Hi I have a springer spaniel called "Sullie" he is 10 Months old and is massive knocking on 20Kilos. I am funnily enough encountering the same problems. But I have come to conclusion he wants to be a gun dog so I am now training him to the whistle. My sullile likes to jump up and hold onto you!!! which I know is not ideal but he is telling you he wants to play (i think) but also it's getting on my nerves. My partner has difficulty controlling sullie when not with me, and is now adamant he will not walk him. Sullie is excellent when it comes to sniffing birds and rabbits and in our village he is in his element. Iam today buying a trainnig lead as once he has had a run he walks to heel I am doing this for my husband. Sullie also barks at my hoover but once he has barked four or five times he looses interest and finds something else. again because he is so big you forget is only ten months old and I feel that is the problem with big ESS. On Command (indoors) he is excellent but when outdoors he is all over the place and does not focus.Hence the whistle..
the only thing I have to put forward is what is a ESS favourite treat!! I have tried chocolate (dog ones) Ham all sorts and he is just not interested. This would help when training outside....

Hi, can i first say well done on your choice of dog, SPRINGER!!!! wow they are in my opinion the best dogs ever i love em i have had 3 i have 2 now and for all their personalities are very different but have all had the pulling thing it is very much a "springer thing" very hard to master i have tried everything mine are brill in every other way recall superb even my youngest now 15 months she had excellent recall by 4 months the key in my opinion is off lead from the start. The pulling i have never mastered 100%

Your problem with getting him giving thing up make sure whatever he has you have something to exchange he needs to see that there is an advantage to giving you whatever he has so always have something of higher value, be it chicken,sausage, cheese is a good one and only feed this at these times never any other time.

The hoover my youngest still jumps for it but not nearly as much, all i can say is ignore it dont pay any attention she lunges for it and wants to drag it around its very annoying, but any attention to him doing it like NO!. LEAVE IT! or whatever you say is attention and any attention to a springer good or bad is "attention! and they will love it so do try and act as if he is doing nothing act as if he isnt even there and believe me he will learn its not really that much fun.

Always keep in mind that springers are very, very clever, but do mature slower than most breeds they are still very much in a lot of ways puppies when the rest or most of the doggie population are grown up so be patient, enjoy him you have some lovely fun years to come.

I have a 3year old springer. I need help with letting her off the lead.
I can do it around the house and everywhere and in an inclosed park. She goes mad for a ball but as soon as we are at the woods she looses intreast?
Is this normal she is my first dog ever.
Thanks

With re-call you need to make sure you are more interesting then what is out and about on the walk. With Bailey my 8 month Dalmatian we use treats and squeaky toys.

Just started using a dog whistle which is great, first get them used to the sound of the whisle meaning "come and get a treat", so blow it in a different room in the house, when she comes a nice treat. do this over and over until you are sure she knows what it means.
Then take it outside, as said before it might be best to use a long training line incase they do run off to start with.

Bailey is now excellent on re-call, which I never thought I'd be saying lol!

If your treats don't make you interesting enough and they don't come to you, up the anty and get some really yummy treats like chicken skin or cheese. Once they know you have that in your pockets they should come back!

For the pulling, well I have the same problem. she pulls like a train, it's my fault as I haven't put enough effort in to that yet. We always walk her off lead in the fields round the house so she is not on the lead all that much. I've bought a halti but not used it yet.

Bailey barked at the hoover too lol still does a little but no where near as bad.

If your pup is really wild, maybe needs more walks? Bailey can be a menace if she needs more walks. You could try a kong or a buster cube which will keep their mind focused and give you a break for ten mins

My sullie (Springer Spaniel) Age 10 Months is like Tigger on speed. I walk him twice a day for max 2.30Hrs.. He is not interested in any treat whether it be meat,Chocolate.. We have now reverted to keeping him on a Long lead whilst walking as we have nailed re-call and he will come back and sit but he will not allow you to put the lead back on him he thinks it's funny to jump from side to side and then run off again . So rather than get upset and shout til we have no voice we are using the lead and finding an alternative treat to entice him... The only real issue we have with sullie is he stands on his back legs and constantly slaps you with his paws (bear in mind he weighs 19Kilo) last weigh in.. Does anyone have an idea why he would keep doing this or how to nip it in the butt.. I keep telling myself he still only little and I have a long way to go, just need perserverance. But any tips would be most appreciated.

