Who are we?
We are Tomasz and Izabela, a normal working couple living in the Greater London area of the UK. After years of dreaming and waiting, we finally took the plunge in 2022 and became first-time dog owners.
We are now proud parents of a beautiful and intelligent English Springer Spaniel named Molly. In this blog, we will share everything we have learned about owning and taking care of a dog, especially an English Springer Spaniel breed known for their stamina, intelligence, and friendliness.
If you have any questions or just want to say hi, feel free to email us at:
fetch@mollypawsup.com
You can also find Molly and us on the following social networks:
Our journey to owning a dog.
It all began over thirteen years ago (and yes, it took us that long to finally get a dog). We were unsure if we were ready for the responsibility of having a furry friend in our lives.
Our friends thought we were overthinking it, but we knew that owning a dog was a life-changing decision that required careful consideration.
There was always something preventing us from even thinking about owning a dog.
Rented accommodation, the cost associated with having a dog, and full-time jobs resulted in barely having time for other things, let alone a dog.
We also have a son, who was around eight years old at the time.
As much as we wanted him to grow up with a dog, we could not have one as long as we were renting the place.
Growing up with dogs.
Like many of you, we grew up with dogs.
My wife’s and my parents owned several dogs over the years. In my case, I grew up with five dogs at some point from all sorts of breeds, like a Basset Hound, two Miniature Dachshunds, a German Shepherd, and a Yorkshire Terrier.
It was fun for sure, but everything we thought we knew about owning a dog only because our parents had some was absolutely worthless.
It became clear that we had to learn everything from scratch the second Molly put her paws in our house – but more about this later.
We are getting a cat Instead.
Unfortunately, in September 2023, after a brief illness, we lost our beloved Bengal cat, Bolt. It was a devastating blow, having had him for 15 years, and he will be greatly missed.
As I said, we did not own a house at the time and knew that most landlords were not pet-friendly.
It’s not impossible to have a dog and rent a place. In fact, some of our friends were doing exactly that, and their landlords were happy with it.
But for one reason or another, we decided to hold off on getting a dog and opted for a Bengal cat instead.
And no, we did not get a cat thinking this is the best second thing. We always wanted a cat too, and it just happened that this was the best time.
I’m sure you would agree that hiding a cat in case of an unexpected landlord visit was much easier than hiding a dog 🙂
We have thousands of pictures of our cat, and I will definitely share some of them with you, especially when writing about the reaction of our thirteen years old cat when we brought a tiny English Springer Spaniel puppy into his home.
Spoiler alert, it wasn’t love at first sight 🙂
And that’s how thirteen years passed until…
Finally, we found a place we could call our own.
Just a few years ago, we finally bought our place. The conversation about getting a dog resurfaced.
We spent countless evenings watching funny dog videos on YouTube, daydreaming about all the adventures we could have with our furry companion, and discussing and reviewing each dog breed to find our perfect match.
Although we really enjoy being outside, especially in our garden, we knew that having a dog would encourage us to go outside even more often and enjoy walks and outdoor activities.
We love to travel, and over the years, we’ve crossed the UK back and forth, visiting places like Scotland, including outer Hebrides islands like the Isle Of Skye or Mull.
We were also planning to start visiting National Trust places as they are pet-friendly and often with amazing woodlands where we can easily spend all day walking.
These plans, however, always slipped to the next year and the next one.
I think we can describe ourselves as responsible. We understood that owning a dog was a significant responsibility, but we also knew that the joy and love they bring into our lives were worth it.
Looking for our perfect dog.
At first, we wanted to adopt a dog.
We spent several hours searching through various shelters and looking at photos of dogs before reaching out to a few of them.
Unfortunately, we were informed by these shelters that we couldn’t adopt a dog because we already had a cat or because our house was located too far away for them to conduct a house inspection.
Frustrated, we started searching for dog breeders.
Not long after, we found a man who was not a breeder but just a person who, having an English Springer Spaniel female, wanted another puppy for himself.
As we began to consider the English Springer Spaniel breed, we found ourselves learning about various traits that made this type of dog unique.
Now, as proud owners of a lovely Springer Spaniel named Molly, we have gained valuable experience.
