Welcome to the world of gundogs, is there a gundog trainer in your area that does pet classes, these concentrate more on the type of training you require

Our cocker spaniel, who died recently, loved chasing birds. Of course he would never actually attack one, he just loved chasing them. But thankfully he was an obedient little thing and came back straight away when i called him. I know that doesn't give you advice on how to get your dog back after he runs after them but i thought i'd mention it.

Ahhhh this sounds familiar!! My older Cocker forgets who I am once she can smell deer, rabbits and the such! She was so well behaved when she was little, so I didn't think twice when I let her off lead out in the country for the first time. After spending far too long trying to get her back I bought a 50ft piece of thin nylon cord from B&Q. I put knots in it every couple of feet and then tied the end to an old lead clip. It works a treat and is alot cheaper than shop bought training leads... And it is longer.

As for barking, I have 5 dogs (2 Newfoundlands, 2 Cockers and a GSD) non are allowed to bark. My dogs are so quiet that a delivery man told me I ought to get a dog like the one on the front of my house as I hadn't heard him knock.... I told him I had 5 dogs and his face was a picture!!! There are two things I do with mine when they are young if they start barking in the garden, 1, if they don't go quiet when told they are brought into the house and shut in for a few minutes then let out again. If they then start barking, even if they are doing it because they are playing, they get brought in again. And I do that until they get the message. They don't like getting shut in the kitchen, so they learn not to bark. The other thing I have done is use a plastic bottle (or drinks can with hole taped up), put gravel in, if the dogs bark I throw the bottle or can in their direction.... Also works very quickly!

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Galaxybears Newfoundlands, GSD's and Cocker Spaniels

A little update:

He still likes the birds, sees them an gets excited, tries to chase, but not quite so blindly frenetic.

I've gone with the long line option, and he is coming back better when I call, but not everytime yet.
However, with the whistle, he's there and waiting for his extra special treat (my brother suggested a tiny bit of chopped up sausage), we went with whistle always means sausage and it only happens rarely (Its not a healthy treat). But I'm sticking with the long line for a while yet.

He's calmed the barking in the back garden down, a couple of occasional yaps and stopped (so far) barking out of the window at the birds - I went for a quick squirt from a water pistol for that one. It may return and I work with a loaded water pistol at my side.

Walking wise, we still do have the little sessions of excited yipping, but is not for the whole walk and the howling has subsided....for now....

I've 3 weeks more of my current puppy training class (which he was doing very well in except for the bird recall issues), once this one has finished I'll take a look at the gun dog trainers to see what extra bits of advice they may have.

Thanks for all the advice, its been very helpful!

Today chasing snow flakes is far more fun than chasing birds....