Hi,

We got a SS puppy on Halloween from a breeder up town. She was so cute when she got here, although (as expected) she peed everywhere, cried alot and chewed everything. Of course this was fine and we didn't really mind.

However, for the past four weeks she's been absolutely mental! She constantly runs up the stairs (and sits at the top of the hall looking at us, and whenever we go near her she bites us!), pees everywhere, whenever she is left in a room alone she howls and scratches at the doors and runs around the room crazy, she jumps up on the sofa and whenever we lift her off she jumps back up and she also jumps up alot on us and constantly sits at the "treat cupboard" expecting treats. She seems to always be hungry and jumps up on us whenever we're sitting eating, and she's bit several of us in the family. My aunt isn't bringing my 2 year old cousin to the house any longer because he's terrified of the puppy (and my daft Mum refuses to lock her in the kitchen because she runs about mad and howls loudly and scratches the doors like mad). She absolutely refuses to stay in a room herself and whenever someone stands up and walks out the room she'll follow them everywhere until they're sat back down.

Just wondering if they're normally like this? We HAVE toilet trained her (she knows to run to the kitchen door whenever she needs it and we let her outside) and have gave her more than enough chewing toys and we feel we're fairly disciplining her (we have a rolled up newspaper to tap her with if she's aggresive) but she still isn't behaving.

How much are you walking, or running her? Exercise is the most important thing ina lively dog, followed by discipline and then affectiion thirdly.

We had a lively choc lab pup 3 years ago, she ripped up the floor in the kitchen, mouthed us contiinuously and we were at the end of our tether, we got a local trainer to come round and advise us, the best thing we ever did, she is now a ( mostly calm and well behaved grl, it may be an option for you to have a trainer for a couple of sessions.

How old is she then...about 4 months? Is she getting enough exercise? Don't tolerate any biting (or even mouthing in play). If she goes to do it a quick 'aarggh' noise will normally be enough to stop her...thats what we did with ours when she was little, made the noise at her whenever she went to do anything unacceptable....now although she is a cow for not coming when out she is brilliant indoors...I can put my dinner on the floor next to her and she won't touch it unless I actually tell her she can (which i dont cos its my dinner!)

How old is she, has she had all her jabs, are you able to take her out yet?

You don' t mention anything about exercise. Perhaps she will be better when she can get out for some good runs. I would also suggest puppy training classes.

Good luck, speaking as a long time SS owner.

Yes, sorry forgot about the details.

She is three and a half months old, she had her jabs done in the middle of November and she is taken out on a "walk" three times a day (morning, afternoon, evening). Problem is she doesn't actually DO any walking. Whenever we take her outside she just sits on the ground, or bites the leash and tries to head back to the house! We have to pick her up and walk away from the house and THEN put her down, and then she walks for about 30 seconds then randomly just stops and sits down. She's so lazy! We let her run around the back garden whenever she wants (she always scratches the back door and runs around crazy) but whenever she comes back in she doesn't even stop to get dried, she runs straight past us and whenever we do eventually catch her and try to dry her she bites the towel and starts jumping for our fingers!

She's sounds bored. You need to get her interested in going for a walk, making it fun for her would help. My puppy is the same, most puppies are like that actually. You need to take control, do some more training and hopefully that will help.

She is not lazy, she just doesnt know what you want from her, picking her up is telling her that you arent bothered about her walking, you HAVE to combat this, as she needs to walk and make herself tired, or that pent up energy will keep on coming out in her behaviour.

Spoiled dogs turned into nasty,spoiled adults.

Boundaries and routines are important. At the moment, your dog is knowing you are weak and seeing you as a submissive who lets her get away with blue murder. A dog should not be in the same room as you when you eat. She should not be on the furniture either.

Praise and reward good behaviour.

She also needs a crate.

Have you thought about taking her to dog training classes? Might be worth while.

Like others have said, she does just sound bored & you need to make sure she is walking when you take her out, she will eventually get used to it i'm sure, maybe she's nervous of the cars?
I think springers can be quite boisterous though as puppies, i know i used to be scared of my uncles when i was younger cos it always tried to nip at my ankles!

Have you had a puppy before? Do you know how to train them properly? The only reason i ask is if you haven't it might be worth talking to friends who have to get advice, or go to classes like i put before.

I'm sure she'll turn into a wonderful companion , just takes time!

I shouldn't laugh but I did. But only cause she sounds so cute.

Bless - she is a working dog. A Springer Spaniel!! What did you expect?

