As I posted elsewhere - we have a second dog now, an almost 2 year old springer (liver and white) called Charlie

He needed a new home as he kept escaping his previous home and generally being a bit much - fully vacc'd and so on and already neutered

At the moment he cannot go offlead unless in a max security field as he *will* head for the hills - we can only get to the secure field occasionally as it's nearly 20 miles away

So we were thinking - for him to get more out of his leashed walks - should we get him a backpack? add a little weight to help him get a bit more out of the walks and also give him some 'purpose' as he seems very much to need a 'job' at all times

Earlier I was painting the wood for the new gates and he was holding a spare paintbrush for me, sat next to me the whole time

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Team Moggy

Can you not let him on a longline? I got a 100ft one on ebay that should give him plenty of running about room

I've no experience about backpacks but it does sound like he wants a job to do.

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I'm probably just spouting nonsense but I just have a bad feeling about backpacks. I worry that they may put a strain on the back (kind of like having an overweight dog) if they had uneven weight distribution surely that would be bad too and if you don't weight then they aren't they just a coat with pockets... as i say just my uneducated gut feeling.

If he likes carrying things. could you use that to your advantage let him carry a toy and periodically bring it to you on walks? just a thought.

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If he likes to work,can you take a dummy and a long line and start him off,or if you can't take a dummy,some treats and play find it,in the undergrowth.That's how I got my beagle more focused on me,as he had a tendancy to run for the hills

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we long line him on the field but I can't down the canals as I discovered - he spends more time sitting waiting for the longline to be untangled from reeds/bushes than he spends walking - and with the nice weather we are now struggling on the field with the longline as he tangles with Biggles, Children, me...

the backpack I was looking at puts the weights near the shoulders to prevent back strain and the weights you can buy to go with it are 50g each and are like diver's weights so you know it's even

Oh his retrieval sucks - we are trying to teach him to carry a dumbell but he's only been here 48 hours so was looking for other ways to help boost his value from leash walks

Am waiting to hear from a friend and the behaviourest that arranged for us to take Charlie to see if we can take him to the secure field every Thursday to let him run off the crazy and do training

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Team Moggy

If the Long line gets tangled in certain situations, a Flexi Giant should give him more freedom and you have the benefits of the retraction and the brake too. The flexi Giant is wide webbing all the way through and the power of this lot hasnt been enough to bust any of them over the years. With a well fitting harness they are great.

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So, hunny, with my nearly two year olds, they're walked on easy walk harnesses and a flexi (yeah, shoot me). With Zak, it's constant stimulation, training with recall, treats, watch me commands, change direction all the time, meet people (not dogs! ), do ball retrieval with a longline that is dropped and can be stood on if he looks like he's not coming back voluntarily.

His recall has hugely improved, and hopefully Charlie's will, particularly if Biggles is good at this.

Erm, where's the thousand pictures?

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RIP Jakey 10.8.10, RIP Boomerang 27.5.08

I was just going to ask about the photos!!!!!

the pics are on his intro thread

New Addition - Charlie is here




am gonna move him onto a stronger, heavier longline as soon as it arrives - at mo using Biggles' puppy longline I got in his puppy starter pack

hopefully will have more control and less tangles on the 'proper' longline

his recall on the longline/flexi is *perfect* which is what makes it so frustrating- I have taken him down the canals on the flexi and it also tangles in the reeds like it *wants* too! if I lock it off short enough that he can't dive in the reeds then I may as well use a short lead

We start agility lessons in April with him, the secure field the school is on is where I will be taking him to 'run off the crazy'

because it's totally secure we can do offlead recall training as at moment, because his prev owner rarely let him off he just gets *sooo* excited when he's offlead his brain turns off! but unfortunately none of the places I have locally are secure enough to let him off so have to find a lift to and from the training field - hopefully he will learn that offlead is normal and learn to chill out - I think once he relaxes about it he will recall fine.

found out a friend with a springer has a backpack we can borrow and use for the walk to and from the field (5-10 mins each way) just to up his exersion and give him that 'job' he wants - even if all he carries are the tennis balls

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Team Moggy

Try the equestrian section on eBay for a dazzling area of longlines!

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RIP Jakey 10.8.10, RIP Boomerang 27.5.08