Springer Spaniel behaviour

Tobedebtfree

I wonder if someone here can help me.

I have a 1 year old male Springer who is rather, erm, energetic.

He came to us when he was 8 weeks old and was a joy until he was about 7 months old, easily trained, great on and off a lead, good recall etc.

However, since then he has become almost uncontrollable at times, I can't walk him on his lead as I get dragged along the floor, so my husband has to walk him now, even my two strapping teenage sons struggle. Off his lead he is still fairly good although it is all 'his' way. He runs so fast but stops when he gets so far away to wait for us to catch up. He never lets us out of his sight.

He also barks at everything in the garden, cats, birds, the wind...

He will sit and give paw upon command and we almost have laying down sorted. But stay is not happening at all at the moment. Oh and he jumps up a lot, to the point of almost knocking me over, he is very strong!

My major problem though is in the house, he treats it like an assault course, radiators have been knocked off the wall, he is up and down on the furniture. He will not just lay down and play nicely with his kong or other toys for long or go to sleep (I appreciate this may be as he has a set area to sleep in, with safety gate to prevent escape into the rest of the house, and he does sleep marvellously for 10 hours solid at night) . Now don't get me wrong, I am happy for him to have his own chair but he doesn't want his own chair he just wants to attempt to breed with my cushions and my 9 year old daughter (I think he thinks that she is his toy) and generally wreak havoc in my house.

He is currently at the Vets being neutered

I have looked into dog training classes but cannot do this until lighter nights as my husband works shifts so I will do not always have the car and to be honest I am not entirely sure I would get there in one piece. it may also be worth mentioning that my husband is most definitely his master, not me!

He is a very happy boy and always looks so damn happy with himself, he destroyed a cushion last year, i took a picture and he is actually smiling in it!!!

Ellie-Marie

Will watch this thread as I have a 6 month old Springer who is brilliant but has his moments... he ate through the laminate floor last month

Our one is very food and ball orientated so we train him using them, is yours?

Not too sure about the house situation as ours is the laziest pup ever, sleeps constantly! Obviously missed the crazy springer gene but for walking to heel.. basically every time he goes in front of my foot, I stomped my foot in front of him and made a hissing sound, he got used to that after a few weeks so now instead of hissing I still stomp and also cover his eyes, this works and he walks brilliantly pretty much all of the time being young he needs a few reminders every now and then.

They are amazing dogs though and I wouldn't be without him now, haha I know the springer smile when they have done something wrong, makes it so hard to be cross!

Good luck anyway!

Raksha

What do you know about his heritage? Is he from working or show stock, or a mixture?
What techniques have you used to try to teach walking on a loose lead? Do you do anything at home to encourage and reward the behaviour you do want? Springers tgruve on mental stimukation and will make their own if the owner fails to provide it.

spacey2012

Buy a couple of soft toys, anything that dangles like it's dead.
Encourage him to fetch you one .
Then you can send him to get one and he thinks he has done his job.

aileth

I'm no dog expert or springer expert but sounds like he isn't being stimulated enough and also doesn't know his place in the 'pack', thinking he's top dog so to speak. Go to your local pet shop and pick up a few toys designed for stimulation, could be a treat ball, something that resembles a cute fluffy thing that he can kill, or a tug rope etc. Also make sure you do plenty of training with him to keep his mind 'working' so he doesn't have to make up his own stimulation.

If he is running around the house, this could just be the 'zoomies' which happens with a lot of dog owners!

I'd definitely look up training to and learn how to establish a pack with him and make sure he knows you and your family are higher up the ranks than him, and it's not for him to decide where you're walking, pull you along, or ignore commands!

lee111s

I have a 10 month springer and a 4 month sprocker...

How often do you do any training with him? I still go through the basics with my 10 month old including sit and lie down, simply leave it longer before he gets the reward. You can incorporate it into every day life, they sharp learn to listen.

For example both of mine will sit and wait for their dinner once I've put it down and won't eat until I give them a command thay it's OK to do so. When w go through any door/gate/opening together I always go first. If they sneak through we go back, close the door and try again (this is also awesome from them wanting to dash out if the front door/gate is left open)


On walks I regularly call them back and put them on the lead and walk fpr a short distance. The first sign of tension on the lead I simply stop and don't say a word. Once the come back to me and sit near me we then start walking again. Rinse and repeat (this will take many many months to get them walking on a loose leash but time invested now will be very much worthwhile over the next 10-15 years!)

I'm also a massive advocate of time outs. If they display a behaviour which I don't want they get 2 chances to stop after being asked to do so. On the third consecutive time I pop them into the downstairs loo for 2-3 minutes and then let them out. If they repeat the behaviour they go back in. Doesn't take long for them to learn the consequences of their actions. Dogs hate being isolated!

The usual stuff too including prasing them when they chill out, or when they get a toy from their box and chew it without any prompts. Reinforcing good behaviours is a great way for them to learn what they should be doing.

Don't be afraid to put him in his sleeping area if he's too hyper to calm down, just don't make it out like a punishment. Ask him to go to bed nicely and reward with a treat when he does!

Most of all, be consistent ��

lee111s

Also there's loads of ways to stimulate mentally. My two love the flowerpot game... 3 (more as they get better) plastic flower pots, hide a treat under one and they have to sniff it out. Mental stimulation and learning new things can tire them out as much as a good walk, don't underestimate it!

