Have been reading over a lot of the old posts with interest, it seems we all experience the same sort of problems at some stage or other with our springers! i think that makes me feel better!!!

I am pretty happy with how Poppy is progressing - i think shes the celverest little girl but i would say that!!, shes 5mths old now and there are a couple of things i'd like to work on so any advice appreciated. I think now might be the time to cure her of some of these habits!!!

Jumping up - read a great thread on this site on this and will continue with the 'completely ignore' theory (need to get the visitors to do the same), get her to sit and reward when being good approach. Shes also started trying to sniff and snaffle anything left on the table or worktops by standing upmon her back legs - whats the best way to deter this (as i can't ignore her as she usually manages to magically reach whatever shes after!) and apart from not leave anything on worktops as i'm mr untidy! - any advice?

Running upto other dogs - i've worked hard socialising her on and off the lead and she has a great temprement and shes met and hung out with loads of other dogs at this stage. BUT i read on another thread about a greyhound running up (god i love this site!! - i'm learning soo much!) and about how bad manners it is and how it freaks other dogs and other owners out, so i need to stop it. She will usually listen to and has good recall when off the lead (i have trained her to recall to the whistle aswell) EXCEPT if there is another doggy around, she finds it irrestible to go and say hello and have a sniff. Mostly i make sure the other dog and owner is friendly and leave her to it, and walk away calling her name or whistling, which i have been trying to do, then she normally come after a minute or so. Is she too young to have 100% recall? should i stop her approaching other dogs? how do i do this? will she grow out of this facination with everything on 4 legs?!! am i being a bad owner by letting her run up and then by heading away to get her to follow me?

Walking on lead to heel is pretty none existent at the moment but have loads of tips on another thread on that one which i'm going to try!

She chases Bronte and Coogee (my 2 very chilled out cats) and i have been seperating them (cats in conservatory and Poppy in lounge kitchen and upstairs if shes not muddy!) Should i work on getting them to interact more, worried about Poppy biting them (although she has never shown aggression to them just sniffs them and sticks her face in their face) or the cats swiping her (although they are a bit wimpy and run away from her rather than stand their ground) thoughts?

OK and lastly, i read on one thread someone had a good list of activities, games for them to do that will tire their brains out - if anyone ahs a link to that then i'd appreciate it!!!

At 6mths has anyone got a good list of commands, actions i should be aiming to get her to?

Any advice welcome!

Jonathan and Poppy

well i have experience with the cat issue - i've let mine get on and sort it out, and to start with the cats gave the dogs a very wide berth, plus the odd bop on the nose if they came to close - but just lately they all seem to kind of like each other - I've seen them lick each other, and they will all sit in a line to be fed, i just think it takes time...

I have the worktop problem too - and have been working on this - if i manage to catch Rufus at it a sharp 'off' stops him in his tracks - but its catching him thats the trick... he does seem to be getting better, or maybe i'm just getting tidier! I have bought a pet corrector spray that makes a loud hissing noise, and have thought about engineering the situation so i can train him - ie - me stood just out of site with the corrector behind my back, and him being allowed in the kitchen with a plate of sausages on the worktop! The problem is getting better though, so i haven't resorted to this yet (its important to only have the one dog in the vicinity - and make sure all the cats are out of the way)

With the running in mine two older boys have always stuck stock still when another dog was spotted and only approach when I say good boys. Pupter Sam was very wary and always hung at the back, then followed suit. Sam is now just as confident but will still stand stock still whether in front or behind

Every day is training and learning day, enjoy

First of all, we're talking Welshie ...you have my sympathy in every way, I'm in now for a lengthy answer, hope you don't mind. It is not meant to sound gloomy, see it with humour, all your problems you mention are soooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooo typical Welsh Springer Spaniel. I have spent a great deal worrying regards socialisation, not jumping up on folks etc., but after three years I have practically given up. What helped me so much, this year I went to a gundog training day from the WSSC and there were loads of Welshies, all but Welshies and I realised how much Welshie my Welshie is, if that makes sense. They all jump up, they all run over to see other dogs and they all pull on the lead. OK, not all, really, but nearly, to more or less degree. I went away from that weekend and felt so much better and I know Fippy is so flippy because she is a Welshie and she can't help it. Saying all this, she is a great dog and I love her so much, wouldn't want to be without her.

