Hi, I'm new to this site but thought I would give it a whirl and see what advice I could get!!
We have a 6 mth old English Springer Spaniel called Harley or should I say a Tazmanian Devil. My Husband and Kids took 2 years to convince me to get a puppy and now I can see why lol!!
We are having trouble walking him as he seems to think he would rather take us for a walk, we get dragged round the streets rather than take the leisurely walk we would like. We have had him on a slip lead, which we were advised to get but he will walk for half hour choking all the way. His eyes will be red raw and nearly popping out of his head but he will not stop pulling!! Has anyone got any ideas? Also when we first let him off the lead he was fine up at the local farm but now he just runs away, he gets on to the scent of something and nose goes down, tail wagging and he is gone!!
And, I know this is a long list of problems but the biting, has anyone else had a problem with biting? We can take his food away and his toys but if he gets something he is not supposed to have he gets very aggressive and will growl, then lunge and bite and it bloody hurts!! I have bruises and scratches all up my arms!!
On the nicer side of things he is a lovely dog, sometimes lol!! We do have a crate and he sleeps in it all night no problem, when he is naughty he goes in there, when we can catch him and he will settle. He has never been a problem to toilet train and we have only had a couple of accidents in the early days!!
Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Hi,
A Halti or something similar might be a good iea to stop the pulling or stop and change direction very quickly,as for been off lead and his recall not been good,he is a ESS an his hunting working instinct is coming through.
Have you thought about a long training line just until he is reliable off lead.
In all honesty he really shouldn't be off lead with unreliable recall,but he is probably doing what he was bred for.

With the biting you need to teach bite inhibition,there is a link on here somewhere,I'll have a look to see if I can find it.If he has something he is not supposed to have try and replace it with something of his,or take it an reward with praise an a treat.

*Going to look for the bite inhibition link*

Here you go a link to bite inhibition CanineConcepts Dog Training - Advice dog biting and dog bit inhibition

Thanks for your advice!! I have been reading up on halti leads and think we will give it a go, we are willing to try anything at the mo!!
Also thanks for the link for advice on biting, will have a good read of that too!!

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Your welcome
He looks lovely

Thx like I said he is a good dog sometimes lol!! I have just posted some more pictures on the gallery!!

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Hi i've just reading your thread about Harley; i've 2 ESS's Meg walk's so well on the lead which i hold on 1 finger she never pulls. However Sam who's Megs dad still pull's on the lead & he's 10 years old. When off the lead he will run ahead but recall very good.
I've always had ESS's which i've taken to training classes when puppies. It's hard work but you will get there. They are such loving dogs good luck things will get better.
i've posted pics of sam & meg also a couple of lady who passed away last june with cancer at the age of 13.

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Hi Thx for your reply!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will get better, my Husband keeps telling me they will!! At this rate it will help me lose weight cos sometimes I'm almost jogging when I take him out lol!!

I keep forgetting he is only a baby as he is quite big and very strong!! Will keep you posted on how we get on!!

Also we have major barking when I get the hoover out!! I always have to put him in his crate as he goes mental and tries to eat the hoover lol!! But seriously he barks from the minute he see's me get it out, to the minutes I put it away out of his sight!! Have you heard of this before?

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hi yes 1 of my pups was like that. so i used get the hoover out & leave it out for a couple of mins then put it away then kept repeating doing this till he got used to it been out then switched on for afew seconds & bulit it up so this way he got a customized to the hoover it took a while.
while out walking when he pulls have you tried changing direction do this each time he pulls it sometimes work.

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The thing is he is 6 mths old, do you think this will still work? I hoover every day sometimes twice a day, cos of the cat and dog hair, it's driving me mad!!

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