Just got a 9 week old Springer girl and I’m after a book or reference on training her.

Very shy and quiet for first day but 2nd and 3rd days she’s been great and is quite confident now.

She’s from ftch lines and mum/ dad were amazing dogs to meet.

Congrats, we got our lil mutt a few weeks ago (11 weeks old)! We’ve been using this book  which is pretty good, though if you tried to follow all of the advice you’d never be able to do anything else with your time!

Oh, and pics please 🙂

Call her Dave, call Dave, call her Dave.

Post photo, post photo, post photo.

Congratulations. Spaniels are the best! (We have a 6 month old Sprocker).

Toilet training – we started by just letting the dog outside at every opportunity and rewarding when he “went” outside. Had 3 indoor urination incidents and never a number 2 indoors to date. No puppy pads involved.

We are pretty lucky in that my partner currently doesn’t work so she spends a large chunk of her day dedicated to training/exercising Sprocket.

Walking on the lead is the trickiest thing we are trying to master. He is mainly motivated by exploration it seems and isn’t interested in food rewards out of the house/garden. This means he spends a lot of his time at the end of the lead trying to get ahead. He is improving with time as pulling means stop.

Don’t wait too long before introducing the lead and also walk with her off the lead early on while she is too worried to run away – we didn’t do this and now as soon as he gets off the lead he legs it. He does come back once we are out of sight but it is a bit worrying. Hide and seek works well as he wants to know where we are all the time – even when he legs it!

Main thing is enjoy! And take lots of tiny puppy photos as they grow at a phenomenal rate!

Sprocket at 10 weeks:

Sprocket at 6 months:

Shes loads of fun but been scrapping with the kids leaving various scratches. Had a puppy socialisation thing last night and she’s not fazed by other dogs or even particularly interested which is good.

I’ve got the Perfect Puppy book which is a good start and actually quite interesting regarding dog behaviour and expectations. But, I was after something to test her intelligence as her mum was incredible.

Can’t wait to take her for some small walks once the jabs kick in, shes so curious.

loving it so far.

Shell scrap with the kids as long as you let her. It’ll be quite a while before she learns to be gentle, so in the meantime be very aware that she will scratch and even draw blood with her teeth. Learn how to limit or control playfighting and make sure the kids understand that she isn’t being vicious. More importantly, make sure other people’s kids understand the likelihood of being bitten, so we don’t have any nightmare scenarios involving Tarquin’s mummy and complaints of dangerous dogs.

Take her to puppy classes recognised by the Kennel Club to start with, as soon as the jabs kick in.  It socialises the dog  and trains you to be a better owner. I’d advise getting at least to Good Citizen Bronze or Silver with a proper trainer before launching into a training regime led by books or internet.

If she has FTCH lines, and you seriously want to exploit her breeding and potential/ability, find a proper gundog trainer and use them. They’ll be able to network you with trials types, or at least point you to a shoot where she can beat or pick up.

Spaniels hate lead walking.

Spaniels are mad

Spaniels are awesome

😄

They pick up bad habits as quickly as good ones.

Springer’s are ace!

There’s loads of puppy training stuff out there, but we found the best thing to do with Nell when she was a puppy was to do scent games in the house. Wears them out mentally so they tire and sleep and distracts them from bad behaviour! They have phenomenal noses so get them working. I used a toy which i would hide in another room and then send her in with teh find it command, then treats and fuss when she brought it back. I got to the point that she would bring back the matching half of a pair of socks when showed one. We now do scent games but with a ball in the woods, she’s chief ball inspector!

My only other piece of advice is get insurance, Nell’s had to be stitched up twice after some adventures.

you can’t have a dog thread without pics, Nell:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/R86t7d]IMG_20161022_164152[/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pyxfjU]Nell![/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but you know what they say: Labradors are born half trained, spaniels die half-trained 😉

We’ve a 9 year old Welsh Springer. Mad as a box of frogs, but a beautiful temperament. Unless there are Whippets around who, for some unfathomable reason, he can’t stand.

LR

Re the play biting; some books say you mustn’t let the dog bite even in play but in my (limited) experience it’s something all puppies do, so the best thing to do is to allow it but with strict boundaries, namely as soon as it gets ‘too hard’ (and you judge that) then you scream (loudly, to startle her) and stop the game so she gets the idea that it’s too hard.  Over time and as she gets older then gradually reduce what is acceptable until ideally she realises that teeth on human skin always ends the game.

Personally, and I’m not an expert by any means, but it is natural behaviour (watch two dogs having rough and tumble together) and learning to control it rather than never doing it is an acceptable compromise particularly as there may be times when you need to put your hands in her mouth, and also (and this may be controversial) there may be times in play when her instinct may cause her to mouth you, even accidentally – and then for her to have the ability to gently mouth as opposed to properly bite you will be very useful.

Two books to recommend. The first one can be hard to get hold but is worth tracking down.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gundog-Training-Made-Easy-Hardback/dp/1409215318/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1521738565&sr=8-10&keywords=gun+dog+training+book

However before you even think about that concentrate on socialisation and letting her be a puppy! As above dont use puppy pads and be really vocal if she bites too hard. Also when it is safe to do so always let her off the lead. She will naturally stay close and helps training later on.

I’ve got a 3 year old springer lass called Potato. She’s ace. I can recommend getting a crate for your puppy that she’ll grow into – leave the door open so she can come and go as she pleases in the day and shut in at night.

Ours loves the crate for some quiet time… as well as sleeping by the aga! so if you have any warm spots in the house chuck a bed down for them!

Not fussed about balls at all.. pheasants yep. She played a lot as a puppy and was a little bitey with sharp fang teeth but is the most placid dog ever now shes older and super chilled inside… outside and off the lead she is 1000mph everywhere nose down. Recalls just fine and waits… but hates walking on a lead until shes had a good 40 mins on it.

I’d try to get sit, come, stay sorted early on and then onto some gentle socialising with a lead

Poop, poop, pee, play and sleep. Just like a baby.

Some good advice and recommendations, thanks.

Am really looking forward to getting her out and about next Tues when her jabs are all cleared, although she’s loving the football in the garden so prob in no rush to leave. Def natural dribbler but loses interest near the goal … 🙂

Arsenal fan then…….

Too cute! Have fun with your pup.