Well their problems are agression, pulling and recall and mine is I seem to have tried everything with no luck and am beginning to really struggle.

I have two gorgeous springer spaniels, both nearly 3 yrs old, siblings. Up until the summer everything was pretty much great, they were a nightmare on the lead but we spent all of our walks in big fields and parks so it didnt really matter much. I tried training them when they were pups to a loose lead but only one really listened. Lexi (the puller) is also a nightmare when she gets a scent.

So then in the summer for some reason Libby started acting strange with other dogs, jumpy. I never saw her get attacked but I have a very agressive dog nxt door which barks a lot so weather that had something to do with it I dont know. Anyway she ran after a dog snapping at it and really scaring it, me and the owners. The dog was fine but I havent been able to trust her around other dogs since.

We saw a gundog trainer, which didnt help and now we have a behaviourlist. I try and distract them when other dogs pass and generally this works but they are now both on long lead (Lexi for running off and Libby for agression) so it is impossible for me to walk them together. My friend helps me at weekends and generally I take them out seperately during the week.

But nothing seems to be improving, Lexi still struggles to come back when she has a scent even on the long lead, and even tho I walk them seperately every day still pulls. We have been trying to correct this for 5/6 months and it is draining me of all the energy I have. We have tried so many stop pulling harnesses and haltis, the best being the halti harness, but she still pulls. She seems to know as well but cannot help herself. Our latest tactic is just stopping every time the lead is tight and walking on when its slack. The walk goes... walk, pull, sit, walk, pull, sit (with literally about 2 seconds of each). Nothing seems to work. Has anyone tried the walkezee harness? Its about to be my next purchase as we have a collection larger than pets at home now.

I just dont know what to do, I used to love the walks and now I am miserable. Lexi cant walk on the lead and Libby cant walk off it. I feel like the last 6 months I have put in so much time and money and nothing is changing. Has anyone got any advice? I just needed to get this all off my chest, I do everything generally alone for them and no one really understands. My friends think I can cope and they are great dogs in so many ways while my mum, whose less sympathetic thinks I should get rid of one or both which would absolutly break my heart.

Sorry for the massive post!!

I am hoping some springer owners will be along soon with some good advice for you.
Didnt want to read and run.

*Heidi*

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Have a look at page 4 on this forum. The thread is called "He wants to walk ahead of me" by Ben Cooper. There are two excellent replies from Hutch which explain why dogs pull and how to correct it.

Springers and cockers can be difficult dogs to own, although cockers are generally more difficult, due to their stubborness. My cocker spaniel pulls on the lead and he has poor recall. I keep him on a flexi lead or long line when away from roads, and when walking near roads, he wears a dogmatic headcollar to prevent pulling. This works well for us and our walks are a pleasure now, rather than a pain and a chore as it was before.

Have you tried headcollars for Lexi? And have you tried flexi leads with them? I find it's easier to control dogs when they are on a flexi lead compared to a long line. That may mean you can manage walking them together.

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From experience, you need to stick with a method for a couple of months to make it work, especially if your dog is a very bad puller. Many owners expect things to work after one walk, and when they don't, go out and buy a new piece of equipment, then when that doesn't work, go out and by another...

You need to stick with it and provide some consistency, because your dog will not work out what you're asking him to do if you keep changing the method every couple of walks.

Thanks for your responses, we do tend to stick to one method for a month or so (sometimes longer) sometimes there is a fast improvement then its almost like she gets bored of it. To be honest I think she knows, she is just far too excited when she gets outside, coming back she is generally pretty good.

My trainer suggested if they pull turn round, go home, take the lead off, give in a few mins and try again. Basically pull = end of walk. I am sceptical tho? Has anyone tried this?

I have tried the gentle leaders which worked well but the dogs did spend half the walk rolling around trying to get them off!!