hey, louisa! :--)

pups who jump-up are a real pain, but this is a hard-wired greeting behavior gone awry; it is not the dogs fault that we humans walk on 2 legs, and our faces + mouths are thus out of reach, LOL. if we were on all 4s it would not make the trouble it does! (and i would probably not be typing this... ;--)

i would teach him an incompatible behavior - SIT to get any atth whatever. tether him to control his ability to jump-up and touch U, then approach him and ask for a SIT - once only. if he sits, U click or say Yes! very crisply - make it different from Ur usual speech - and reward him with a small but VERY-good treat. (skinless chicken-breast in a 1/8th to 1/4th inch cube, an equiv amount of mozz-cheese or tinned/pouch tuna, etc). then walk away or step back, or turn Ur back on him out of his reach - and repeat the process, ask for SIT, mark right answer, treat... lather, rinse, repeat!

have a dozen or more tiny/super treats for each session; SHORT successful lessons are more memorable than are marathons, he will get it faster. the number of repetitions, NOT the length of time he is on his butt, are the deciding criterion to his really getting the idea - i jump-up, i get NOTHING. i SIT? i get EveryThing i Want or Need! :-)

teaching this means that EVERYbody has to refuse to give him attn until that butt is glued to the floor; if ONE person in the house thinks it does not matter, or is a cute behavior, or ignores it and gives him attn anyway, it will not change. this also incudes visitors; if anyone is coming by who says, oh i Love dogs - i don;t mind a bit!, etc, just put him up while they are there; there is absolutely no point in practicing behavior that U do not want. if they want to see the dog, they have to follow the house rules: No Paws On People!! this also means nobody LURES him into jumping-up - Not Fair! be consistent, or this will be a lifelong habit.
STANDING on the lead so that he does not have enuf leash to get his front-end off the ground is a simple means of allowing him to be around visitors, but without the ability to leap on them. if U do not want to have him umbilicaled to U while visitors are there, then tether him short, and ask ppl to Only Give Attn when he SITS - either cued once, or freely offered by the dog.


NILIF: Nothing In Life Is Free
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NILIF can greatly shorten the time this learning takes:
requiring a SIT for every single Want + Need, thru-out the day + night. Get the leash on? SIT. Get the door open to exit? SIT. Open to enter? SIT. the ball thrown? SIT. get into/out of the car? SIT. be petted? SIT. get the breakfast/dinner bowl onto the floor? SIT... Any, Every, All things - Sit, Sit, Sit...
when he GETS the concept - and he will, dogs are smart (how fast he gets it depends upon how many repetitions U give him, over what time, to get the clue that SIT is now the Coin of the Realm), he will == Offer! == an UN-cued, freely-offered SIT.
U pause at the door, he SITs without a cue - Miracle of miracles! ** Party! ** make it big and enthusiastic, What a brilliant dog! a JACK-POT (stream of small but good treats delivered in a stream, with lots of warm verbal praise poured over him) is a good marker for the watershed event.

once he has the concept SIT = the door to Every Dog Wish, he can use this to communicate with U, as a Pretty-Please? request. EX: U are in the pet-supply shop, he smells a wonderful odor from a box on a shelf, goes beside it, Looks at U (typically eye to eye contact), and SITS precisely without a cue... that is a Pretty-Please. U do not have to comply, U can say *Sorry, no - too many pigs-ears are bad, they are fat, fat, fat!...* , but having a gesture to talk TO U is a very good thing, IMO.

going to the door and glancing at U, precise SIT? *May i go out, Please? *
U can see how handy this is for the dog! ;--) and for U...

i think 2-way communication is a huge improvement over I speak, U listen
(me tarzan, U jane - ug! ;--)

he has been doing this for 90% of his lifetime, so do not expect immediate results - this is a heavily-rehearsed behavior. if he is off-leash and comes and jumps on U, turn Ur back - exaggerate it by folding Ur arms and looking up at the sky/ceiling. he is looking for ATTN, and by very-obviously cutting off all feedback (eye contact, verbal, touch...) U are telling him forget it, nothing if U jump-up.

