[Closed] Spanieltrackworld - gratuitous puppy pic. (and advice requested)

Pppuuupppyyyy!!!

We got a puppy training book, worth every penny.

It's all about linking praise/reward to the action.

Lots of praise when they poo/pee outside. Just go crazy with treats. They'll link the praise/treats to going outside and hey presto.

When they are getting treats/eating there dinner say there name repeatedly. They link food/praise with there name and will come when ever you say there name.

Stroke/pet dog while it's eating to get used to it. You don't want the dog being overly protective while it's eating. It need to know nothing bad will happen while it's eating. Less likely to snap/bite in later years when a kid pets it at dinner time.

Socialise it with strangers. We stopped every tom, dick and harry while it was a pup and got them to give it treats.

Insurer it.

Have fun.

cracking looking hound. you may be tempted to over-exercise to wear her out - don't. stick to the guidelines, and no runs with bikes under a year or 18 months.
take her food away from time to time and pretend to eat it, then give it back.
when you have her off the lead, hide from her, it will encourage awareness of where you are.
when walking, get her in to the habit of getting out of the way if she stops. drives me mad when other people's dogs just stop in front of me!
perseverance and time is key.
+1 insurance. petplan have been good for us.
[url= http://www.indigocollartags.com/tags.htm#collar_tags ]good tags ( no connection )[/url]

Beautiful!

Increasingly want a dog, but working lifestyle doesn't permit. A spaniel would be top of the list!

Have a look at these books , the perfect puppy by gwen Bailey and total recall by pippa mattinson , some good advice in them really helped with our two labs 🙂

No real advice, but thank you for ensuring the first rule of Puppy Threads was observed!

PICS! 😀

Lovely hound.

An excellent choice! Had a few spaniels and they are so rewarding. Let it be a puppy and don't be too regimental with the training too soon. They need time to develop and mature.

Lovely dog!

There are a couple of books that sort of worked for me "Spaniels, their learning chain" was one of them, but I can't remember the other one.

If she does start chewing badly (my youngest ate two DSL microfilters and the phone lines), I found that lacing with chilli sauce worked as a deterrent.

Unable to help, but she's gorgeous. Feel free to add more pics!

Gorgeous dog.. I would love a spaniel but work means it would be on its own most of the day which would be ashame.

Enjoy the puppy.

Great pic.

Tips - all common sense really. The puppy training is a good framework to,pick out the bits that work for you. I don't like automon dogs so,I make sure I get the walking to heel nailed cos pulling is a pain, and the coming back when off a lead because it's a safety thing and the rest doesn't really matter IMO.

Heel walking is just a battle of wills. Go out walking praising or treating all the time he's not pulling - and every time pup pulls - stop, gently correct pooch back to heel, set off again. It can be maddening.

The coming back when off lead is about making you more interesting than the dog/squirrel/person 'over-there' that pooch wants to investigate. This can be done with food , fusses or sometimes by hiding/walking away/turning your back.

I very much like praise based training ie treat or fuss for doing the right thing, ignore the wrong thing. We use a sharp 'no' very very sparingly for serious misdemeanours like trying to eat the furniture but otherwise it's all about prising the correct/desired behaviour.

Enjoy it, it's wonderful having a pup.

Spaniels are ace, my cocker is a 18 months old now and still nuts (in a good way).
Most advice can come from personal experience of the challenges and traits our own particular dogs posed to us. Our experience was that spaniels/all dogs can be possessive with their food and toys and that can become a problem , especially with kids around. Our cocker is super greedy and food driven and he showed signs of food possession early on, despite being otherwise a super friendly dog.
We are eventually winning/won that battle but it took time.
If your Spaniel has this tendency then we found it important to ensure that he knew that he [u]wasn't[/u] the boss of his food. Its natural for them as it'd be the same in the dog pack environment, where boss dog (in this case you and your family) control what the others dogs get to eat.
The biggest changes we made were at feed times, by not giving him his entire meal in one go, but splitting it up into smaller portions and giving them one after another when he had finished what he was eating and sat back from his bowl, he soon learned that "we" controlled the food, and that having a human around whilst he is eating is a good thing not a threat. No.1 mistake for us early on in our inexperience was to take his food away as a punishment when he was showing signs of being narky when we were there, he got worse for a while as I believe he learned that his fears of losing his food were justified. Feed time seemed to be a massive part of learning his place (you dont want a Spaniel or any other dog who believes he is higher up the pecking order than he is). So for us it was the easiest way to reinforce the heirachy. All family members unless very young were advised to feed him this way, so he doesn't just associate you and you only as pack leader who controls the food, then you may get status battles with children etc. Not good.
Also not allowing him on our sofa helped him learn his place.
It all sounds harsh and controlling/suppressing the puppies confidence, but any expert we spoke to reinforced the message, "A dog that knows his place in the pack is usually a happy content dog who feels relaxed, safe and protected, A dog who doesn't know his place and has confused status in the pack is often an unhappy dog who doesn't know who or what he should be threatened by, so is often less confident happy and relaxed.