Thanks

please accept this post as help and not a criticism.

your dogs are walking all over you, so its time to toughen up, sort out the inconsistencies of how you live and train with them and things will very soon start changing for the better, but its you that needs to change, as for haltis gentle leaders and all those similar products chuck em away, all they are is a control tool and not a training aid, any dog with half a brain cell knows when its on and when its not.

i own a springer girl and 2 labradors so know they can try your patience. heres where i am going to need a flak jacket but i was taught and still believe a few minutes discomfort to a dog is worth a lifetime of not pulling on the lead, if youve got kids you wouldnt let them drag you round a supermarket so why let a dog?

there are many roads that lead to Rome but i will try and explain it in words when its a thing best seen.

invest in a couple of slip leads, not the soft spongey ones, but firm rope ones. take one dog out in the garden, put the slip lead on the correct way, weight hanging down, and as high up under the ears as possible, lead in your right hand.sit the dog at your your side, calm deep breath and take one step forward, left leg lead, before uve even planted your foot give the lead a sharp tug to the right, think of putting your hand on a gas ring, your hand should move approx 6 inches, so the lead is going taught then in a split second loose again. when u do the tug, the lead must be loose. you must not drag the dog to the side what you are doing is slightly unbalancing the dog, they hate to go to the side but will be pulled back all day long. if uve got the tug right your dog should look at you confused. sit the dog again and repeat. what you are aiming for is to preempt the pull every time, if the lead has gone taut youve lot, no point yanking back just start the process again. inside 10 minutes you should have it cracked if uve got the technique cracked so dont give up hope just keep practicing. same with your 2nd dog.

it is important to walk the dogs seperately till uve got no pulling at all, and dont let your dog drag you to the park or field then try the exercise, no pulling means just that. if you free run your dogs stop it for a short period till youve got on top of things, 10 mins brain exercise is worth an hours free running to a springer

a couple of books that are easy to understand and follow are

breaking bad habits in dogs by colin tennant and the pet gundog by lez graham.

im sure there will be follow on posts stating its an out dated method and much kinder reward based systems work much better but waving a piece of cheese under a springers nose just isnt going to cut it

The only problem ive had with mine is he pulling on the lead everything else no problem, recall 100% the pulling on the lead is all my fault, because that was low on my priority list because i always wanted them to be off lead able to run free being springers i feel its very important i was adamant they were going to come back and be safe, so being on lead only a very short time i didnt think that was important. If ide have been as consistant and as passionate about walking on lead as recall i would have perfect springers.

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@ Startler: Well, yes, I do think this is out-of-date and not the best method because I don't see what the dog is actually learn but discomfort and confusion. You don't need to 'wave a piece of cheese' under a dog's nose to stop them pulling, but there are much better ways. What everyone needs is patience which the lack of results in methods like yours.

My method: Put your dog on a lead and wait till it looks at you. Take one step forward, with both you and the dog moving in the same direction, then stop and stand completely still as the lead goes tight. Wait for your dog to look at you, then take another step. It might take ages for your dog to look at you (Dunbar's top time was 22 minutes!) but it teaches the dog clearly that 1) focus and thus 2) no pulling= how we walk.

everyone is entitled to an oppinion, but patience has little to do with it. I learnt the hard way, i had 35 kilos of rescue labrador muscle pulling me all over the place for 9 months, tried lots of methods to little avail. i learnt the very hard way what works.

like i said in my post lots of roads lead to Rome, if one method works better for a handler then so be it, as long as the handler can be consistant in approach. i could post 10 such techniques but ive written what worked for me.

as for Ian dunbar, good luck to the guy hes made an awful lot of money speaking about generalisations and having watched various videos and articles its definately not for me but if it helps others then thats a good thing. never understood Jan Fennels waffles either. i much prefer books of practical situations and dealing with them, like the 2 i listed above

forums promote good discussions in the main and whilst some seem to believe training one way is always correct, i dont, some things were taught using a clicker, others by more traditional long standing methods that do work, ive made lots of mistakes and probably will till i die but we do learn from then and it makes us better handlers.