Hi everyone... as you can see by the title we have just acquired a springer spaniel today!...We went along to the local rescue/rehoming centre today definatley not coming home with a dog and "hey presto" there he was!! We fell for him straight away and spent ages going back having another and another look at him asking the kennel maid lots of questions (as we had our sensible heads on) and in the end brought him home with us.
We have always had a dog(well for the last 32years) until our last dog died 2 years ago next month and that was it, no more doggies in our house... too traumatic when they go even though we know they had a good life.
So anyway here we are with this almost 2 year old english liver and white springer spaniel, who, at the moment is called Ben, but as our son is a Pink Floyd fan has added Floyd to his name so he is now Ben Floyd! He seems to have a lovely temperament although he is very flighty. ... I think this (hopefully) will settle as he gets used to his new environment . We took him for a good long walk this afternoon and after the initial pulling on the lead he settled... we couldn't believe how strong he was he has had three shorter walks this evening to go out to the toilet but almost pulled my arm out of the socket.On our walk this afternoon we met a man with 2 springers and he said they hate being on a lead ! Is that true? Obviously we can't let him off yet as he doesn't know us ,our voices etc but hopefully that will happen... this man also said that they respond very well to the spoken voice.. will we still be able to train him ourselves or does anyone recommend we go to dog obedience classes?
Well its almost bed time and Ben Floyd has his water, food and a nice PINK fleecy blanket to curl upon in the kitchen tonight so I hope we all have a good sleep!
If anyone has been in the same situation as us and has a success story or overcome problems or has any advice for us please share... Thank you
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Hi!! welcome to ST, I love the new name, Ben Floyd, very catchy!

We rehomed sally and yoyo last year and had some problems with lead walking! I am afraid it is very springy behaviour, but fortunately when you get your recall sorted you don't need to spend too much time onlead!! Sally is a "typical" springer to use that word, she is easily distracted by movement in particular birds, and in these instances her recall still isn't great! But she did respond wellto training using a squeaky toy as she is not food orientated and was offlead within a month.

Now, she was 8 when we rehomed her. We also rehomed yoyo, as I said, and later Jasper, who was 11 and excellent onlead and off. So I was feeling smug when we rehomed Badger three weeks ago. He was our first young one, about the same age as yours, and he does almost rip my arm off with walking and has no recall whatsoever. However, we have been taking him to weekly trainign classes, and working with him on our own every evening, some days his recall and lead is good, some days it's not...usually depends what is distracting him at the time!

But we got there with sally and I know we will with Badger too....and you will too!!

Until then we can swap stories on aching arms and blisters on hands and near heart attacks when you let them off and they run a mile........

Wonderful you chose a rescue!! I'm from the states, but I think springers are the same all over. I have a 3-4 year old (one of three rescues) that still hasn't calmed down. More my fault, I don't work with him enough.

I have two that walk very nicely on lead, but I wouldn't turn them loose.

You will find lots of ideas and information here. We like to have fun.

Welcome!

Thanks for that great response...How strange on our way home today my husband said we should rename him yo yo !! Yes it will be great to swap stories and experiences...We will be off to the pound shop tomorrow to get a squeeky toy to start the training and I know there is a local obedience class so will contact them after weekend. :

hello an welcome to ST and well done on re-homing and rescuing

Hello, i am sure you will both take to each other in no time. i have my first springer pup so i am quite new to the training side myself, learning slowly.
well enjoy st its a great site. anthea & snoop.x

Hi welcome to ST! The main tip i can think of with regards to training is to work out if your springer is a "foodie" or "toy" dog, once you know it helps so much in knowing what will help them keep focused on you.

If they are a "toy" dog (as angel is), buy a toy that they are only allowed to play with when you want them to and keep it out of their way any other time. In a peak of excitement angel will turn her nose up at fillet steak - but MY toy she will lay down her life for!

Good luck with Ben Floyd and have fun on the forum!

Sam and Angel

Hi welcome to ST..... I also have a springer and a rescue cocker who came to me not even knowing how to walk on the lead. He' turned into a wonderful loving dog and we wouldn't be without him.

My springer is a 4 year old nutcase who shadow chases and runs around in circles all day and every day..... He's good when we are out though now that we use a Kumfi head collar on him. It saves your arms a bit

Did Ben Floyd have a good night?

Hello and welcome to ST, we to have rehomed a springer spaniel called Ki who came from a pound up Norf but was transported down through Springer Spaniel Welfare from Clifforps, we were very lucky to have him as he had been in the pound over a month and was due to be put to sleep . We have had him just over a year and he came to us fully trained on and off the lead, but when off the lead he likes to have a good chase with the local cats Look forward to hearing all about your stories with your new springer..

Well thank you to you all for sharing your stories with me>yes Ben Floyd has made himself at home and just loves being with people and never seems to want to let us out of his sight...he settles well in the kitchen at night and today we went out and left him home alone for a couple of hours and he was fine (well the neighbours didn't complain about any barking) .Yesterday we invested in a halti head collar for him and a new extending lead, but the head collar was too big and he continuously pawed it off, so we returned it to the pet shop today and as they didn't have a smaller one in stock we went for a body harness that will also secure him into the car seat belt for his ride to the local country park.We incidentally also exchanged his extending lead today as the previous one was faulty and wouldn't wind in properly, which for Ben Floyd was great, as we took him to the beach last night and he spent most of his time galloping around in circles like a horse does when being trained!He has SOOOOOO much energy and that nose of his just works overtime.At the moment when we are out we are trying to balance up the time when we try to get control and encourage him to walk to heal with letting him have a good run.....We don't know how long he had spent in the kennels and we at the moment feel he needs to have a good run about before we get down to the really strict stuff...dont know if thats the right thing to do.He is lovely he likes being brushed and fussed over I'm sure we will eventually get there with his training! As he doesn't seem to know that he is called Ben Floyd and according to the kennels he had also previously been named Diesel my husband is deseperate to call him Geoffery (and I like it too as it he looks like a Geoffrey...whatever one looks like!!!!)but our family say that we cant be serious ! What does anyone think?