2 year old English Springer Spaniel heel

N

NewmanCA

Member
I obtained a two year old Springer Spaniel. I have little experience training dogs. I owned two labs before. The first lab was trained by a pro trainer both obedience and for upland. Second dog no training at all. I want to start learning how to train dogs. My lab was taught to sit on the heel command and to stay seated until the okay command was used. I am trying to get the Springer to do that. He will sit beside me for a minute when I say heel but then wants to either jump on me or start running around. I just have him on a regular leash at this point. Want to avoid ecollar for now. Tried getting dog to sit as I move away the length of the leash but no luck so far. Not sure the best way to approach this to get dog to understand and learn
 
Obviously start with some basic obedience commands. And then it's just repetition, repetition and more repetition. You need to be firm and consistent but it also has to be fun for the dog. The times he does get it right give lots and lots of praise. If the training session starts to become not fun or uncomfortable for the dog, or you start to lose patience you should quit and try again later or the next day.

Before you get too far into the training you should make sure you are doing it correct. There are some good books and videos out there to help you or you could enlist the assistance of a pro. There are quite a few Springer guys on this site like FCSpringer that I'm sure will jump in and offer some advice. Good luck.
 
It's hard to know from your description what exactly you are doing to teach obedience. I suggest you get a book or training video. Start him just like a puppy. Also, seek out a spaniel club or a retriever club to work with.
 
Calisdad said:
I've heard some say Ken Roebuck's book is dated but I've never heard that a dog knew that. "Gun Dog Training Spaniels and Retrievers" is a good place to start.
http://http://spanieljournal.com/12bfawcett.html

Gary Breitbarth of G&D Kennels has some great videos out but I just checked YouTube and only saw a few. If you can find more they are well worth your time.
http://https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Shv8uXbaoQ8C3K9rhMO9g/videos

Patience grasshopper.
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Thanks for the links. I will check them out. All I am trying to do at this point is to get the dog to stay seated after I say Heel. He will sit for a moment and then pop up and try and jump up on me. I did try obedience training on my first lab and messed up and actually made things worse so I am determined not to make any of the same mistakes. I have followed much of the advice here already about not overdoing it with the dog, praising him when he does things right, and just being patient. Right now all I am using when I train him is to keep him close with a leash. I wanted to avoid using ecollar. I will defnately be checking out more videos.
 
Be careful with the e-collar. The dog needs to know the commands before you start using an e-collar. The e-collar is only to enforce what the dog already knows.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Be careful with the e-collar. The dog needs to know the commands before you start using an e-collar. The e-collar is only to enforce what the dog already knows.
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Just one more reason why this site needs a 'Like' button.

Springers are an intelligent breed. Patience. They have memories that amaze.
 
Calisdad said:
I've heard some say Ken Roebuck's book is dated but I've never heard that a dog knew that. "Gun Dog Training Spaniels and Retrievers" is a good place to start.
http://http://spanieljournal.com/12bfawcett.html

Gary Breitbarth of G&D Kennels has some great videos out but I just checked YouTube and only saw a few. If you can find more they are well worth your time.
http://https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Shv8uXbaoQ8C3K9rhMO9g/videos

Patience grasshopper.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links. I checked some of them out but they are much farther along then I am at this point. I've sent a good deal of time with the dog off the leash and I am basically starting from square one. I am just working to get him to sit when I tell him to. I am with him on a leash for about 15 minutes. I watched some k9 obedience videos on getting dog to sit. I have watched a few videos and many are the same. They work the dog on leash. When the dog sits on command the dog is given a treat. I started that. The one issue my dog has is once he sits he wants to jump up on me. The old owner must have encouraged that bad behavior so I am trying to break him off that also. I tell him to sit and when he sits without jumping on me I try to give him a treat immediately and say good boy. I will try that a few days. I am hoping by not allowing him to jump up on me and keeping him down he will stop jumping up.

After 15 minutes I take the leash off and let him run free on walk. Sometimes I will call him back by saying here. When he comes back right to me I encourage him and say good boy and praise him. The dog seems to be taking that praise quickly because he is really starting to take to that.
 
spaniel traing

1 pretty good book is Hup!, training flushing spaniels the American way by James Spencer, you can order on Amazon, like dakota jeb said, no ecollar until voice and whistle commands are in place.

good luck you will have a great partner next yr
 
Use a riding crop and tap his but for sit or position him to heel. Use it as an extension of your hand not for any sort of enforcement. Your body language upright and stiff legged will tell him it's time to work and he won't confuse it for a chance to play. Bill Terran used to talk about hidden baulks....I think him jumping up is probably one.
 
