2nd dog help required

H

horsies4coursies

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 July 2011
Messages
179
Visit site
hi all,

don't post very often but thought i would seek out the spaniel breed experts on the forum. Eithin is my springer spaniel Bitch who is now rising 2.5yrs, i'm thinking about getting a 2nd dog and with her tempermant i know that she would have a better relationship with a male dog long term rather than a bitch (she likes dogs more than bitches but does play with females just i don't think she would settle happily wiht one in her house every day).

However i'm worried about taking on a male springer spaniel as i have heard and seen that they can be a nightmare in terms of training and working. Eithin gets roughly between 1.5hrs and 2.5 hrs exercise a day and is brilliant, it took quite some time to get there more my fault than hers but she is a fantastic pet and working dog. she is a very small bitch and i want something roughly the same size as herself, a friend has suggested a working cocker instead - can anyone shed some light on what they are like and maybe have stories of male springers that aren't completely mad?

any help gratefully recieved
 
if you want trainability then working cocker is more work than a springer! they also tend to be more wired and have less of a need to please you- they can be happy to go off and bury there find while springer wants you to have it! obviously all are different.

as for males i know 4 who have been easy to train however they all come from similar lines and are as calm and good to train as there sisters through the generations.
i would suggest you have a good look at lines and training temperament before anything else.
for what its worth my dog trainer who works springers prefers males to work and keep.
 
I have five springers who are used as gundogs, three boys and two girls.

They are all very different, I really don't think you can generalise dogs and bitches to that extent!

A working cocker is a whole different ball game, a springer imho is easier to train!
 
my friend has a male spring who is quite small and is very well behaved... but only now! apparently when he was younger he had a habit of disappearing for hours, and they took him to training and gun dog training every week- put in a lot of work. he is now always near by, perfect recall and very calm- would sleep through anything! but he is 4 yo now. apparently his mum and sister were the same, actually i think still are a bit crazy. this breeding therefore probably has quite a part to play, not just training
 
I have a springer/collie cross and decided when she was about 4 to get another one and had another bitch just because having spoken to different springer breeders/ owners, they all thought another bitch was the sensible way to go. They get on fine the older one is now 9 and the springer is 5. Both have been very easy to train and are very well behaved especially compared to the labradors we have had before.
 
I have a male and female working cockers! :D :D
The boy is a pup so I'll tell you in a few months! My girl dotes on me, never goes far but is a fruit loop. She's not independent though she wants to please me though she can't always contain herself! If you like your springer i think you'd be fine with a boy
 
thanks for all the helpful replys - the reason i was asking about working cockers was because i had heard that they could be more prey driven than springers and i wanted to check if that was the case - I think i may need to look into working lines on springers as pippixox said :)
 
I have 3 springer bitches, and 1 springer dog, all workers and out of all of them I would say that the dog was the easiest to train by far. Don't be led by other peoples opinions, just because they had a bad experience with said dog. Working clockers are known as pocket rockets - so i would avoid them if that is what you are essentially trying to avoid though (generalisation, and not all of them are either)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top