I 100% concur with MisJeff - take her to training classes. If you can't afford or can't commit to training classes, google 'clicker training' and buy a clicker and a load of high value treats.

Do NOT tap her on the nose EVER. Throw out that rolled up newspaper (or save it to mop up accidents) Negative training doesn't work half as well as positive - such as Clicker training.

After she and you have mastered the basics you might want to move onto tracking and scenting games to occpy her mind.

Good luck - one of the best behaved dogs I've ever known was an ex-RAF Springer. Sacked for eating the drugs he was supposed to sniff for, in every other way he was the perfect dog with an almost inate understanding of humans. Very, very clever dog.

How is your puppy getting on OP?

Clearly she isn't lazy, or you wouldn't be having the problems you are in the house with her high energy antics.

However the consistent thing in your posts is that she is setting the boundaries, not following boundaries that are set fairly, clearly and consistently by the family. I.e. she bites you, especially if she disagrees with you, she bites her lead, she refuses to walk with you (have you practised lead walking her in the garden?), she gets on the furniture, she refused to be shut away ( this has to be taught gradually) etc etc.

Investing a a couple of home visit one to one session with a good trainer could be a good investment that could pay off for the rest of her life, but it would still be up to you to follow and implement any advice given.

Anyone can set themselves up as a trainer, and they are not all equally experienced, effective, qualified or ethical, in terms of methods used or not exploiting people e.g. trying to tie them into endless expensive sessions, so ask around and go by personal recommendation from people with well behaved dogs.

Puppies are hard work, and Springers can be hard headed and high energy, but what you put in now strongly influences the dog you will have for the next ~14 years

The most important question is what is she fed on?

Hi

Sorry coming in so late, been on christmas break.

Thought id chip in as have been through a very similar period with our SS puppy. She's just over 1 now and a delight to be with but we went through a couple of sticky patches.

My personal advise would be similar to others suggestions and its all about the exercise and training. We had some struggles with walking, chewing on the lead rather than walking properly, and we knew the reason her behaviour at home was so erratic was because we needed her to exercise more, so took the following tactic and worked a treat.

Step 1; buy a clicker. Cheap as chips and worth every penny.
Step 2: Gets some treats and try using the clicker and treats at home. Everytime there is good behaviour click and treat. We got the 'Goodies' treats as they are very small so good if giving for lots of good behaviour. I had a little bag with treats and clicker attached to my hip for about 4 weeks!
Step 3: Find a big (secure) field or playarea which noone else (or very few) people use and head down with some toys (we opted for balls and frisbee but there are allsorts - or trying using a current favourite toy), clicker and treats.
Step 4: On a long extension lead (you'll need one of these if you don't already have, will be very useful for future walking) start playing with the toy with your puppy and then playfully throw a short distance. When they pick up and either come back (or you reel them in) then click, lots of prasie and a treat. Do this for a few weeks, extending the distance over time.
After your feeling confident and only when you think you and your puppy are ready then try a short time off the lead. On the first tme with us it was as soon as we got to the field, first throw was off the lead then straight back on (more because I panicked than she would have run off). By the end of the week she was off the lead the whole time.

Sorry if the above sounds a bit dictatory, it really worked for us and hope its helps you too. After the 4/5 weeks of repeating this our puppy was and is a confident, happy dog who runs herself till shattered and we all have a pleasant time at home. We still now take her to the field with her frisbee (along with her 5-10 mile hikes at the weekend).

I don't know if this is true or not but an electrician who came to do some work for me told me that his wife had bought a springer spaniel a few years earlier and it was a nightmare to live with, they'd tried puppy training classes and clicker training but it didn't work, it was also quite aggressive. There's one lives at the end house in my street and I have to say it is mad and it has no fear of strangers, very scary dog.

They are a wonderful dog but really are 'designed' for the outdoor life, they make very good gun dogs. This breed need a lot of exercise but will reward you with loyalty and love.

If I were to ever have the time again for a dog Springer or Lab would be my top choices.

This is probably down to not being trained properly. Also maybe not getting enough exercise.

Springers like the poster above has said are "outdoor" dogs, they need a hell of a lot of exercise & they are generally boisterous. But lovely dogs, however lack of proper training would make them a hand full.

My own spaniel is now 6 years old and she's still rather "dizzy".