If you’re considering adopting or purchasing a Springer Spaniel, we encourage you to read our detailed article about the pros and cons of English Springer Spaniels.
In this article, we share our personal insights as owners, shedding light on what it’s like to live with and care for a Springer Spaniel.
Two hours drive.
Long story short, we arranged to meet Molly for the first time. The drive was not too bad, considering it took almost two hours each way.
We drove over the coast through picturesque regions of the Dorset coast that we loved and had visited so many times before.
Molly was one of seven pups born on April 7th, 2022.
She was a tiny ball of fur, not reminiscent of her mother at all.
With a short nose and a few spots, she definitely did not look like a Springer Spaniel 🙂
That’s it, we fell in love, and on the first visit, we paid the deposit.
Two weeks later, we visited Molly again.
She was just four weeks old at the time, and we knew it would be hard to wait another month until we could pick her up.
Big shopping list.
We knew we had to prepare for Molly’s arrival, so we used our time wisely.
We spent a few hours in the pet store and a lot of money to ensure we had everything she would need for her first few months with us.
Long before we found Molly, we searched the internet for dog training articles, books, and videos.
During our search, we came across Zak George’s Dog Training YouTube channel, which we really liked due to his innovative approach to dog training that eliminated punishment and focused on rewarding the dog for his behavior.
We cannot overstate how helpful his videos and books were to us, and we highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel.
More visits to see Molly.
Although the distance, we visited Molly two more times during that month.
We played with her in the garden, hoping she would remember our smell and feel more comfortable when the time came to put her in the car with us and drive all the way to her new home.
We even left a blanket in her mother’s crate to soak up her and the puppies smell.
It turned out that this was a great idea, as Molly felt much safer in the car and at home during the first few weeks.
Due to the ingenuity of the owner, we also had an all-day-long CCTV view of the mother with puppies.
Anytime we wanted, we could use the app on our phones to see Molly, which made the waiting more bearable.
Time to pick her up.
The day had come.
We set out on the two-hour journey, prepared with a crate to fit into our car and a bag of accessories.
We arrived there around 9 am, excited and terrified, knowing that our lives would change dramatically once this little ball of fluff got into our car.
We said goodbye to the owner and went on the journey back home.
The luck that day was not on our side; we missed the turn and ended up on the much longer route home that took us almost three hours.
We were terrified of how Molly would react to being in the car for that long, but to our surprise, the blanket we had left a month earlier made all the difference, and she slept almost all the way home.
Home arrival.
This was the first time she was in the car, and on arrival, she puked the second we took her out of the crate 🙂
Undeterred, we entered the house, ensuring our cat was upstairs, as we didn’t want Molly to experience even greater shock.
We had everything already prepared: a new crate in the corner with a comfy bed, a bunch of toys, and all sorts of accessories in case we needed something or to make her comfortable.
To our surprise, the first thing she did was to get into her new crate and lay down in bed. We realized that she had spent the first two months of her life in the crate and that the one we had bought for her was exactly the same as she, her mother, and the siblings were used to.
That was a good sign for us.
The now smelly and dirty blanket we had left over two weeks earlier also helped a lot. We left it in her crate for another week or so to give her time to get used to the new place and us.
And thus began our journey as dog owners.
Molly has brought so much joy and love into our lives, and we couldn’t imagine our lives without her.
Owning a dog is indeed a life-changing decision, but it’s one that we don’t regret.
We look forward to all the adventures and memories we will make with her in the years to come.
Why blogging about it?
As first-time dog owners, we were completely clueless about owning and caring for a dog. We spent countless hours researching dog ownership, reading books, and watching YouTube videos.
Although we learned a lot, it was far from an easy ride. We had a hard time finding answers to even our most basic questions.
That’s when we decided to start a blog.
Our goal is to answer the questions that we had about owning a dog. While we can definitely help with questions and matters about owning an English Springer Spaniel, we are not experts in other breeds.
We hope to help first-time dog owners and especially aspiring English Springer Spaniel owners who are considering this amazing dog breed as a family pet rather than a working dog.
We plan to mainly write about topics and questions we struggled to find answers to ourselves.
Additionally, we will document our daily routine with Molly, including how we handle separation, training, general care, and her hyperactivity.