Unless you know the history of the dog, you have no idea why he exhibits this behavior. In the case of my rescue spaniel, Dillon, this kind of behavior was just simply insecurity due to abuse and neglect. I got him at 18 months, found in the pound in Red Wing MN. He knew his name and how to shake hands, that was his only positive knowledge. He knew tug-of-war, keep away, stick-chewing, all the bad habits a gun dog can have. It's taken 4 years, he still won't give me a good retrieve on a dummy, but he beelines like he is on rails with a rooster pheasant in his mouth, walks at heel, delivers with the soft mouth any good spaniel should have and has generally turned into a pretty damn good dog. Although patience is not my virtue, all I can say is, have patience and use a gentle hand.
 
ranchodeluxe said:
Unless you know the history of the dog, you have no idea why he exhibits this behavior. In the case of my rescue spaniel, Dillon, this kind of behavior was just simply insecurity due to abuse and neglect. I got him at 18 months, found in the pound in Red Wing MN. He knew his name and how to shake hands, that was his only positive knowledge. He knew tug-of-war, keep away, stick-chewing, all the bad habits a gun dog can have. It's taken 4 years, he still won't give me a good retrieve on a dummy, but he beelines like he is on rails with a rooster pheasant in his mouth, walks at heel, delivers with the soft mouth any good spaniel should have and has generally turned into a pretty damn good dog. Although patience is not my virtue, all I can say is, have patience and use a gentle hand.
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Rancho,

Thanks for the reply. I don't know for sure why he is this way but I have an idea. The family that owned him seemed like a really good family. The dogs were well taken care of but just not given any sort of obedience training. The son was on the varsity football team. He told me he would take the dog to practice with him off the leash and let him run around freely. I am sure other people encouraged that sort of behavior. All that being said, he is a great dog. Very smart and wants to please.

He is doing very well on the leash. I can get him to sit every time on the heel command and he no longer jumps on me. He will stay until I tell him the verbal command " okay ". Then he comes to me. I started with the Whistle command to sit. On the leash he actually started getting it and would sit and stay after I blew the whistle. Off leash needs correction and sometimes ignores me.
 
The two most frequently used words in advising on dog training are:

consistent

persistent


(I'd add, never train when you are angry, and never show your anger.)

:thumbsup:
 
NewmanCA said:
Rancho,

Thanks for the reply. I don't know for sure why he is this way but I have an idea. The family that owned him seemed like a really good family. The dogs were well taken care of but just not given any sort of obedience training. The son was on the varsity football team. He told me he would take the dog to practice with him off the leash and let him run around freely. I am sure other people encouraged that sort of behavior. All that being said, he is a great dog. Very smart and wants to please.

He is doing very well on the leash. I can get him to sit every time on the heel command and he no longer jumps on me. He will stay until I tell him the verbal command " okay ". Then he comes to me. I started with the Whistle command to sit. On the leash he actually started getting it and would sit and stay after I blew the whistle. Off leash needs correction and sometimes ignores me.
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Your already on the right track.Kismet mentioned to never train when angry. Great advice, you need to be able to go from your gruff " I aint takin any BS voice", to your "good boy" voice like flipping a light switch. If you still show frustration, even in your body language or tone of voice, the dog picks up on that.
 
ranchodeluxe said:
Your already on the right track.Kismet mentioned to never train when angry. Great advice, you need to be able to go from your gruff " I aint takin any BS voice", to your "good boy" voice like flipping a light switch. If you still show frustration, even in your body language or tone of voice, the dog picks up on that.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate and listen to the advice of people here that have way more experience with this than I do. There weren't forums like this when I was training my first dog and I made some serious mistakes which I won't repeat.

The constant piece of advice I've received from many different people is to try and make the training as fun as possible for the dog. Also, not to overwork the dog each day, repetition over a long period. I do really praise him when he does things correctly to reinforce to him that is the desired behavior.

He is doing very well with everything (sit, stay, come) on the leash. I am wondering if I should try extending the leash also so the dog is farther out?
 
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