Your dog will likely be entirely different and hopefully have all his own challenges that I can't advise on because I have no experience of 🙂
My dog house trained with no mistakes within days, and doesnt run away like Spaniels are known to do, so horses for courses

Good luck, Spaniels are ace - Slow and consistent learning worked best for us.

Just had a thought... If you are in the midlands and fancy getting her some gundog specific training, or just want a hand with getting the basics down, the chap that trained my boy (Ted, Springer) lives just north of Newark.

Look up Fallowfen Gundogs or shout if you want the number.

On our third working cocker here (and by that I mean real working dogs that go shooting/beating).
They can be a bu99er to train and the pedigree can make a big difference, i.e. a puppy from real working parents will have half the knowledge pre-programmed and are easier to train in my experience.
Chewing things is what they do until they get big teeth - just try to get them interested in something other than the house furnishings/fabric.
The first and most important thing to do is train her to come back to the whistle. Easy enough to do using treats.
After that move on to sitting on command and little things like when you both get to the house door, make her sit and wait to allow you to go through first.
Other stuff can wait until she's bigger and less likely to go hurtling off into the distance after every bird/rabbit.
Whistle first - hugely important.

There isn't one of these 😀 with a grin big enough for that photo 😀

lovely looking pup...
spaniels - don't expect perfect heel work!

I find that our spaniel wants to do the right thing most for you of the time. If left to his own devices when out for a walk off the lead he thinks that flushing out is the right thing, and can get carried away with the excitement of scents and bunnies. He is much better behaved when directed to look for something every now and then.

He's also getting the right idea about fetching my slippers when I get home, which is ace.

spaniels - don't expect perfect heel work!

Have to disagree here I'm afraid. Mine were perfect at heel and I never put a lead on them unless near traffic. Consistency is the key in dog training. If you let them get away with disobeying you even once, then they will forever try it on. Bitches tend to be less headstrong and more eager to please. As for getting them to come back to you whistle them and/or call their name then change direction and they very quickly get the message.

Cheers for the comments and advice.

some more pics:

[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/15463854448_3f2d09ea94_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/15463854448_3f2d09ea94_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/pyuib9 ]Nell![/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75153360@N00/ ]Evil Goat[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/15045190394_1eb5f815a8_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/15045190394_1eb5f815a8_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oVuwWo ]Cuddles[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75153360@N00/ ]Evil Goat[/url], on Flickr

She's not our only dog, but our other two were rescues so this is our first puppy. The other dogs are definitely teaching her some manners.

I think we are struggling a little keeping consistent. So will spend a bit more time working on that. She is very food driven so will make the most of it for training but good idea about controlling how she receives her food. I am trying to make her sit calmly before I give her food.

one more pic:

[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/15045226424_e8037622d4_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/15045226424_e8037622d4_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oVuHDA ]DSC_0205[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/75153360@N00/ ]Evil Goat[/url], on Flickr

Spaniels are awesome. We've had ours for nearly 3 years, and he's improving with age.

Be consistent, thats the biggest secret.

Also, regardless of what you hear about how to train one, the key is finding that little tweak that'll work for you/your dog. They are all individuals.

Oh and probably the best advice I ever received for training our Working Cocker, was "Give him a job or something to do or the bugger will go self-employed."

Beautiful pup!
My springer is 2 1/2 now but I remember those first 6 months well. Think they key is to socialise and expose to as many different experiences at a young age.. We concentrated on this in the early few months and she's pretty unflappable now. Guns, fireworks, kids and other animals are all non scary to her.

We have really benefited from a good training class and we still go for 30 mins each week. Helps with expose to all sorts of dogs, some friendly, some more grouchy.

As has been mentioned, don't try and over exercise. While mine loves a walk, she also loves her bed and cuddles on the sofa. We tried to go too far in those early weeks and she let us know by nipping our ankles when she got tired and asking to be carried!

Good luck!

Jeff
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Nice dog!

Let her off the lead when she is a puppy (as in the pics), then hide from her when she's not looking and let her find you. Then get two of you, stand 10 or 20 meters apart and and call her from one to other. Give her loads of fuss and treats (cut up hot dog sausages or home made liver cake) when she comes. We did loads of this when our was young and really paid off. Too many dogs are not allowed off the lead as the owner thinks it will run off - that's shite for everyone so let them off when young and train them to come back. I also spent a [b]lot [/b]of time teaching him not to pull on the lead, it was boring and frustrating but when I walk my parents dogs I realise how worthwhile it was.

I now walk our dog off the lead all the time and I meet too many dogs who's owners say "oh what a good dog you've got, I wish I could let mine off the lead". Some even say this in the middle of a massive park. My default answer is "Yes, he is a very good dog", but it should be "well put the ****ing effort in to training your dog then".