if he is ON-leash, use the leash itself to hold him off U - holding it out to the side - and walk briskly, so that he has no time to jump-up, but must instead Keep-Up. most humans think *walking the dog* means to stroll along at One Mile An Hour, LOL, while the dog alternates sniffing, pulling, lunging and lagging... get it together, walk briskly + with intention toward a specific visual goal, and stop to give the dog time for a sniff-break When + Where >> U << decide is apropos - not allowing the dog to drag U hither + yon to various dog odor-treasures, or mark all over creation.
when he is

re dog hazards:
chocolate is bad for dogs, i would stop offering that altogether - the darker the chocolate the more dangerous it is, theobromine causes racing + irregular heart-beats in dogs (it can kill them - not enuf oxygen is transported, the heart just flutters ineffectively). just in case he has learned to Love the stuff, put ANY chocolate up in an inaccessible cabinet, and only get down what U will be using/eating immediately. i say this b/c a friend had given her dog Choc-drops (of ALL things, a choc-treat for DOGS!? dumb manufacturers!), and he developed a real fondness for them. she got a box in the mail, set it on the hall table, and went to work - her dog ripped into it, and consumed over a POUND of chocolate! he lived, but it was a near thing.

happy B-Mod, and getting the humans to be consistent will be the hard part!
ONE jump-up in a week that pays-out can keep the behavior alive - work on that.

cheers,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF

PS - i think U mean nip it in the Bud? (ie, before it blooms and goes to seed -
thus eliminating the weed from the garden, LOL)

Hi,
We also have a springer spaniel puppy bitch JESSIE now 4 months old, which we have a problem with when she gets corrected she can go into a rage where her eyes seem to go red and she snarls and seems to try and bite this happens maybe once a day the rest of the time she acts like butter would not melt in her mouth, she also sleeps in a crate at night downstairs and shes fine also shes toilet trained, When we take her out for her walks she also pulls hard 70 % of the time . We had a word with a breeder and she advised us that she is trying to domineer us but its hard work and she keeps jumping up trying to bite my clothes.


Kind regards Linda

You might find that a front clip harness is a better idea. What happens when the dog pulls is that he just turns himself round to face you so gets nowhere. If you are going to get a headcollar, a dogmatic is a better idea as it does not cut in or ride up.

He should never be put in his crate for being naughty. His crate is his own special place, where he needs to want to go for some peace and quiet. If he goes in it for doing something you don't like, he is going to be confused.

Better to put him in another room with a babygate across.

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I have two springers, both walk pretty well to heel, but one of them had amazing recall up unto 6 months and then it has more or less disappeared. He will come in if he thinks you are leaving the park and follow you to the back gate of the house, but the rest of the time will not return for any form of treat/toy or game!

He has been off lead since 12 weeks old and so three months of verbal and whistle recall from any distraction/distance disappeared overnight!!! and i literally mean thursday recalled friday wouldnt!, so no idea what stopped it, he still recalls in the house to verbal and whistle and from the garden to the house, but outside the garden not a chance currently, whether he is on a long line or not, you just end up dragging him in!

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Firstly welcome to the pet forum site...I have 2 springer spaniels Missey is 20 mths and wrags 13 mths...Can i say your springer sounds normal...I would try a halti when going for a walk they make a hell of a difference..For recall I would practice in your garden pick a word and use it to recall and when he comes back to you give him a treat or make a fuss...never get cross with your dog no matter how long it takes [i stood in the middle of a field in the rain for nearly 2 hrs while missey took no notice but when she did come back i made fuss] when your dog understands what you want and is happy to come back when you call him you can try it out on a walk but on a long lead [ i used a horse lunge line] preferably attached to a harness rather than a collar [ the last thing you want is for your dog to go running off and to get whip lash when he reaches the end of the lead].There are lots more things to see and smell when out so you need to make sure your dog is safe...I would start with half the length of lead and practice the recall the same word you used in your garden.Call him back and when he comes give him a treat or make a fuss and then let him go again so that he can come to you without thinking playtime is over..Carry on till he has the full lead..when you feel happy with him and he comes back you can try letting him off..maybe somewhere enclosed first and if you have taken your time and not rushed he should come back...I agree with others who have said to leave your hoover out and then put it away........sorry this is so long but hope it helps.

I think they all go through the "I CAN'T HEAR YOU ...I'VE GONE DEAF stage but they do get their hearing back at some point.... I was told this from 2 dog trainers and it doesn't only apply to springers..