alexandrite

Here's my lovely boy Charlie: (His ears don't look spaniel-fluffy quite yet, because we only adopted him recently - when he was found by the RSPCA apparently they were so dirty and matted that they got shaved. The lovely fur is only growing back now.) Please, feel free to show off your Spaniels of all kinds!

What a great smile!!!

He did like the idea of me throwing treats or hiding them for him to find. I'll try that idea, thanks! (Although when I throw treats for him to find, he keeps turning back to me like "why am I looking for this one little treat when I KNOW you have 5 of them in your pocket?" Smart dog! ) Just wanted to also say, he's been making progress with the walking on leash! It's like a lightbulb finally went on a few days ago - he's realised that if he stops jumping around and spinning like a drunk kangaroo, he'll actually get somewhere fun. We've been taking the newly improved Charlie for longer walks and to the dog park a lot more often, now that he is behaving better. He still isn't heeling all that much (unless he's gone for a run and is tired), and walks ahead of hubby and me, but no longer pulls to the point of choking himself. He also is learning to stop when we have to cross the street. So proud of him! I think we'll be able to progress to proper heeling next. Yay!

Thank you persephone I will check those links At the moment I am asking about games to play with the dog basically to release his energy a bit. He is a young dog, so he's very excitable, and I want to be able to play something with him to tire him out a bit before we try to take him out for a walk. If he's got all this pent-up energy, he's going to use it to pull on the leash when walking and just overall not pay attention. We got him a Kong toy, which he only pays attention to when there's a treat inside, but at least that's something! He will also play "musical chairs" with us (set 3 plastic lawn chairs facing each other, pat the chair to invite the dog on, then move around and pat the chair we want him on.) But none of that really involves much spending of energy, does it. :/ He does have a large yard to play in, but I know how important walks/running is to dogs. Are hubby and I being bad "pack leaders" if, when he pulls on the leash when we're trying to walk him, after we get sick of "being trees" not working and just to give him some exercise, we run him around the block? I feel terrible if he doesn't get at least a run daily. He gets "heel" practice in the yard, and most of the time he makes progress and seems to listen, it just doesn't translate to outside. As soon as he sees the leash go on, he tries to go for the front gate - as soon as he gets close to the gate he starts pulling on the leash. Should we give him that run around the block first to tire him out, and then try walking/heeling? Or is it too late after a run, the pulling dog got what he wanted, and then wouldn't listen? What is the proper way of getting him to walk with us

Hi everyone, A great friend recommended this forum, so here I am. My husband and I recently adopted a wonderful dog, he's a 2-year-old cocker spaniel, absolutely sweet and adorable. We named him Charlie. However, my impression is that aside from "sit" for treats, his previous owners, whoever they were, did not teach him anything. He will sit for treats only, and 9/10 of the time ignores the command otherwise. (nevermind "come" or anything else.) He constantly pulls on the leash and gets over-excited when walking outside, though he is making progress with the command "heel" at home in the yard. He also doesn't know the "fetch" game, poor pup! I don't know who his owners were but he doesn't really know any dog games at all. Perhaps he was just stuck out in someone's yard all day and no one played with him?? Anyhow, we're determined to teach this sweet dog how to be a good canine citizen - we will organise official obedience classes for him very soon, however, we've been trying to start training him here in our backyard, as all good training starts at home! I know it all takes a lot of patience and time, of course. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice to offer on his particular behaviours. Walking on leash: His idea is "get excited, wag tail, pull pull pull!" He has been learning in the yard, he's been making good progress walking on loose leash, but it's his familiar territory now, and as soon as we get toward the front gate, the pulling and excitedness begins. We have been trying the "stop and be a tree" method, to show him that he will not get anywhere interesting until he stops pulling and walks at our pace. It's been a slow process, though, and because this dog doesn't know any doggie games at all, we haven't had much luck exercising him in the yard, so most of the time we eventually give up and go for a run around the block, because otherwise we're going to have a very excited dog with no energy outlet! Of course, he takes US for a run, not the other way around... I feel like it's not teaching him any lessons because EVENTUALLY he gets to go for his run whether he pulls or not, just so that we have a calm dog in the evenings. But he's got to get SOME exercise! What do we do? Keep "being a tree"? He just stands at the end of the leash and keeps tension. How do we teach him to play dog games? He doesn't know "fetch", shows no interest in thrown objects unless they have treats inside, and then of course, if there's a treat inside, there's no way he's giving it back to the human. Dog logic He doesn't really play chasing games, half-heartedly runs after me for a couple of laps up and down the yard, and then runs up to the verandah and I'm left running around like a silly person with a dog looking at me. Barking - he tries to play "guard dog" as much as a spaniel possibly can (lol), barking at passers-by, and the only way we can get him to stop has been to bring him to the verandah with us and temporarily put him on a leash until he calms down. Of course he is a dog, some barking is to be expected - but I would like to find a way to recall him when he barks. Obviously my calls for him to come back fall on deaf ears when all his attention is on all the interesting people/bicyclists/dogs outside the fence. How do I get his attention? I can give him a treat when he comes back to me, but I don't want him to mistake that I am rewarding him for barking, I want to reward him for stopping and coming to me. How do I make that distinction clear to him? If anyone has any advice, the dog and I would appreciate it very much.