HELP unruly spaniel!

A

ABE

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 March 2009
Messages
552
Location
aberdeenshire
Visit site
I have a 10month old King Charles Spaniel who is a complete rogue! please someone give me some trainig advice: when we are out walks he 90% of the time completely ignores my commands and wonders off into other gardens or farmer fields, he will eat anything lieing around i.e rabbits etc. I have 2 Labs which he is walked with and they are very obedient and come to heel when shouted/whistled where as he will just please himself and it almost appears he is deaf! My mum walks them too and he is even worse behaved for her. I have had him neutred in the hope he would calm down. short of never letting him off the lead i am stumped for ideas. He is a lovely natured dog around the house loves bosies etc but my patience is running very short with him!
 
Yep, he is definitely a spaniel (please see all my 14,000,000,000 posts on the Great Recall Saga.... )
grin.gif


What have you been using to reward him for recall up to now?
 
I am afraid that you need to keep him on the lead for now because he is just learning to ignore you.

Can you increase his training at home where it is easier to get his attention adn get him more used to listening to you? What rewards do you use? He might be more willing to recall for something tastier. You will also need to take him out on his own, without the other dogs, so that he has your undivided attention, and re-train the recall using a long line (if you search on here there are a few posts on how to use a long line).

Good luck!
 
I mainly reward him by giving him lots of pats and speaking in a high pitched happy voice (cringe) Giving him a treat when he does come back has crossed my mind, i often take him to the yard on his own so i will try practising there with the food as no other dogs around. Whats a long line?

oh someone else with a naughty spaniel??
 
grin.gif
well he seems to be a reformed character now-a-days! **crosses fingers and toes**

A long line is a lunge line by another name basically.

I reward for recall with little bits of hotdog, cooked liver or chicken, I also make sure Henry is hungry for them! I only feed a small amount in the morning, and give him the bulk of his food at teatime.

Every so often, I will take out big lumps of roast chicken from the deli counter and reward extravagently for recall, just to further reinforce the message. Personally using a long line was not effective for Henry and I but I would definitely give it a try, and if he is really bad I would say definitely get one and use it until you have practiced lots at home as at the moment he is putting himself in danger. You could also try a whistle if you have not done before as he will have learned to ignore your voice - a whistle would be a fresh start.
 
Aren't all spaniels naughty??!! Mine certainly is - she has selective hearing that just doesn't work when she's on the scent of a rabbit!
Have you enrolled him at your local training club? Most do puppy courses that will help you with the basics of walking on the lead, recall, sit, down etc. A club that will help you work towards your Kennel Club GCDS awards would probably be a good starting point and give you a good grounding with him, and you would also have experienced trainers available that can actually see the problems you might be having with your dog, and give you relevant advice. My first 3 dogs never went to training classes - the first springer was fairly useless on the lead or with any commands, he was followed by a lab (Roly) who was the best dog ever, then another lab (Nero) who is also fab and obedient. I then got my Weimaraner (Sephie) who has been training since she was a puppy, and thank goodness she had that start because she is still a horror, and would have been far worse without going to 'school'. I also have another Springer now (Cleo) who is about to start going to the club for more formal training, because I have been fairly lax with her and we need to improve our recall and heelwork. My point is, after all that waffle, that just because you have perhaps successfully trained your other dogs without help, its not necessarily a bad idea to get help with a new dog.
Neutering, whilst a great idea to help stop accidental pregnancies occuring, rarely calms a dog down - at 10 months he is still a very young dog, and most young dogs are energetic and easily excitable!
A long line is kind of like a lunge line for dogs! It allows the dog to get further away from the handler, whilst the handler retains control - very useful in correcting recall problems if used effectively
 
A whistle, good idea altho im not sure my neighbours will agree lol! I think i will try rewarding him with food, im sure that will go down well with him
 
Yummy treats are really helpful for recall, so I would save the bestest food for recalls.

A long line is a very light-weight, long line you attach to the collar and let drop (you hold onto the very end). Because it is light weight the dog forgets it is there and behaves as if free. When you recall, if the dog ignores you, step on the line (he can no longer run any further away) and walk down the line until you get to the dog, put two fingers under the collar and reverse all the way to where you were when you called the dog, praise, treat and release. It teaches the dog that "Dog come" means you have to be here in front of me, and if you are not, you cannot get away with it. It does work but it can take weeks and possibly months to break a bad recall habit - you just have to be persistent.

Also it's useful to play the recall game: you need two people and loads of treats. Start off by keeping the distance between the two people tiny, one person calls the dog, when the dog comes praise and treat, turn towards the other person, other person call the dog, etc. repeat ad nauseum!!
 
You don't want to blast it anyway, just give several gentle little pips to start with, ideally at tea time so he associates it with food and niceness. Then you have the BLAST option for emergencies
grin.gif


If you want to be really mean, you could do what I was doing the other day and ONLY pay him any attention whatsoever after a recall signal on the whistle as well
laugh.gif


I would also try to channel his sniffing, use it as a reward by calling him to you then encouraging him to sniff around you, stand next to bunny holes and so on. Make yourself part of the sniffy game. You could introduce a toy to find if he retrieves, get him to you, get him hunting near to you, then when he is looking away flick the toy out onto the ground so he finds it all by himslef then make sure he knows he is the best, cleverest dog in the whole entire world
grin.gif
You can do this on the long line at first so he can't get it wrong.

Good luck, and remember he is a spaniel after all... they all have their wibbles!
 
I have a naughty JRT who is the same (he was used for rabbiting with previous owner which doesn't help) we have just started dog training classes and use treats as a reward, saying his name to get attention then a one word command then a treat when he does it, seems to be working wonders. mum has been taking him out on his own to do this or even practicing in the garden.
 
You've had loads of good advice, use a long line, keep very animated and interesting (IE = you are the most fun, exciting thing on the planet, everything else is just crap) take a toy, take some treats - keep him hungry to begin with so he has to work for his food, if he is full, he won't bother, and make it super yummy, not his boring normal food.

I am also a big fan of calling the dog between two different people as BB suggests, it is a great game and a really lazy way to exercise your dog
tongue.gif


I managed to get my dog to drop to the floor off lead earlier on rather than chase a cat, which would have been impossible not so long ago, he'd have followed the little s*&^ onto the rod ad would have been dead
blush.gif
so, you will get there in the end.
All dogs are different and there is no point in comparing them
smile.gif
 
When we got my rescue springer he was 2 yrs old & I don't think he'd ever been off the lead in open spaces. We took him to obedience classes & he never put a paw wrong indoors but outdoors he was a different dog & we had to be careful as he was quite keen on chasing things, especially ducks, etc. Treats worked to a point until something more interesting came up. The thing that worked best was recall (initially on a long line) & then throw a ball & make a real game. 2 yrs later he is still totally manic & his recall, although not perfect, is pretty good- I still take a ball with me just in case! Find out what really motivates your dog, treats or a toy. You have to make yourself much more fun & exciting than anything else. Does take some work but keep at it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top