Anyway, this is about you and your pup, so I get a bit more specific, also what I'm saying is only my limited experience with one Welshie, there are other peeps on here like Bhari, Kelly and Selina who have more experience.

A very difficult one. She is good now with us, but with visitors, kind of hopeless. When I picked her up from the breeder she said 'they are bad for jumping up, nip it in the bud'. She will get much better with age, but if you can stop it all together, I don't know.

I have cracked this one , by basically telling her everytime 'off' and 'ah-ah' and 'no' when she was little and there came a day she stopped it. Took probably a few months, but she is a really good girl in this dept, can leave everything on the worktop. So I didn't do anything special, just discouraged constantly. It worked.

This is extremly Welshie normality. I walked her on a long line which i picked up before we came round a bend since I didn't know what was behind it for many months. I generally am of the opinion not to let your dog run up to strange dogs and yes, Fipps was always very much and still is an in your face dog. Some dogs are scared of this. What I do now, I have her on a lead if I can't be sure there are dogs where she might run up to. I haven't cured that point at all, although her recall is otherwise very very good. So it's a lot of practise here with making sure she can't ignore you. I have suceeded in so far that she will not run off to see other dogs if they are further away then say 50m, and this is progress .

I think she is too young for such big distractions.

I wonder too . Welshies are very fascinated by other dogs (maybe that's why on the WSSC website it says, they preferably live with a companion ), but now Fipps doesn't want to play with every dog under the sun anymore, in that sense she grew out of it, but nonetheless, she still has to go and see who the other one is, and since there is no time to loose in Fipps' eyes, so it's 100 mile per hour approach
Walking away and make her follow you is a good thing to do, otherwise you might stand there a long while. Keep an eye on her and when she runs after you, call her.

Have cracked this one pretty much as well (except there is a dog approaching us ). Lodas of practise, loads of patience, took me ages and still not 1000%, but it will get better with age.

I have no advise re cats...just as well, eh?

Whispers...don't speak to Susanna

I was told by our trainer "never chase your springer", its one of the few things i managed to stick to! If your dog goes upto anything and you follow, then your showing them that it is fine to go and look.

I take a toy (anything) that Angel is only allowed to play with when i let her - it is my toy, it only gets played with on walks - never in the house or garden.

I know in the past i must of looked a site running in the opposite direction of my dog, blowing a whistle, calling her, waving a toy in one hand and food in the other - the idea being that you become more intersting to follow than some hairy beast with 4 legs and when all else fails lie down flat while calling them - the embarrassment is all coming back to me

Another thing when you first let them off the lead just turn and walk in the opposite direction (nervously peeking over your shoulder), don't call her straight away give her chance to realise your going without her - it helps them realise that they need to keep an eye on you as well

good luck, its sounds like you have a lovely girl!

Sam and Angel

I read an article once somewhere saying that it should be your dog's responsbility to keep track of you, and not the other way around. It went in to a bit more detail than that, but the basic idea I think is quite good. If the dog becomes used to staying aware of where you are, then it should be hard to lose them!

Vinnie is now 16 weeks old. When we're out walking, he likes to say hello to everyone he meets, but once he's done that he soon catches me up (if I haven't stopped for a chat as well!). The times that I have problems is when the other owner stops to talk to him and then thinks that they have to somehow send him back to me! If they stay still he stays with them, if they carry on walking he will come back to me!