So put the effort in over the next 2 years and it will pay back massively over the next 10 years. The training time also creates a massive bond between the dog and you and that's what it's all about!

Nothing to add really but Nell is gorgeous! 😀

drives me mad when other people's dogs just stop in front of me!

I trained mine to do this specially Del...

Gorgeous, very like my girl. Lots of good advice above about being consistent, introductions to loads of different situations and giving the dog a job Mine is now two and her job is to look after me and to run with the bikes. The best friend ever! Your pup will bring you a lot of joy. Have fun.

I trained mine to do this specially Del...

Tip from our trainer is you have to make treats interesting. Organic lentil based biscuits with minty breath additive might sound good in waitrose, but the dog wants sausages or cheese thanks!

We use a tube of primula cheese spread. Always there ready to grab, just squeeze an inch off and let her have it, either off your finger or straight out of the tube. Just don't let the kids put it on their toast.

I'm sorry but that skirting is inexcusable. You are dead to me.

Massive fan of springers, ours is on a working gun farm so we had 2000 pheasants to contend with on walks whilst she was a puppy but she learnt fast and really has been a pleasure so far... the only thing that required a bit of extra work was trying to be more exciting outside than all the adventures she could smell!

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I'm sorry but that skirting is inexcusable. You are dead to me.

I was trying to look at the puppy but my eyes kept flicking to that skirting.

i'm grateful for the skirting board photo - it's been shown to my wife as evidence that (by contrast) i'm doing a relatively good job!

i need a job that allows me time to spend with a spaniel.

My daughter has advised me, Alexxx, that you may have "dip died " the dogs ears, very on trend! 😀

We have a 4 year old springer, was totally nuts, but calming down a bit now. I trained him to run with the bike from 5 months (very short sessions). I used foot and voice commands for stop, heel etc. That works with or without a lead now, no problems.
Also, we did gun dog training as it suited him better, but different dogs react to different training.
Be patient and have fun!

On a more serious note, we had a springer dog who lived to 16, he was a real live wire, but we used a book by "Joe Irving" called "Training spaniels" the techniques used in the book worked for us.
The hunting sense depends on the strain working or show but ours was definitely working stock who loved the undergrowth and its inhabitants so easily distracted on rides
Worked to the whistle though

🙂 i knew teh skirting would get comments. I have about fifty other repair jobs I can't be arsed getting round to. Shall i take pics of those as well and stick them up here. 😉

(I hate that skirting, horrible warped modern pine POS).

After a difficult day on weds, Nell has been a dream yesterday and today. Sit command working well. Going outside to wee/poo. No is actually stopping her from chewing stuff she shouldn't and nips stop quickly with a retraction or a no.

She loves her treats and fuss!

One Spaniel tip someone gave me that I shall pas on - Ice cubes as a treat.

Spans can be greedy buggers, and ice cubes are a great way of giving them a fun, but healthy treat. Our last dog adored an ice cube as a treat!

Aaaaaahhhhhhh! Would love one of those!

Nell update!

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Looks a lot like my younger one. She's now 4 1/2 though. Still a lunatic.[URL= http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o784/petetallboy/Picture%20116_zpshrhc2l7p.jpg [/IMG][/URL][URL= http://s1343.photobucket.com/user/petetallboy/media/Picture%20006_zpsythodyuz.jpg.html ][IMG] http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o784/petetallboy/Picture%20006_zpsythodyuz.jp g" target="_blank">http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o784/petetallboy/Picture%20116_zpshrhc2l7p.jpg [/IMG][/URL][URL= http://s1343.photobucket.com/user/petetallboy/media/Picture%20006_zpsythodyuz.jpg.html ][IMG] http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o784/petetallboy/Picture%20006_zpsythodyuz.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Ooh a gun dog puppy thread!

Incase you haven't seen me spamming everywhere, here's Oscar, he'll be 11 weeks old on Friday

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I'll now go read this thread for training tips!

Ice cubes are good in summer, but beware the spaniel that likes them! My boy (Ted, Springer, 7) loves ice, to the extent that, in winter, he'll eat any and all ice he finds. He gets full, then starts needing lots of wees. Not a good thing to happen at night in the dead of winter.

No one ever said gundogs needed to be clever.

Damn it, I'm trying to convince the wife that we shouldn't get a second dog, and then you post pictures of a puppy! It's a conspiracy! Absolutely cracking spaniel that!

My tip, as people have already mentioned, would be to socialise her as much as possible. People, dogs, cats, cars, bikes, postmen, get her used to be around everybody and everything!! Our collie was 15 months when we rescued him, he'd never been socialised, and we're still having trouble with him being overprotective etc 3 years later. He's improving, but if he'd been socialised as a puppy we wouldn't have anywhere near as many issues with him barking/going absolutely mental at things.

Good luck!

from this:

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to this:

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in 2 years.

astoundingly great dog!

Millhouse, separated at birth? Mine is 13 months old

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