kind of thing before and the oil had worked. To my surprise it appears to have worked. This may not work for all dogs but so far so good with Pip.

21 months
Pip has had her second season and this wasn’t much better than the last as she appeared to be “spotting” for quite some time. She takes it all in her stride but does not quite understand why she is not allowed in the rooms with carpet.
I almost hate to say it but I think that she is now starting to calm down and mature into a very well natured and obedient animal. She has always had a very good temperament but sometimes her youthful exuberance got the better of her and she would send small people flying in all directions.

There is no doubt about it, whilst she is a family dog she does have a greater connection with me. This has its disadvantages as my arrival home in the evening is obviously the signal for “food time” and more importantly the evening walk. I get very little peace until she has had her evening walk as she tends to follow me around just to make sure that I have not forgotten her existence.

21 months
Her hunting instincts are not that well developed which is probably down to the fact that nobody has tried to train her in this direction. She can pass within 10ft of a rabbit and never turn her head. Every now and then she will put in the token chase but you can tell that her heart is not in it and she very quickly gets down to finding the biggest stick that she can drag into my path.

There is one problem that owning a GSP brings that I do find quite frustrating on occasions. Everybody wants to stop you and tell you how lovely she is and of course she loves the attention which translates into morning and evening walks taking some time. This is generally not much of an inconvenience however it did cause me some problems when trying to get back for important world cup fixtures.

I have already got several contacts for people who would like a puppy if I decide to let her have a litter. I am still undecided on this front as I don’t want to tempt fate with regards to her physical condition but I would enjoy the challenge of having a litter about the house.

21 months
With regards to her health we are very pleased; she has had the odd upset stomach which has generated a mess but all in all she is fine. She has a relatively good diet as I don’t tend to give her scraps but I can’t guarantee that the smaller members of the family don’t indulge her. Her food currently costs £20 per month as I am keeping her on the Beta product. There are more expensive brands and there are cheaper brands but I don’t want to mess with things for the sake of a couple of pounds.

Andrew and Jane would like to thank Sebastian Goodison for writing this article.

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