With regard to cats - well, we have a kitten that is two days younger than Vinnie. They play like idiots, but I'm not sure if they are playing the same game. Vinnie will be chewing Busters legs, and Buster is biting on Vinnie's gums or ears. If you separate them because you think the cat is having a hard time, the cat just comes straight back and starts chasing the dogs tail. Now that the cat flap is open Buster will also come and goad the dog in to chasing him and then race out the cat flap - Vinnie sticks his head out and they have a battering match there. I think I would just leave them to get on with it - the cats can probably stick up for themselves surprisingly well.

Aren't puppies fun?

Just don't leave anything out on the worktops.... if there's nothing to steal, she'll stop doing it . Please don't use an aversive on a puppy of this age - I tried the tin can thing with my English setter when she started to counter surf - didn't deter her one bit - loud noisy tins falling on her doesn't bother her at ALL.... the only thing that has stopped her, is me not leaving stuff up there that she can steal.

totally agree with this too. Ideally when they are out for a walk if you turn they should follow - so if you see a dog you don't want them to meet - you turn away, they should follow WITHOUT you having to call them (and alert them to a possible problem)...

now you see this is a great reason to hire a butler,

just got back from picking my daughter up from steel pans, came back into the kitchen... i had left a few slices of bread ready to throw out at the back of the work top, pushed back further than they can reach - all that was left was a ripped bread bag on the floor... Oh and the cat - i'm sure the three of them worked as a tagteam

Hi!

I' ll try to be brief, so I'll just pick out a few things, as you've had loads of good advice already.

Many of your concerns are typical puppy behaviour - keep working on it, but don't panic. They will grow out of a lot of things. And of course at Poppys age, you can't hope for 100% recall! Don't call her back if you doubt she'll react - they can get so absorbed they just don't notice! You're doing just right with running away, hiding, etc.

About the fascination of other dogs: that is perfectly natural for a well-bred and well socialised Welshie. Unfortunately, there are some unsociable dogs around, so we'll have to bring this under control. Try to spot strange dogs before her, call her back and check with the other owners if a meeting is safe. There was a time when I had Rhian on a long lead to check her dashing up to other dogs. I would give her the sit! command, then have her look at me, and for a reward she would be allowed to run up to the other dog and say hello or play.

My outlook is a bit brighter than Christine's: even a Welshie can learn not to dash up to other dogs or critters and not to pull on the lead. It takes a bit of patience, but by focussing on successes rather than the inevitable setbacks, you'll get there. The recall from other running dogs was the major stumbling block in my passing the Dog Owners Test, but as I've described in my jubilation thread, we got there and passed with top scores for recall, and I really don't have that problem any more.

As for cats, well, that's another story..... We're still working on this one. On lead it works quite well; she doesn't go mental any more, but off lead it's still a bit like Russian roulette... But there is progress even there, the main problem is that my own reactions are too slow!

The first 12 to 20 months were exhausting, but now Rhian is a real joy to walk with as long as I don't let things slip for too long!

Thanks All! Loads of advice and plenty of things for us to try out and for us to work on! Glad to hear most of the behaviours can be improved!

Just back from a great jaunt along the beach (Brittas Bay - a must if anybody is visiting Dublin or County Wicklow with their doggys) and she did a great job at coming back even when she had spotted a lovely big Newfoundland she wanted to go and play with and was already halfway over to him. A first!

I brought out her favourite toy (which i'd never thought of doing) and some treats and they along with me running the other way shouting her name and whistling - did the trick!

I'm going to take the advice and try to train her (on a long lead) to sit when another dog comes along , until i let her go and say hello. Will let you know how i get on!!


Jonny and Poppy

Ditto!!! I was going to ask something similar,Great thread.My only problem is that I have twice the trouble Why is is that both pups eat out of one bowl?I then have to alternate so they both get equal

Tracey x 2

That's great .
It's a bit like 2 steps forward one and a half back kind of thing, but don't get discouraged if things don't work always as wished for. There are good days and bad days . Keep up the good work