BJV

I have a 13 month old springer. The key is exercise and more exercise. Charlie is most definitely a twice a day boy.


He was very similar and absolute sweetie until about 10 months old and then it was as if an alien had taken him over. We adjusted his exercise and are old sweetie is back.


I completely understand what you mean about being on the lead though. We cycle a lot so when we take him on the bikes he has a harness but on the lead I think he could pull anyone over.


We changed to a halter. I do not like the idea of them but in my world I think it is better to make him more manageable to take out than not take him out.


I was on another thread about Springer's not so long ago and someone a lot wiser than me said something about springer's liking to work. Almost having to work. So when we go out we have a ball thrower and we make him work to find it.


Not saying that this would work for everyone but it most defiantly did for Charlie.

BJV

P.s Let me know how the neutering goes. There is so much info about the do's and don'ts we really do not know what to do for the best.

krlyr

aileth wrote: »

I'd definitely look up training to and learn how to establish a pack with him and make sure he knows you and your family are higher up the ranks than him, and it's not for him to decide where you're walking, pull you along, or ignore commands!

The pack theory was retracted by the guy who studied wolves and decided it applied to dogs. Dogs don't have a pack relationship, and even if they did, I think they're smart enough to realise we're a different species to them!

I agree that it's not up to the dog to get to pull people along. However, I think it's far more effective to actually show the dog what you do want, rather than expecting them to understand because you happen to pretend to eat their food, or go through doorways before them. Teach a dog that it is more rewarding to walk on a loose lead than to pull, and voila, you have a dog that wants to walk nicely!

OP, my biggest recommendation (especially if getting to classes is difficult) would be to view the videos on Kikopup/Emily Larlham's Youtube channel. She makes so much sense and the videos are nice and clear - and all free!
http://www.youtube.com/kikopup

I would switch to a harness - a front-attaching harness with give more control than one with just a clip on the back, so look at brands like the Mekuti, Hurtta, Dog Games and so on. I'm trying to move away from headcollars to harnesses, and my dogs are a bit bigger and stronger than yours (Rottie x and GSD) but I'm finding the front attachment does help give more control. Also, by buying a new piece of equipment, you can effectively train the dog from scratch to walk nicely on it. Even if it means you only take him around the garden on it to begin with, then up the garden path and back, then 2 minutes down the road, etc. - get hubby to walk him on the old collar or whatever you're using now, so he's not learning to pull in the harness, and once you've got it down to a tee you can get hubby to start using the harness too.

Kikopup has several videos on loose lead walking, so that's a great place to start. I would also work through her other videos - the mental stimulation of learning new commands and tricks will tire him out, and some tricks have the benefit of teaching a dog self-control and self-awareness (e.g. teaching 'leave it' or preventing a dog dashing through doors) which will help with his behaviour overal. Also, she has a good video called Capturing Calmness - basically you hide some treats in easy reach (treat bag clipped to you, jars around the house, etc.) and when he happens to lie down and be showing calm behaviour, you randomly give him a treat. This teaches him that it's rewarding to be a calmer dog!

Miel

I have a five year old springer (working line but not worked) and my family have owned working springers for years.

A lot of them seem to go through a "teenage" phase where recall becomes something that happens for other people with lovely well behaved dogs while you are peering into bushes, shouting for England and trying to work out if that manic dot in the distance is your dog or a really excitable brown and white mini greyhound. That's usually the stage where you start pondering the decisions that bought you to the middle of a muddy field being laughed at by A LOT of people and also when you work out whether your dogs name was actually a good idea now loads of people are hearing it! Most of them seem to successfully come through the other side - they are a very loyal breed and reminding them that they love you because you have something super yummy in your pocket really helps.

It was 18 months before my spaniel settled down a little bit - they are a very energetic breed and they need to be to do what they're bred for. I can take my dog hill walking and do 13 miles with her off a lead and she's still ready to go again but if I make her use her brain it wears her out. Trying teaching him games where he has to find something - my dog loves the "find it" game and would play it all day. Chasing a ball also wears her out because she has to sprint. She has never mastered lying down and it was two years before she could stay for more than 20 seconds. Be careful not to do anything that will awaken the genetic obsessive compulsive streak that exists in most of the breed - never ever be tempted to use a laser point to entertain them and if he starts to fixate on one particular toy change what you're playing with.

Is he crate trained? That was the only way I could stop the damage for the first year - after that there were no problems at all.

Learn to think like a spaniel - everything is ridiculously exciting, furniture is designed to be jumped all over and bushes are there to be explored. They see everything as a game so learn to channel that to wear him out. It is possible and a good idea to set boundaries and removing them from a room or situation where they have overstepped the mark is a really useful tool - they thrive on attention good or bad and taking it away is a good lesson. Also, really useful, learn to ignore him when you enter a room until he is entirely calm - at the age of a year my dog did not even stand up when I entered a room because I wouldn't acknowledge her, it was the only way to stop accidental overexcited weeing and had the extra effect of making her much calmer all round.

Finally - learn to love it! My spaniel owning friend and I have regular "how the little monster embarrassed us this time" chats.