She's well-trained but if, for example, you throw a tennis ball for her she'll retrieve it and then, on the way back, she'll stop to sniff a bush, stand and look at some ducks quacking, drop the ball, sniff at a stone then pick it up and try to eat it, look at another dog-walker, pick the ball up again, head toward my labrador for a few steps (just in case the lab' is doing something that the spaniel is missing out on) and then, finally, bring the ball back.

It seems, to me, that spaniels have a lot of stuff going on in their heads and they have a short attention span and a lot of enthusiasm too.
As a result of this mixture they seem to try to do half a dozen things at once, even when they're under instruction to do a specific thing.

Take the dog for decent walks AND walk the dog in interesting places. They love smells and noises and stuff that they can investigate.
Walking the dog through the same field day after day can become boring.

My house has become littered with dog toys since I've had my spaniel too.
It's like having a toddler.
They see something, it gets their attention for 15 minutes and then they wander off to find something else.
Make sure you get solid rubber toys rather than flimsy ones cos spaniels seem to enjoy chewing stuff.
I don't think that's boredom. Again, it's that they're inquisitive about the toy so they try to pull it apart to see what it's made of.

One thing I do is get old 500ml fizzy pop bottles, drop a few dog snacks into them, put the top back on and then leave half a dozen of them lying around the house.
The spaniel will find them eventually and then spend a good hour tenaciously chewing the top off so she can get to the treats inside.

main things are, as has been said, to train the dog and also to do stuff to ensure it isn't bored.

I'm stealing the above idea. Ours has hours of 'noisy' fun with empty bottles but never thought to pop a few treats in, she'll love this.

Also totally agree with the 'tough toys'. I spend hours re-stuffing and re-sewing her soft toys (that she loves) that have been decapitated......she always goes for the throat

I suppose that I should warn you that there's a danger of the dog choking bits of the bottle-top.
Course, if your dog already chews bottles then it's probably already figured out not to do this.

This trick, IMO, is not to actively encourage the dog to play with the bottles.
If you do that then the dog learns that it needs you around to have fun.
I just leave the bottles lying around, in the kitchen, living-room, hall, bedroom, bathroom etc so the dog can find them as she roams around the house during the day while you're out.

Regarding rubber toys, I think you need to only ever give them rubber toys.
My Lab' loves tennis balls. She chases them, hordes them and looks after them.
My spaniel, by contrast, enjoys trying to find out what's inside them.

I bought a rubber ball for the spaniel and she loves it but my Lab' won't touch it because she prefers tennis balls.

That means that the only toys I can leave lying around are the spaniel-proof ones, which the Lab' isn't much interested in.

My mum and dad had a springer (and a GSD) before they died. She was good as gold and really easy for her to train....when my mums health was very poor towards the end she had the pair of them picking their own bowls up and putting them on the side for her to feed them and picking up all manner of stuff and bringing it to her. The dog was so trainable to trained her to pick up stuff and put it in the bin too.

Springers are notoriously bonkers! Like border collies they are very high maintenence dogs that need huge amounts of exercise and mental stimulation. Look into puppy socialisation/training classes and agility. Get a Kong treat toy and a Nylabone, safe and long lasting toys that tend to keep them amused.

On that note, I got a parcel today which came wrapped in bubble-wrap.

My spaniel has spent this evening charging around the house with the bubble-wrap in her mouth, pausing only long enough to jump up and down on it and pop some bubbles and then race off to a different room to show somebody else the same trick.

Bless her.

lol - my Cresties love bubble wrap. But they are too tiny to pop it so either run it into something solid or bring it to me to pop. Pop one bubble and they go frantic!!!!! Lots of growling and pouncing.

Kill the bubble wrap lol

OP, after reading your post on the GumTree thread i see that you have decided you can no longer keep this dog..
I just want to urge you to not get another dog after this one, it is clear that you don't want to put in the time or effort to training a dog. Spingers are extremely hardwork, and they need a heck of a lot of training & exercise !

I'm sorry to be blunt, but after reading this thread , it now makes sense as to why you never posted again, despite receiving lots of good advice.

I would also urge you to not list this puppy on a place like gumtree, you will not know what kind of home you are sending the poor dog off to. As another poster suggested on their, contact a springer spaniel organisation and see if they can help you find it a loving home where it will receive the training it needs.

With training spaniels can become superb family dogs, but you need to put the effort in with them.
The same with any dog.

I'm sorry for posting this, but i really truly hope you never get another dog because you can't just get a puppy & then decide it's too hard work!
I hope the puppy gets a home it truly deserves.